Seed structure germination

Much remains to be accomplished in the separation, isolation, and identification of both naturally occurring and synthetic bioactive materials effective in the germination of parasitic weed seeds. Structure-activity studies suffer from the lack of separation of isomers in most synthetic samples. Strigol is an important tool in basic studies on the effect of chemicals on seed germination, but it is highly unlikely that the compound will meet practical field... 

Effects of Sesquiterpene Lactones on Seed Germination. Sesquiterpene lactones are common constituents of the Asteraceae but are also found in other angiosperm families and in certain liverworts (31,32). These highly bitter substances exhibit a wide spectrum of biological activities (J 3) which include cytotoxicity, anti-tumor, anti-microbial, insecticidal (34) and molluscicidal (35) properties. Furthermore, they are known causes for livestock poisoning and contact dermatitis in humans (33). Structure-activity relationship studies on sesquiterpene lactones have demonstrated that biological activity frequently depend on the presence of the cr... 

The fourth isolated and identified compound from Palmer amaranth is chondri 11 asterol (5a-stigmasta-7,22-dien-30-ol), a sterol closely related structurally to the major plant sterols, stigmasterol and sitosterol. This compound, isolated as the free sterol, is not soluble in water or 0.1% DMS0, and germination bioassays required pretreatment of the test seed with a 0.1 mM solution of the sterol in DCM. 

Strigol (I), Isolated from cotton root exudates, Is a very effective germination stimulant for wltchweed [e.g. Strlga aslatlca (L.) Kuntze] seed (1). Structure I depicts the relative... 

The synthetic studies which have been described have resulted in significant improvements in the preparation of racemic strigol and have also provided access to several analogs which will subsequently be tested for seed germination activity in order to elucidate key structure-activity relationships. These results and further investigations will hopefully lead to effective synthetic compounds for the control of witchweed and related parasitic plants. 

Correlations of Molecular Structure with Bioactivity in Seed Germination... 

Earlier in this paper studies were reported that indicated correlation of the molecular structure of the compound with bioactivity in seed germination in laboratory tests, as compared to tests performed in the field, offer distinct advantages. Most of what we know on this subject was obtained from laboratory test procedures. Results from field tests are also dependent upon the stability of the compound and physical factors such as solubility and adsorption in the soil. 

Most of the work on correlation of molecular structure with bioactivity in witchweed seed germination has been produced by two groups (7-10). Johnson, et al. (7-9) prepared and evaluated a large number of strigol analogs and many approached the activity of strigol. In many studies by others, the results of the bioassays are presented, but the compounds from Johnson are described only by GR-number. GR-7 and -24, probably the more promising of these compounds, have been used in extensive field studies, and their structures are known. 

The enzymes in wheat, and hence in flour, that often cause problems in the bakery are present in the seed to make nutrient available to the seed. Similarly, this is why sprouted wheat causes problems if it is allowed to get into flour. Thus, the a-amylase is low in mature wheat grains but rises rapidly on germination. In bread, a low, but not too low, level of a-amylase is desirable since it produces sugars to feed the yeast and opens up the structure. Deliberate additions of malt flour were once common, but are now rarely made, to increase the amylase level. 

The second example described here is dormant seeds from Rosa canina. Extracts of these seeds also inhibit germination of seeds of several plants (10). In Figure 5 a scheme is given for extraction and separation oF"three different inhibitor compounds. All these are present in the acid fraction. The first essential step is chromatography on Sephadex LH-20, which separates inhibitor I from inhibitor II and III. Inhibitor I was identified as abscisic acid. The other two inhibitors were separated by methylation with diazomethane, fractional distillation, and column chromatography. The second inhibitor is the a-pyrone 1 . Reaction with diazomethane transforms it into the bi-cyclic compound 19. This bicyclic compound is even more active than the parent a-pyrone 1 . Since we sought structural requirements for bioactivity here also,we tested several synthetic a-pyrones ( 0 - 22) for bioactivity. These compounds had no inhibitory activity. We alio tested the cyclopropane derivatives 23 and 24 In Table II, the bioactivity of the bicyclic compound T9 and two such derivatives is compared. The presence of several carboxylic acid groups seems to be essential (or at least helpful) for bioactivity in this case also. 

The last inhibitor from rose seeds was identified as 2,5-dihydro-furan-2-carboxylic acid (2 ). The specific activity of this compound is not very high, but rose seeds contain enough of it to exert measurable inhibition of seed germination. The bioactivity seems to depend on this particular structure because a number of similar compounds (29 - 37) have no activity or much lower activity than 2 . 

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