Patterns and drivers of heat production in the plant genus Amorphophallus

• Published in: The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 874 - 894
• Main Authors: Claudel, Cyrille, Loiseau, Oriane, Silvestro, Daniele, Lev‐Yadun, Simcha, Antonelli, Alexandre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2023
• Subjects: Algorithms; Ambient temperature; Amorphophallus; Biologi; Biological Sciences; Clustering; Flowering; Heat; heat production; invertebrates; Metabolism; odors; phenotypic variation; Phenotypic variations; Phylogeny; Plants (botany); pollinator attraction; Pollinators; reward; Thermogenesis; time series analysis; volatilisation; volatilization; reward; phylogeny; thermogenesis; Amorphophallus; pollinator attraction; volatilisation
• ISSN: 0960-7412; 1365-313X; 1365-313X
• DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16343

SUMMARY Thermogenesis – the ability to generate metabolic heat – is much more common in animals than in plants, but it has been documented in several plant families, most prominently the Araceae. Metabolic heat is produced in floral organs during the flowering time (anthesis), with the hypothesised primary functions being to increase scent volatilisation for pollinator attraction, and/or to provide a heat reward for invertebrate pollinators. Despite in‐depth studies on the thermogenesis of single species, no attempts have yet been made to examine plant thermogenesis across an entire clade. Here, we apply time‐series clustering algorithms to 119 measurements of the full thermogenic patterns in inflorescences of 80 Amorphophallus species. We infer a new time‐calibrated phylogeny of this genus and use phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the evolutionary determinants of thermogenesis. We find striking phenotypic variation across the phylogeny, with heat production in multiple clades reaching up to 15°C, and in one case 21.7°C above ambient temperature. Our results show that the thermogenic capacity is phylogenetically conserved and is also associated with inflorescence thickness. Our study paves the way for further investigations of the eco‐evolutionary benefits of thermogenesis in plants. Significance Statement Metabolic heat production is a common phenomenon in two important animal groups (birds and mammals), but rare in plants. Here, we investigat the thermogenic patterns in the genus Amorphophallus (Araceae). This is the first study to provide a detailed assessment of thermogenic patterns of a plant genus on a large scale and our methodological approach to investigate thermogenic patterns in an evolutionary context is unprecedented.