"People have known for a long time that there's something (in smoke) that induces seed germination ... but it's only in the last five years or so that anybody has been able to isolate a compound that works," said study editor Winslow Briggs, a biochemist at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University.
In 2004, researchers established that chemicals known as butanolides -- now named "karrikins" after karrik, the local Aboriginal word for smoke -- were inducing fire-responsive plants to germinate in the wake of a fire.
In the latest study, researchers identified precisely what the chemicals do to Arabidopsis thaliana, a common North American weed whose 30,000 genes have been mapped. The scientists found that exposing the plants to karrikins, derived from burning plant cell walls, activated a handful of genes associated with light sensitivity.
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In 2004, researchers established that chemicals known as butanolides -- now named "karrikins" after karrik, the local Aboriginal word for smoke -- were inducing fire-responsive plants to germinate in the wake of a fire.
In the latest study, researchers identified precisely what the chemicals do to Arabidopsis thaliana, a common North American weed whose 30,000 genes have been mapped. The scientists found that exposing the plants to karrikins, derived from burning plant cell walls, activated a handful of genes associated with light sensitivity.
Chemicals in smoke help plants grow sturdier, study shows
When fires rage through forests, they often char acres upon acres of plant life and scar a landscape for years to come. Some plants have learned to use this destructive force to their advantage -- moving into competitors' now-empty territory or producing seeds that burst open from the heat.
Karrikin - Wikipedia
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What are karrikins and how were they ‘discovered’ by plants? - BMC Biology
Karrikins are a family of compounds produced by wildfires that can stimulate the germination of dormant seeds of plants from numerous families. Seed plants could have ‘discovered’ karrikins during fire-prone times in the Cretaceous period when flowering plants were evolving rapidly. Recent...
bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com
Karrikins: A new family of plant growth regulators in smoke
Karrikins are a chemically defined family of plant growth regulators discovered in smoke from burning plant material. Karrikins are potent in breaking…
