Study
Calcium dynamics during trap closure visualized in transgenic Venus flytrap
Suda, Hiraku; Mano, Hiroaki; Toyota, Masatsugu; Hasebe, Mitsuyasu
Nature Plants, 2020
Venus flytraps were genetically modified to carry a fluorescent calcium sensor, so that calcium concentration inside the trap could be watched live as trigger hairs were touched.
- Studied in
- Dionaea muscipula
- Sample size
- transgenic plants imaged during stimulation
Each touch produced a wave of calcium spreading from the trigger hair. A second touch arriving before the first wave decayed pushed the concentration above a threshold, and the trap shut.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Calcium concentration acts as the trap's short-term memory, storing the first stimulus until a second arrives.
How NatureHQ reads it
This is the mechanism underneath the counting result, and it is unusually satisfying: the "memory" is a chemical concentration that decays over about twenty to thirty seconds. Touch twice within that window and the trap closes; touch twice too slowly and nothing happens. It explains why the plant ignores raindrops without needing anything resembling a decision.
- Transgenic plants may differ subtly from wild ones.
- Imaging requires laboratory conditions and immobilised traps.
- Calcium is central but not necessarily the only signal involved.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-00773-1
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.