A Compound from Smoke That Promotes Seed Germination
- 1 School of Biomedical and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
- 2 School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
- 3 Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth, WA 6005, Australia.
- 4 School of Engineering Science, Murdoch University, Rockingham, WA 6168, Australia.
- ↵* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gflematt{at}chem.uwa.edu.au
Abstract
Exposure of seeds to aerosol smoke or crude smoke extracts stimulates the germination of a number of fire-dependent and fire-independent plant species. We now report the identity of a germination-promoting compound present in plant- and cellulose-derived smoke. The structure of this compound, deduced from spectroscopic analysis and confirmed by synthesis, was shown to be that of the butenolide 3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3-c]pyran-2-one (1). Here we show that 1 promotes germination of a number of plant species at a level similar to that observed with plant-derived smoke water.
- Received for publication 4 May 2004.
- Accepted for publication 25 June 2004.
