Bioorganic studies on nyctinastic leaf-movement controlled by a biological clock

大多数豆科植物在晚上合上叶子，就像睡觉一样，早上又把叶子打开。这种昼夜节律是由这类植物的生物钟控制的。对一些耐药植物的广泛研究导致了各种闭叶和开叶物质的分离。我们发现，生物钟通过β-葡萄糖苷酶的激活，调节植物体内开叶和闭叶物质的浓度平衡，产生叶片运动的昼夜节律（图）。此外，我们将展示我们使用合成探针化合物进行植物叶片运动的生物有机研究的两个例子。一种是通过荧光标记的探针化合物直接观察叶子运动因子的靶细胞，另一种是通过合成抑制叶子闭合的非天然天然产物，对“植物为什么睡觉”这一历史问题进行化学研究。

Most leguminous plants close their leaves in the evening, as if to sleep, and open them early in the morning. This circadian rhythm is known to be controlled by a biological clock of such plants. Extensive studies on some nyctinastic plants led to the isolation of a variety of leaf-closing and leaf-opening substances. And we found that a biological clock regulates the balance of concentration between leaf-opening and -closing substances in the plant body through the activation of β-glucosidase and generates the circadian rhythm of leaf-movement (Figure). Also, we will show two examples of our attempts for the bioorganic studies of plant leaf-movement using synthetic probe compounds. One is the direct observation of the target cell for leaf-movement factor by fluorescence-labeled probe compounds and the other is the chemical study on the historical problem, "Why does the plant sleep?" by using synthetic non-natural natural products that inhibit the leaf closure.