Unique and highly specific cyanogenic glycoside localization in stigmatic cells and pollen in the genus Lomatia (Proteaceae).

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Floral chemical defence strategies remain understudied despite the significance of flowers to plant fitness, and the fact that many flowers contain secondary metabolites that confer resistance to herbivores. Optimal defence and apparency theories predict that the most apparent plant parts and/or those most important to fitness should be most defended. To test whether within-flower distributions of chemical defence are consistent with these theories we used cyanogenic glycosides (CNglycs), which are constitutive defence metabolites that deter herbivores by releasing hydrogen cyanide upon hydrolysis.

Methods

We used cyanogenic florets of the genus Lomatia to investigate at what scale there may be strategic allocation of CNglycs in flowers, what their locali

SUBMITTER: Ritmejeryte E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7424758 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature