Copycat red nectar shows promise as a natural colorant and is gecko-approved

Plants that produce colored flowers are part of an exclusive club. 70 plants are on that list. The interest of researchers and industry partners in search of natural colorant options has been stimulated by the colors that lure in pollinators.

A group of researchers, including a few from the University of Minnesota, have been working on a project for the past several years to understand how plants make red flowers.

Clay Carter, a professor in the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences, first saw Nesocodon mauritianus during a tour of the Botanical Collection at the university.

Carter first met the plant on May 2, 2016 and wondered what was behind the red flower.

The research team was able to identify two plants that had never been described before. They compared Nesocodon mauritianus with a red plant from the other side of the world. Surprisingly, these two plants both rely on the same compound to produce red nectar and attract their respective pollinators.

Carter says that studying examples like these can tell us a lot about basic rules of adaptation.

Direct applications can be found in the research. The FDA says that the industry currently relies on non-natural color enhancers. Red is a hard color to find for many products.

Researchers created a synthetic red nectar with knowledge of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms. The researchers sought feedback from an expert in the form of geckos. Researchers at George Mason University ran a test on the synthetic nectar.

Adrian Hegeman, a professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, is a co-author of the study.

The University of Minnesota applied for a patent for the process of synthesizing nesocodin. The findings set the stage for future research efforts.

More information: Rahul Roy et al, Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2114420119 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Citation: Copycat red nectar shows promise as a natural colorant and is gecko-approved (2022, January 25) retrieved 26 January 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-01-copycat-red-nectar-natural-gecko-approved.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.