【Institute for Advanced Biosciences】 How “Foul-Smelling” Flowers Evolved Their Odor — Convergent Evolution Reveals Mechanism for Attracting Insects

2025.05.10

A research group led by Dr. Yudai Okuyama, Chief Research Scientist at the National Museum of Nature and Science (also Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo), in collaboration with multiple institutions including the National Institute of Genetics, Tohoku University, and the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, has elucidated the mechanism by which flowers that mimic the smell of rotting flesh (carrion mimicry) produce their characteristic odor.

The study revealed that these flowers generate the foul-smelling compound dimethyl disulfide, which deceives insects into pollinating them. Furthermore, the researchers demonstrated experimentally that this function can evolve through only minor amino acid substitutions, highlighting a case of convergent evolution across multiple plant species.

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How “Foul-Smelling” Flowers Evolved Their Odor — Convergent Evolution Reveals Mechanism for Attracting Insects