A mutant plant with a counting disability
January 23, 2023
The newly discovered dyscalculia mutant of the Venus flytrap has lost its ability to count electrical impulses. Würzburg researchers reveal the cause of the defect.
The carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) can count to five: This discovery by Würzburg biophysicist Professor Rainer Hedrich caused a worldwide excitement in 2016. But how does the plant count?
Hedrich's team from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany, has now described the key component in the journal Current Biology. The researchers found what they were looking for in a mutant of the Venus flytrap that has lost its counting abilities. The Venus flytrap counts its prey
The Venus flytrap can survive in its very nutrient-poor home in the swamps of North and South Carolina because small animals are part of its prey spectrum. For this purpose, the carnivorous plant has transformed leaves into snap traps.
