{"id":1422,"date":"2015-08-05T11:13:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T11:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/?p=1422"},"modified":"2015-08-05T11:13:39","modified_gmt":"2015-08-05T11:13:39","slug":"scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/2015\/08\/05\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/2015\/08\/05\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><p class=\"abstract\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1423 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/files\/2015\/08\/worm-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"worm\" \/>Scientists have discovered how earthworms can digest plant material, such as fallen leaves, that would defeat most other herbivores.<\/p>\n<p>Earthworms are responsible for returning the carbon locked inside dead plant material back into the ground. They drag fallen leaves and other plant material down from the surface and eat them, enriching the soil, and they do this in spite of toxic chemicals produced by plants to deter herbivores.<\/p>\n<p>The scientists, led by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/j.bundy\">Dr Jake Bundy<\/a>\u00a0(Computational Systems Medicine) and Dr Manuel Liebeke, have identified molecules in the earthworm gut that counteract the plant\u2019s natural defences and enable digestion. Their work is published today (4 August 2015) in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/ncomms\/2015\/150804\/ncomms8869\/full\/ncomms8869.html\">Nature Communications <\/a>and includes support from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the University of Oxford, and Cardiff University.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www3.imperial.ac.uk\/newsandeventspggrp\/imperialcollege\/newssummary\/news_4-8-2015-13-36-15\">Full story<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have discovered how earthworms can digest plant material, such as fallen leaves, that would defeat most other herbivores. Earthworms are responsible for returning the carbon locked inside dead plant material back into the ground. They drag fallen leaves and other plant material down from the surface and eat them, enriching the soil, and they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":710,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion - S&amp;C Staff Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/2015\/08\/05\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion - S&amp;C Staff Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scientists have discovered how earthworms can digest plant material, such as fallen leaves, that would defeat most other herbivores. Earthworms are responsible for returning the carbon locked inside dead plant material back into the ground. They drag fallen leaves and other plant material down from the surface and eat them, enriching the soil, and they [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/2015\/08\/05\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"S&amp;C Staff Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-05T11:13:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/surgeryandcancer\/files\/2015\/08\/worm-300x207.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathryn Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ImperialSandC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ImperialSandC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathryn Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kathryn Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/74df9d40eed41ebe1844803a33b0b765\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-05T11:13:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":134,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/worm-300x207.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/surgeryandcancer\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/05\\\/scientists-solve-mystery-behind-earthworm-digestion\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion - 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