Isolation of a germination stimulant for striga hermonthicu (Del)Benth from root culture of Menispermum dauricum DC

In this paper the isolation and purification of Striga kermontkica germination stimulant from Menispermum daurlcum DC．root culture filtrate are reported．Purification and isolation were undertaken by absorption of the stimulants onto XAD-4,solvent partitioning into ethyl acetate，and further separation on Sephadex LH20，C18 Sep-Pak Cartidge；preparative and analytical HPLC columns．Each step involved in the isolation procedure was followed by a bioassay using conditioned Striga hermonthica seeds．Three stimulants were detectcd in the filtrate． on HPLC the major stimulant showed similar chromatographic behavior and CO-eluted with authentic strigo1． Furthermore,its UV and Mass spectra were similar with those reported for strigol and strigol-like molecules． In this study，albeit no novel Striga germination stimulant was isolated from M ．dauricum root culture，the investigation represents the first report on isolation of strigol or strigol-like molecule from tisue culture．Moreover，it provides unequivocal evidence that strigol and strigol-like moleculas are of plant origin．