Discovery of the molecular mode of action of karrikins in plants

Karrikins是一种新发现的天然植物生长调节剂家族，可以刺激种子萌发和幼苗活力。它们是在烟雾中发现的，虽然它们在火灾生态学中非常重要，但它们的意义要广泛得多，因为来自非火灾易发地区的物种也会对卡瑞金做出反应。我们的研究将发现Karrikin如何在分子水平上在植物细胞中发挥作用。我们的发现将被应用于改善农作物的生长，刺激杂草的萌发以便根除它们，并在恢复生态学中恢复退化的土地，如矿场。澳大利亚在这一新的重要研究领域的世界领先地位将得到提升。

Karrikins are a newly-discovered family of naturally-occurring plant growth regulators that stimulate seed germination and seedling vigour. They were discovered in smoke and while they are centrally important in fire ecology they have far wider significance since species from non-fire-prone regions also respond to karrikins. Our research will discover how karrikins work at the molecular level in plant cells. Our discoveries will be applied to improve growth of crop plants, to stimulate germination of weeds so that they can be eradicated, and in restoration ecology to revegetate degraded land such as minesites. Australia's world-leading position in this new important research area will be enhanced.