Department of Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.
Plant Physiol. 1990 Oct;94(2):401-5. doi: 10.1104/pp.94.2.401.
Several thousand plant species, including many economically important food plants, synthesize cyanogenic glycosides and cyanolipids. Upon tissue disruption, these natural products are hydrolyzed liberating the respiratory poison hydrogen cyanide. This phenomenon of cyanogenesis accounts for numerous cases of acute and chronic cyanide poisoning of animals including man. This article reviews information gathered during the past decade about the enzymology and molecular biology of cyanogenesis in higher plants. How compartmentation normally prevents the large-scale, suicidal release of HCN within the intact plant is discussed. A renewed interest in the physiology of these cyanogenic compounds has revealed that, in addition to providing protection for some species against herbivory, they may also serve as storage forms for reduced nitrogen.
包括许多具有重要经济价值的食用植物在内的几千种植物物种合成氰苷和氰醇脂。在组织破坏时，这些天然产物被水解，释放出呼吸性毒物氢氰酸。这种氰生成现象导致了包括人类在内的动物的许多急性和慢性氰化物中毒案例。本文综述了过去十年中关于高等植物氰生成的酶学和分子生物学方面的信息。正常情况下，细胞区室化如何防止氰化物在完整植物中大规模、自杀式释放，这一问题得到了讨论。人们对这些氰化物化合物的生理学重新产生了兴趣，结果表明，除了为某些物种提供对草食性的防御之外，它们还可能作为还原态氮的储存形式。
