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Burning vegetation produces cyanohydrins that liberate cyanide and stimulate seed germination
Citation
Flematti, GR and Merritt, DJ and Piggott, MJ and Trengove, RD and Smith, SM and Dixon, KW and Ghisalberti, EL, Burning vegetation produces cyanohydrins that liberate cyanide and stimulate seed germination, Nature Communications, 2 Article 360. ISSN 2041-1723 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Abstract
Cyanide is well known for its toxicity towards living organisms. Many plants use cyanide as a defensive agent against herbivores, releasing it through the enzymatic hydrolysis of endogenous cyanogenic compounds. At low concentrations, cyanide has been proposed to have a regulatory role in many plant processes including stimulation of seed germination. However, no ecological role for cyanide in seed germination has been established. In the present study, we show that burning plant material produces the cyanohydrin, glyceronitrile. We also show that, in the presence of water, glyceronitrile is slowly hydrolysed to release cyanide that stimulates seed germination of a diverse range of fire-responsive species from different continents.
We propose that glyceronitrile serves as an ecological store for cyanide and is an important
cue for stimulating seed germination and landscape regeneration after fires.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | cyanide, seed germination, herbivory, burning, fire, landscape regeneration |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Plant biology |
Research Field: | Plant physiology |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
UTAS Author: | Smith, SM (Professor Steven Smith) |
ID Code: | 101465 |
Year Published: | 2011 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 79 |
Deposited By: | Plant Science |
Deposited On: | 2015-06-24 |
Last Modified: | 2018-04-11 |
Downloads: | 117 View Download Statistics |
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