Natures wonders: how plants became carnivores (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, February 08, 2017, 01:28 (2844 days ago) @ David Turell

More comments on carnivorous plants:

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/48347/title/How-Plants-Evolved-to...

Albert and colleagues sequenced the Australian pitcher plant’s genome and compared the DNA in the plant’s carnivorous and non-carnivorous photosynthetic leaves. Their analyses revealed genetic changes associated with prey capture and digestion. “According to the results, leaves that catch insects have gained new enzymatic functions,” Julio Rozas, a study co-author and professor at the University of Barcelona, said in a statement. These includes chitinase, an enzyme that breaks down the chitin in insects’ exoskeletons, and purple acid phosphatase, which helps release phosphate from the prey, Rozas explained.

When the group compared Australian pitcher plant’s digestive fluid to that of three unrelated carnivorous plants, the results suggested that—despite the fact that the plants evolved separately—their digestive enzymes had similar genetic origins. “In a number of cases, the very same genes from non-carnivorous ancestors have been recruited for carnivorous purposes," Thomas Givnish, who studies plant evolution at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved in the study, told NPR.

Comment: Note the special enzyme to obtain phosphorus and digest the insects. How were these enzymes found by evolution's search among giant proteins? Further, digestive enzymes don't harm the plant. How was that defense arranged simultaneously with the development of the digestive enzyme itself? Not stepwise. In humans our stomach acid is equal to battery acid, and our stomachs are protected. Same issue of how was that developed? Darwin's theory doesn't work.