Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 00:11:47 -0600 From: lasseter@chemvx.chem.tamu.edu (Benjamin Lasseter) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg637$foo@default> Subject: Re: Intestinal Flora of H. Minor
>> >I have a nice H. minor and would like to know if it is able to
>> >"eat" in culture. As it produces no digestive liquid but gets
>> >help from bacteria living in the rain-water in it's pitchers I
>> >wonder if and how these bacteria get into my plant. I fill the
>> >pitchers with osmose water as that's all I have.
>>
>> You could not possibly get rid of them without killing the plant
>> first, and even then I am not entirely sure the bacteria would go.
>> Filling the pitchers with distilled water certainly couldn't do it,
>> nor should you particularly desire to try. After all, they do help the
>> plants thrive!
>
>I think he was asking how the pitchers are inoculated with the
>symbiotic bacteria. I'm writing because I'd like to know also.
>Where do TC plants get these bacteria from? Are these bacteria
>only found on the tepuis inside the plants or are they widespread
>and happen to fall into a pitcher and then become symbiotes?
>
>
>Dave Evans
Thank you, Dave. I did misunderstand the question. I am going to go out
on a limb here to speculate as to the answer. I am not sure if anyone is
really sure about how the bacteria get there. I am going to draw a
comparison to H. tatei Gleason, a cousin of H. Minor, but which does
produce its own digestive enzymes.
Both have the ability to absorb nutrients, when they have been broken down.
Both create a number of fascinating chemical signals, which attract insects.
Both trap and kill their prey. Genetically, they are not very disparate,
though there is no complete genome for either one (It is, by the way, an
enormous project.) It is quite likely that both actually get their
digestive enzymes from bacteria. That would not be an unheard-of
occurrence. H. tatei always has those enzymes available, and H. Minor
needs to build up a significant bacterial culture inside its pitcher before
it can digest anything...
Bacteria regularly live inside the cells of eukaryotes (e.g.
plants), to the great benefit of both parties. If a bacteria living inside
H. tatei started secreting the digestive enzymes, and the plant cell could
in turn transport those enzymes into the fluid of its pitcher, then the
plant cell itself would seem to be secreting the enzyme. Tissue cultures
from such cells would always produce clones which would secrete the enzyme,
because the bacteria would always be there. You could not get rid of the
bacteria without killing the plant cell first. And the bacteria would
multiply and divide along with the cells just as chloroplasts do.
What about H. Minor? I read once that the bacteria with pitcher
plants live on the surface of the cells inside the trap. Is that true? I
never heard it confirmed. But it makes very good sense. Nor would it be
the only case in existence. The same strain (or a close cousin) which
lives inside the cells of H. tatei would live on the surface of the trap,
and would flourish as soon as water got into the trap. A reasonable
explanation, but I do not know if it is the correct one.
***---***---***
A quick and dirty test to find out if you have the digestive
bacteria in your H. minor: purchase a can of Campbell's clear beef broth.
Add to one 12 oz can a package of Jello-brand gelatin (any flavor, though
flavorless is the closest to laboratory conditions). Make sure the gelatin
gets dissolved. Dump the mixture into a shallow glass pan, so that you
have a layer 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Cover the top with tin foil. Cook in
your oven for 30-45 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Then remove it from
the oven and let the gelatin/beef mixture cool. Do not remove the cover.
It should form a slightly tougher mixture than your normal Jello. If not,
back to the drawing board.
Get an eye dropper on hand.
Get two H. Minor at hand: one in which you know the digestive
bacteria are present, and one about which you are not sure.
Set up an open flame (A normal candle should suffice. It worked
for Pasteur...) Pass the eye dropper through the flame once or twice. It
doesn't take much heat to sterilize it. Take a few drops from the known H.
Minor and put it onto the surface of the gelatin at one end of the pan,
spread it around in a to about 4" away with the tip of the dropper. Then
close the lid again and sterilize the eye dropper as before. Take a few
drops from your unknown H. Minor and put it on the surface of the gelatin
(AT THE OTHER END OF THE PAN), spreading it around as before. Examine the
colonies that grow. If they tend to be the same shape and size, they are
probably the same species.
Any molecular biologist reading this will find some very big flaws
in terms of generating PUBLISHABLE data, but the experiment is pretty
sound. If you were to do the experiment with several tissue culture H.
Minors, with the tissue taken from different parts of the plant, and if you
then found the same type of bacteria growing, it might be evidence that the
needed bacteria live in symbiosis on the surface of these cells EVERYWHERE
on the plant. No one knows that, yet. And it would be interesting to find
out. Also it might start a craze of amateur biochemistry as popular and
useful as the amateur astronomy one!
***---***---***
Like I said at first, I am only making an educated guess as to the
bacterial relationships among heliamphora. If anyone knows better, or is
more caught up in this particular field of literature, I should be pleased
with a list of which articles I need to read.
Sincerely,
Benjamin F. Lasseter
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