Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Now, scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and the Salk Institute
Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Washington University in St. Louis biologist Ivan Radin in Arts & Sciences and collaborators investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivory in sundews and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms plants use to defend themselves.