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A Plant That Can Smell
BlueCup writes "The question of how a dodder finds a host plant has puzzled researchers. Many thought it simply grew in a random direction, with discovery of a plant to attack being a chance encounter. But the researchers led by Consuelo M. De Moraes found that if they placed tomato plants near a germinating dodder, the parasite headed for the tomato 80 percent of the time. And when they put scent chemicals from a tomato on rubber, 73 percent of the dodder seedlings headed that way. Turns out, it sniffs out it's prey."
My dodder has no nose.
How does it smell?
Terrible!
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Well Mark, you of all people should know that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
The Flying Speghetti Monster is seeking out holy tomato sauce! I believe I belieeeeeve!
Table-ized A.I.
See, now I would have thought that it would have been the tomatoes that made the first strike...
In sovi.......never mind.
Table-ized A.I.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=6160709
Hmmm, nice that the article doesn't mention the actual author of the paper (published in Science). Also not surprisingly, the actual paper doesn't talk about 'smell'. Oh and for the person going on about sample size, of course the paper gives sample sizes.
6 4.pdf
Here's the abstract:
Volatile Chemical Cues Guide Host Location and Host Selection by Parasitic Plants
Justin B. Runyon, Mark C. Mescher, Consuelo M. De Moraes*
The importance of plant volatiles in mediating interactions between plant species is much debated. Here, we demonstrate that the parasitic plant Cuscuta pentagona (dodder) uses volatile cues for host location. Cuscuta pentagona seedlings exhibit directed growth toward nearby tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum) and toward extracted tomato-plant volatiles presented in the absence of other cues. Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana) and wheat plants (Triticum aestivum) also elicit directed growth. Moreover, seedlings can distinguish tomato and wheat volatiles and preferentially grow toward the former. Several individual compounds from tomato and wheat elicit directed growth by C. pentagona, whereas one compound from wheat is repellent. These findings provide compelling evidence that volatiles mediate important ecological interactions among plant species.
And here's the actual paper for those with access to Science articles:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/313/5795/19
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.