Abstract
In the life cycle of ferns, germinated spores develop to prothallia, on which archegonia and anteridia are formed. Fertilization of eggs in the archegonia with sperms from the antheridia results in the production of young sporophytes. In 1950, Döpp1 demonstrated that mature Pteridium aquilinum prothallia produced hormonal substance(s) inducing antheridial formation in many species of the ferns Polypodiaceae. Since then, more than ten fern species have been reported2–4 to produce such antheridiuminducing substances, which were designated as antheridiogens.5 Though it has been shown,6 based on cross-testing of biological activities, that there are several different types of fern antheridiogens, only four have been characterized.7–11 All the antheridiogens characterized were derived from schizaeaceous ferns, and they are all gibberellin (GA)-related compounds. The purpose of this article is to review chemical structures and biological activities of the antheridiogens and to discuss their biosynthetic relationships.
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Yamane, H. (1991). Antheridiogens of Schizaeaceous Ferns: Structures, Biological Activities, and Biosynthesis. In: Takahashi, N., Phinney, B.O., MacMillan, J. (eds) Gibberellins. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3002-1_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3002-1_37
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