Exposure of seeds to aerosol smoke or crude smoke extracts stimulates the germination of a number of fire-dependent and fire-independent plant species. We now report the identity of a germination-promoting compound present in plant- and cellulose-derived smoke. The structure of this compound, deduced from spectroscopic analysis and confirmed by synthesis, was shown to be that of the butenolide 3-methyl-2 H -furo[2,3- c ]pyran-2-one ( 1 ). Here we show that 1 promotes germination of a number of plant species at a level similar to that observed with plant-derived smoke water.

Wine is an ancient beverage and has been prized throughout time for its unique and pleasing flavor. Wine flavor arises from a mixture of hundreds of chemical components interacting with our sense organs, producing a neural response that is processed in the brain and resulting in a psychophysical percept that we readily describe as “wine.” The chemical components of wine are derived from multiple sources; during fermentation grape flavor components are extracted into the wine and new compounds are formed by numerous chemical and biochemical processes. In this review we discuss the various classes of chemical compounds in grapes and wines and the chemical and biochemical processes that influence their formation and concentrations. The overall aim is to highlight the current state of knowledge in the area of grape and wine aroma chemistry.

Strains of Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria were isolated from nitrogen-fixing nodules of the native legumes Listia angolensis (from Zambia) and Lupinus texensis (from Texas, USA). Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene showed that the novel strains belong to the genus Microvirga , with ≥96.1 % sequence similarity with type strains of this genus. The closest relative of the representative strains Lut6^T and WSM3557^T was Microvirga flocculans TFB^T, with 97.6–98.0 % similarity, while WSM3693^T was most closely related to Microvirga aerilata 5420S-16^T, with 98.8 % similarity. Analysis of the concatenated sequences of four housekeeping gene loci (dnaK, gyrB, recA and rpoB) and cellular fatty acid profiles confirmed the placement of Lut6^T, WSM3557^T and WSM3693^T within the genus Microvirga . DNA–DNA relatedness values, and physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of Lut6^T, WSM3557^T and WSM3693^T from each other and from other Microvirga species with validly published names. The nodA sequence of Lut6^T was placed in a clade that contained strains of Rhizobium , Mesorhizobium and Sinorhizobium , while the 100 % identical nodA sequences of WSM3557^T and WSM3693^T clustered with Bradyrhizobium , Burkholderia and Methylobacterium strains. Concatenated sequences for nifD and nifH show that the sequences of Lut6^T, WSM3557^T and WSM3693^T were most closely related to that of Rhizobium etli CFN42^T nifDH. On the basis of genotypic, phenotypic and DNA relatedness data, three novel species of Microvirga are proposed: Microvirga lupini sp. nov. (type strain Lut6^T = LMG 26460^T = HAMBI 3236^T), Microvirga lotononidis sp. nov. (type strain WSM3557^T = LMG 26455^T = HAMBI 3237^T) and Microvirga zambiensis sp. nov. (type strain WSM3693^T = LMG 26454^T = HAMBI 3238^T).

The available experimental liquid‐phase thermal conductivity data for water, toluene, and n‐heptane have been examined with the intention of establishing standard reference values along the saturation line. The quality of available data is such that for toluene and water new standard reference values can be proposed with confidence limits better than ±1.0% for most of the normal liquid range. For n‐heptane there are insufficient reliable experimental data for the system to be treated as a primary reference standard, so a lower quality correlation has been developed which yields a set of secondary reference data with confidence limits of ±1.5% for most of the normal liquid range.