Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants
The ‘pitchers’ of carnivorous pitcher plants are exquisite examples of convergent evolution. An open question is whether the living communities housed in pitchers also converge in structure or function. Using samples from more than 330 field-collected pitchers of eight species of Southeast Asian Nep...
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doaj-97c0c2da33a94719bdbef68f41f5746b2021-05-05T16:07:23ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2018-08-01710.7554/eLife.36741Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plantsLeonora S Bittleston0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4007-5405Charles J Wolock1Bakhtiar E Yahya2Xin Yue Chan3Kok Gan Chan4Naomi E Pierce5Anne Pringle6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-6739Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United StatesDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United StatesInstitute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, MalaysiaDivision of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaDivision of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; International Genome Centre, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, ChinaDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United StatesDepartments of Botany and Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United StatesThe ‘pitchers’ of carnivorous pitcher plants are exquisite examples of convergent evolution. An open question is whether the living communities housed in pitchers also converge in structure or function. Using samples from more than 330 field-collected pitchers of eight species of Southeast Asian Nepenthes and six species of North American Sarracenia, we demonstrate that the pitcher microcosms, or miniature ecosystems with complex communities, are strikingly similar. Compared to communities from surrounding habitats, pitcher communities house fewer species. While communities associated with the two genera contain different microbial organisms and arthropods, the species are predominantly from the same phylogenetic clades. Microbiomes from both genera are enriched in degradation pathways and have high abundances of key degradation enzymes. Moreover, in a manipulative field experiment, Nepenthes pitchers placed in a North American bog assembled Sarracenia-like communities. An understanding of the convergent interactions in pitcher microcosms facilitates identification of selective pressures shaping the communities.https://elifesciences.org/articles/36741microbial ecologyNepenthesSarraceniacommunitiesspecies interactions |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Leonora S Bittleston Charles J Wolock Bakhtiar E Yahya Xin Yue Chan Kok Gan Chan Naomi E Pierce Anne Pringle |
spellingShingle |
Leonora S Bittleston Charles J Wolock Bakhtiar E Yahya Xin Yue Chan Kok Gan Chan Naomi E Pierce Anne Pringle Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants eLife microbial ecology Nepenthes Sarracenia communities species interactions |
author_facet |
Leonora S Bittleston Charles J Wolock Bakhtiar E Yahya Xin Yue Chan Kok Gan Chan Naomi E Pierce Anne Pringle |
author_sort |
Leonora S Bittleston |
title |
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants |
title_short |
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants |
title_full |
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants |
title_fullStr |
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants |
title_full_unstemmed |
Convergence between the microcosms of Southeast Asian and North American pitcher plants |
title_sort |
convergence between the microcosms of southeast asian and north american pitcher plants |
publisher |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
series |
eLife |
issn |
2050-084X |
publishDate |
2018-08-01 |
description |
The ‘pitchers’ of carnivorous pitcher plants are exquisite examples of convergent evolution. An open question is whether the living communities housed in pitchers also converge in structure or function. Using samples from more than 330 field-collected pitchers of eight species of Southeast Asian Nepenthes and six species of North American Sarracenia, we demonstrate that the pitcher microcosms, or miniature ecosystems with complex communities, are strikingly similar. Compared to communities from surrounding habitats, pitcher communities house fewer species. While communities associated with the two genera contain different microbial organisms and arthropods, the species are predominantly from the same phylogenetic clades. Microbiomes from both genera are enriched in degradation pathways and have high abundances of key degradation enzymes. Moreover, in a manipulative field experiment, Nepenthes pitchers placed in a North American bog assembled Sarracenia-like communities. An understanding of the convergent interactions in pitcher microcosms facilitates identification of selective pressures shaping the communities. |
topic |
microbial ecology Nepenthes Sarracenia communities species interactions |
url |
https://elifesciences.org/articles/36741 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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