Academic Staff

Rings or arcs of fungus-stimulated plant growth occur worldwide. These are commonly referred to as “fairy rings”. In 2010, we discovered 2-azahypoxanthine (AHX) and imidazole-4-carboxamide (ICA), compounds responsible for the fairy-ring phenomenon caused by fungus. Recently, we reported the isolation and structure determination of a common metabolite of AHX in plants, 2-aza-8-oxohypoxanthine (AOH). Currently, it has been studied for the purpose of search of metabolic compounds, biosynthetic and metabolic enzymes of fairy chemicals (AHX, AOH, ICA).