Project Details
Description
Wider research context
Floral scents are a chemically diverse group of volatiles. Despite the recent advances in our understanding of the importance of floral scents in plant-pollinator communication, for most of the compounds we do not know whether they are effectively involved in pollinator attraction or have other functions. Further, there are big gaps in our understanding of the biogenesis and secretion of these compounds. This is also true for deceptive plants that trick their pollinators by chemically imitating a reward they do not provide. One such plant is Arum maculatum, which has the most complex scent (c. 300 compounds in total, up to 150 per individual) known so far. It has long fascinated due to its foetid scent and brood-site deceptive pollination system, its thermogenic activity, and its temporary trapping of fly pollinators (mainly psychodids). Despite some of the floral scents were previously shown to attract pollinators, recent studies did not confirm their attractiveness when offering them in natural concentrations in field biotests. This suggests that not yet tested scent compounds are needed for pollinator attraction in A. maculatum. Further, some of the chemicals released by the plant are chemically similar to psychodid male sex pheromones, making it possible that A. maculatum does not only imitate brood substrates but also sex pheromones of its pollinators.
Objectives
To better understand the molecular basis and ecological / evolutionary drivers of the strong and hyperdiverse floral scents in Arum maculatum, we aim to elucidate the physiological and genetic bases of the floral scent biosynthesis and secretion, identify the floral scent compounds responsible for pollinator attraction, and test whether some of those compounds resemble sex pheromones of psychodid pollinators.
Floral scents are a chemically diverse group of volatiles. Despite the recent advances in our understanding of the importance of floral scents in plant-pollinator communication, for most of the compounds we do not know whether they are effectively involved in pollinator attraction or have other functions. Further, there are big gaps in our understanding of the biogenesis and secretion of these compounds. This is also true for deceptive plants that trick their pollinators by chemically imitating a reward they do not provide. One such plant is Arum maculatum, which has the most complex scent (c. 300 compounds in total, up to 150 per individual) known so far. It has long fascinated due to its foetid scent and brood-site deceptive pollination system, its thermogenic activity, and its temporary trapping of fly pollinators (mainly psychodids). Despite some of the floral scents were previously shown to attract pollinators, recent studies did not confirm their attractiveness when offering them in natural concentrations in field biotests. This suggests that not yet tested scent compounds are needed for pollinator attraction in A. maculatum. Further, some of the chemicals released by the plant are chemically similar to psychodid male sex pheromones, making it possible that A. maculatum does not only imitate brood substrates but also sex pheromones of its pollinators.
Objectives
To better understand the molecular basis and ecological / evolutionary drivers of the strong and hyperdiverse floral scents in Arum maculatum, we aim to elucidate the physiological and genetic bases of the floral scent biosynthesis and secretion, identify the floral scent compounds responsible for pollinator attraction, and test whether some of those compounds resemble sex pheromones of psychodid pollinators.
| Acronym | BiogenArum |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Effective start/end date | 2/01/25 → 1/01/29 |