title: Nightshade Wound Secretion: The World's Simplest Extrafloral Nectar?
abstract: Wounded nightshade leaves secrete a sugary liquid that, like extrafloral nectar (EFN), attracts ants as defence against herbivores. The secretion of these droplets requires no detectable nectary tissue, showing how little it takes to produce a functioning nectary. Easy de novo formation of extrafloral nectaries explains their 'scattered' phylogenetic distribution.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, CINVESTAV - Irapuato, Km 9.6 Libramiento Norte, 36421 Irapuato, Guanajuato, México. Electronic address: mheil@ira.cinvestav.mx.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heil
mesh_terms: D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism*; D057048:Plant Nectar / Q000378:metabolism*; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D057048:Plant Nectar; D013395:Sucrose
keywords: SWEETs; ants; cell-wall invertase; indirect defence; nectar; sucrose