Detecting female sexual hormones in plants

Until now, scientists still think that only animals produce female sex hormones, progesteron, a chemical group of steroids produced by the ovaries to prepare the uterus to receive embryos and maintain them. pregnancy status. But recently, they discovered this compound in plants and another substance, progestin, used as a birth control pill and other drugs.

Walnut leaves. (Photo: Internet)

The author of this study, Professor Guido F. Pauli and colleagues, in his work published in the Journal of Natural Products (of the American Chemical Society), affirmed: " The biological meaning of progesterone has been very carefully learn about animals but why they are present in plants is still unclear . '

The authors suggest that this hormone, like other steroid group hormones , billions of years ago could be a biological growth regulator, both for animals and plants, when modern animals and plants are not yet exported. show. This new finding could change the scientific view of species evolution and the role of progesterone in organisms in general.

Previously, biologists had previously assumed that progesterone-like substances could exist in plants, but no specific evidence was found. So far, Pauli and his colleagues have used two modern lab techniques, mass spectrometry and nuclear resonance, to identify them in walnut leaves. They also discovered five new steroids, which have ' relatives ' of progesterone in a buttercup family.