Discoveries

April 04, 2023

A Daisy Deception

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The South African daisy is schooled in the art of deception: Known as the Gorteria diffusa, it is able to create “fake lady flies” on its petals to attract male insects for pollination so it can reproduce in harsh desert environments.

Other members of the daisy family similarly seek to lure in pollinating insects, but their efforts pale compared with this trickster’s ability to create a very believable fake fly, complete with hairy bumps and white highlights.

Recently, scientists figured out how the G. diffusa does it by studying its genes, the Independent reported.

In their paper, researchers discovered three sets of genes that have other functions in the daisy: One set moves iron around the plant, the second makes root hairs grow and the last controls the timetable for creating flowers.

But this trio also contribute to the deception, the team noted. The iron-moving genes give the petals their reddish-purple pigment and make them more fly-like.

The root hair genes provide fly-like texture by making the hairs expand, while the last set makes fake flies appear in random positions on the petals.

The researchers explained that the bloom did not evolve new genes but rather “brought together existing genes … to make a complicated spot on the petals that deceives male flies.”

This is impressive because the G. diffusa is young in evolutionary terms – about 1.5 to two million years old – and such a complex feature would require “lots of genes and lots of mutations,” said lead author Roman Kellenberger.

“It’s almost like evolving a whole new organ in a very short time frame,” he added.

This story originally appeared in the April 04, 2023 newsletter, Israeli Spring.