At the conjunction of biology, chemistry and physics: the fast movements of Dionaea, Aldrovanda, Utricularia and Stylidium

摘要

Plants and fungi are able to move to perform essential functions. When these functions rely on insects, e.g. the nutrition uptake of carnivorous plants such as Dionaea, Aldrovanda , and Utricularia or the cross-pollination mechanism of Stylidium , then these movements must be both very rapid (faster than the second time scale) and repetitive. This paper discusses the different strategies these plants have developed to achieve this goal, and is aimed at pointing out how intricate the involved biological, chemical and physical mechanisms are. Before presenting some recent advances in the modelling of these plants, the paper first describes the functioning of motor cells, which is based on the equilibration of osmotic pressures, as well as the electric signalling through the propagation of action potentials, by which the stimulation due to the insect is transmitted to these motor cells. The paper then discusses the mechanisms these plants use to perform movements well below the second time scale, which are essentially based on the physical phenomenon known as snap-buckling in material sciences. The Conclusions mention several points that are not well understood and would clearly deserve further attention.