Plants, thermogenic

Meeuse, B. J.D. and Raskin, I. (1988). Sexual reproduction in the arum lily family, with emphasis on thermogenicity. Sexual Plant Reproduction 1 3-15. 

The thermogenic mechanism best understood in plants is a cyanide-insensitive nonpho-sphorylating electron transport pathway that is found only in plant mitochondria (Raskin et al., 1987). This pathway is distinct from the electron transport pathway involved in mitochondrial ATP production, and is under the control of calorigens, molecules that can lead to a... 

Thermogenic systems based on uncoupling proteins or on the alternative electron transport pathways found in mitochondria of certain plants represent what in many ways is the sim-... 

Only in three tissues — in two plant tissues (the Arum lily flower and the skunk cabbage spadix) and in mammalian brown adipose tissue — has a direct thermogenic role of mitochondria been substantiated. 

In the thermogenic plant mitochondria the heat evolution has been claimed to be accomphshed by a non-energy conserving system (alternate oxidase system) which is not coupled to proton extrusion and ADP phosphorylation (for review see Ref. 1). 

Within the last decade we have obtained a tentative concept of the molecular basis for this mammalian mitochondrial thermogenesis, and we know that in contrast to the thermogenic plant mitochondria, substrate oxidation in brown adipose tissue mitochondria is basically energy conserving, with proton extrusion occurring [5], with respiratory control, and with an ability, in principle, to capture the chemical energy in the form of ATP. 

Fundamentally, there are only two ways to treat obesity reduce El and increase EE. Thermogenesis and fat oxidation are to a large extent under the control of the sympathetic nervous system and its neurotransmitter norepinephrine after a rational approach for obesity management. In this context, there has been much interest in the potential thermogenic effects of many compounds extracted from plants, namely, caffeine from coffee and tea, ephedrine from ephedra, and capsaicin from pungent spices, largely because of their potential to modulate catecholamine release and activity. ... 

The voodoo lily is only one of many thermogenic (heat-producing) plants. These plants are of special interest to biologists because they provide opportunities to study metabolic reactions that are quite subtle in "normal" plants. 

The "Chemistry in Focus" segment Nature Has Hot Plants discusses thermogenic, or heat-producing, plants. For some plants, enough heat is generated to... 

Besides studying the dramatic heat effects in thermogenic plants, biologists are also interested in calorimetric studies of regular plants. 

What are thermogenic plants How do they relate to material in this chapter What are some examples of thermogenic plant species ... 

M.Saxon, W.R. Breidenbach, L.D. Han.sen, and R.S. Criddle, The role of heat generated by the alternative pathway in non-thermogenic plants. Submitted. 

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