Tree of Life Activity Part 6

Mysteries of carnivorous plants


Images of Venus flytrap and waterwheel plant from Kew Garden.

Photosynthesis genes help plants turn light into energy!

Curiously, carnivorous plants can get energy from small insects by trapping and consuming them.

Question:

Do carnivorous plants also need to create energy from sunlight?

Can you imagine why a plant might evolve the ability to trap and eat insects?

>Venus_flytrap
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWSGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLGY
>waterwheel_plant
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWSGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>beet
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLGY
>floating_bladderwort
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKANQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>tomato
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>papaya
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLGPETTRSMGLAY
>thale_cress
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>cotton
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>cassava
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKSKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>Albany_pitcher_plant
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWNGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY
>Colorado_blue_columbine
MSHSVKIYDTCIGCTQCVRACPTDVLEMIPWDGCKAKQIASAPRTEDCVGCKRCESACPT
DFLSVRVYLWHETTRSMGLAY


Align protein sequences and compute a phylogenetic tree

First, we will align our sequences with muscle

We will copy and paste the protein sequences into the input box:



After we paste the sequences, we will click the "Submit" button



When the alignment job is running, you will see this message:



We are interested in two sections of the results page:





Now, let's navigate to the "Phylogenetic Tree" tab on our results page.

Question: What does the tree tell us about the relatedness of Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and the other species?

Use BLAST to search for sequences with similarity to the Dionaea muscipula protein sequence

Click the button below to go to blastp





Copy and paste your sequence into the Query Sequence box on the BLAST page





Click the "BLAST" button at the bottom of the page





The top results are shown in descending order. The top hit is a "self hit" to the sequence we just BLASTed.

Questions:

What is the name of the gene in the BLAST results and what process is it involved in?

Which species are most closely related to Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)?