Karrikin
Encyclopedia
Karrikins are a group of plant growth regulators found in the smoke of burning plant material. For many years scientists have known that smoke from forest fires had the ability to stimulate the germination of seeds. In 2004, after studying the thousands of chemical compounds found in smoke, it was discovered that a series of butenolide
s were responsible for this effect. A member of the research team looking at these compounds, David Nelson, consulted a professor of Linguistics at University of Western Australia, who advised that the first recorded Noongar word for 'smoke' from the Perth area in the 1830s, is 'karrik'. This led to these compounds being named karrikins. Currently, there are four known karrikins which are designated KAR1, KAR2, KAR3,and KAR4.
s between carbohydrate
s and amino acid
s. Another suggests that they are derived from cellulose
.
Butenolide
Butenolides are a class of lactones with a four-carbon heterocyclic ring structure. They are sometimes considered oxidized derivatives of furan. The simplest butenolide is 2-furanone, which is a common component of larger natural products and is sometimes referred to as simply "butenolide". A...
s were responsible for this effect. A member of the research team looking at these compounds, David Nelson, consulted a professor of Linguistics at University of Western Australia, who advised that the first recorded Noongar word for 'smoke' from the Perth area in the 1830s, is 'karrik'. This led to these compounds being named karrikins. Currently, there are four known karrikins which are designated KAR1, KAR2, KAR3,and KAR4.
Origin
Though it is clear that karrikins are found in the smoke of burning plant material, there are competing theories about how they are formed. One hypothesis is that they are formed by Maillard reactionMaillard reaction
The Maillard reaction is a form of nonenzymatic browning similar to caramelization. It results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat....
s between carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
s and amino acid
Amino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
s. Another suggests that they are derived from cellulose
Cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....
.