Functional characterization of a class III acid endochitinase from the traps of the carnivorous pitcher plant genus, Nepenthes.

ABSTRACT: Carnivory in plants is an adaptation strategy to nutrient-poor environments and soils. Carnivorous plants obtain some additional mineral nutrients by trapping and digesting prey; the genus Nepenthes is helped by its specialized pitcher traps. To make the nutrients available, the caught prey needs to be digested, a process that requires the concerted activity of several hydrolytic enzymes. To identify and investigate the various enzymes involved in this process, fluid from Nepenthes traps has been analysed in detail. In this study, a novel type of Nepenthes endochitinase was identified in the digestion fluid of closed pitchers. The encoding endochitinase genes have been cloned from eight different Nepenthes species. Among these, the deduced amino acid sequence similarity was at least 94.9%.

SUBMITTER: Rottloff S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3170555 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature