IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v2y2011i1d10.1038_ncomms1356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Burning vegetation produces cyanohydrins that liberate cyanide and stimulate seed germination

Author

Listed:
  • Gavin R. Flematti

    (School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia)

  • David J. Merritt

    (Kings Park and Botanic Garden
    School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia)

  • Matthew J. Piggott

    (School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia)

  • Robert D. Trengove

    (School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University)

  • Steven M. Smith

    (School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia)

  • Kingsley W. Dixon

    (Kings Park and Botanic Garden
    School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia)

  • Emilio L. Ghisalberti

    (School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin R. Flematti & David J. Merritt & Matthew J. Piggott & Robert D. Trengove & Steven M. Smith & Kingsley W. Dixon & Emilio L. Ghisalberti, 2011. "Burning vegetation produces cyanohydrins that liberate cyanide and stimulate seed germination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 1-6, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1356
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1356
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms1356?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.