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2815452 
Technical Report 
Cyanogenesis, the production of hydrogen cyanide, by plants 
Conn, EE 
1978 
PPBIB/00714 
ed 
ed 
The production of HCN by higher plants is due to the presence, in the plants, of compounds which release HCN when acted upon by enzymes also usually found in the plant. The cyanogenic compounds, commonly glycosides of alpha-hydroxynitriles, are presumably located in one part of the plant cell (e.g. the vacuole) while the degradative enzymes are located in another. Numerous factors influence the potential toxicity of the cyanogenic compounds. These include: the concentration of the compound(s) in the plant; the amount of the toxic plant ingested; the size and kind of animal involved; the type of food ingested simultaneously; the possibility of the plant enzymes remaining active in the digestive tract of the animal; and the ability of the animal to detoxify the HCN which it encounters. Information on these factors, which is available in varying degrees, is summarized together with a description of the enzymatic process by which HCN is produced.