TY - JOUR A1 - Kreuzwieser, Jürgen A1 - Scheerer, Ursel A1 - Kruse, Jörg A1 - Burzlaff, Tim A1 - Honsel, Anne A1 - Alfarraj, Saleh A1 - Georgiev, Palmen A1 - Schnitzler, Jörg-Peter A1 - Ghirardo, Andrea A1 - Kreuzer, Ines A1 - Hedrich, Rainer A1 - Rennenberg, Heinz T1 - The Venus flytrap attracts insects by the release of volatile organic compounds JF - Journal of Experimental Botany N2 - Does Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap, use a particular mechanism to attract animal prey? This question was raised by Charles Darwin 140 years ago, but it remains unanswered. This study tested the hypothesis that Dionaea releases volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to allure prey insects. For this purpose, olfactory choice bioassays were performed to elucidate if Dionaea attracts Drosophila melanogaster. The VOCs emitted by the plant were further analysed by GC-MS and proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). The bioassays documented that Drosophila was strongly attracted by the carnivorous plant. Over 60 VOCs, including terpenes, benzenoids, and aliphatics, were emitted by Dionaea, predominantly in the light. This work further tested whether attraction of animal prey is affected by the nutritional status of the plant. For this purpose, Dionaea plants were fed with insect biomass to improve plant N status. However, although such feeding altered the VOC emission pattern by reducing terpene release, the attraction of Drosophila was not affected. From these results it is concluded that Dionaea attracts insects on the basis of food smell mimicry because the scent released has strong similarity to the bouquet of fruits and plant flowers. Such a volatile blend is emitted to attract insects searching for food to visit the deadly capture organ of the Venus flytrap. KW - carnivorus plants KW - dionaea muscipula KW - drosophila melanogaster KW - VOC emissions KW - nitrogen status KW - olfactory bioassay KW - plant-animal interaction Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-121161 VL - 65 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Du, Baoguo A1 - Ma, Yuhua A1 - Yáñez‐Serrano, Ana Maria A1 - Arab, Leila A1 - Fasbender, Lukas A1 - Alfarraj, Saleh A1 - Albasher, Gadah A1 - Hedrich, Rainer A1 - White, Philip J. A1 - Werner, Christiane A1 - Rennenberg, Heinz T1 - Physiological responses of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) seedlings to seawater and flooding JF - New Phytologist N2 - In their natural environment along coast lines, date palms are exposed to seawater inundation and, hence, combined stress by salinity and flooding. To elucidate the consequences of this combined stress on foliar gas exchange and metabolite abundances in leaves and roots, date palm seedlings were exposed to flooding with seawater and its major constituents under controlled conditions. Seawater flooding significantly reduced CO\(_{2}\) assimilation, transpiration and stomatal conductance, but did not affect isoprene emission. A similar effect was observed upon NaCl exposure. By contrast, flooding with distilled water or MgSO\(_{4}\) did not affect CO\(_{2}\)/H\(_{2}\)O gas exchange or stomatal conductance significantly, indicating that neither flooding itself, nor seawater sulfate, contributed greatly to stomatal closure. Seawater exposure increased Na and Cl contents in leaves and roots, but did not affect sulfate contents significantly. Metabolite analyses revealed reduced abundances of foliar compatible solutes, such as sugars and sugar alcohols, whereas nitrogen compounds accumulated in roots. Reduced transpiration upon seawater exposure may contribute to controlling the movement of toxic ions to leaves and, therefore, can be seen as a mechanism to cope with salinity. The present results indicate that date palm seedlings are tolerant towards seawater exposure to some extent, and highly tolerant to flooding. KW - compatible solutes and other metabolites KW - date palm KW - flooding KW - salinity KW - shoot–root interaction KW - stomatal conductance KW - sulfate Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228226 VL - 229 IS - 6 SP - 3318 EP - 3329 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghirardo, Andrea A1 - Nosenko, Tetyana A1 - Kreuzwieser, Jürgen A1 - Winkler, J. Barbro A1 - Kruse, Jörg A1 - Albert, Andreas A1 - Merl-Pham, Juliane A1 - Lux, Thomas A1 - Ache, Peter A1 - Zimmer, Ina A1 - Alfarraj, Saleh A1 - Mayer, Klaus F. X. A1 - Hedrich, Rainer A1 - Rennenberg, Heinz A1 - Schnitzler, Jörg-Peter T1 - Protein expression plasticity contributes to heat and drought tolerance of date palm JF - Oecologia N2 - Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of warming and drought periods around the globe, currently representing a threat to many plant species. Understanding the resistance and resilience of plants to climate change is, therefore, urgently needed. As date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) evolved adaptation mechanisms to a xeric environment and can tolerate large diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations, we studied the protein expression changes in leaves, volatile organic compound emissions, and photosynthesis in response to variable growth temperatures and soil water deprivation. Plants were grown under controlled environmental conditions of simulated Saudi Arabian summer and winter climates challenged with drought stress. We show that date palm is able to counteract the harsh conditions of the Arabian Peninsula by adjusting the abundances of proteins related to the photosynthetic machinery, abiotic stress and secondary metabolism. Under summer climate and water deprivation, these adjustments included efficient protein expression response mediated by heat shock proteins and the antioxidant system to counteract reactive oxygen species formation. Proteins related to secondary metabolism were downregulated, except for the P. dactylifera isoprene synthase (PdIspS), which was strongly upregulated in response to summer climate and drought. This study reports, for the first time, the identification and functional characterization of the gene encoding for PdIspS, allowing future analysis of isoprene functions in date palm under extreme environments. Overall, the current study shows that reprogramming of the leaf protein profiles confers the date palm heat- and drought tolerance. We conclude that the protein plasticity of date palm is an important mechanism of molecular adaptation to environmental fluctuations. KW - abiotic stress KW - isoprene KW - proteomics KW - photosynthesis KW - Phoenix dactylifera Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-308075 SN - 0029-8549 SN - 1432-1939 VL - 197 IS - 4 ER -