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Rosenkranz, M. ; Schnitzler, J.-P.

Plant volatiles.

eLS, DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000910.pub3 (2016)
DOI
Plants produce an amazing number of chemical compounds that can disperse in the air at ambient temperature. These plant volatiles have served mankind, perhaps since pre-Neolithic times, as perfumes and flavour compounds. In nature, these compounds attract pollinators and seed dispersers, protect plants through repulsion or intoxication of attacking herbivores, entice predator or parasitoid insects that prey on herbivores, prime defences of neighbouring plants against imminent attack, confer antimicrobial properties critical to defence against pathogens and mitigate oxidative stresses. Plant volatiles are typically classified into four major categories: terpenes, fatty acid derivatives, amino acid derivatives and phenylpropanoid/benzenoid compounds, although a number of species- or genus-specific volatile compounds, such as those found in select species of Alliaceae and Brassicaceae, fall outside these categories. This enormous variety is represented by more than 1700 compounds from 90 species.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Keywords plant volatiles; pollination; terpenes; plant defence; phenylpropanoids; atmospheric chemistry; secondary metabolites; biosynthesis; headspace
Journal Encyclopedia Of Life Sciences
Publisher Wiley
Publishing Place Chichester
Institute(s) Research Unit Environmental Simulation (EUS)