RECONSIDERING THE FUNCTIONS OF LATEX

Enormous quantities of latex are found in over 40 plant families on a worldwide basis. Despite the proportions involved, the role of this su bstance within plants is still a matter of conjecture. Latex is closel y associated with isoprene which may be emitted as a gas from both pla nts (that may or may not contain latex) and animals. The volume of iso prene expelled into the atmosphere each year is approximately equal to that of total methane emissions. The latter (but not the former), a k nown ''greenhouse gas'', is the subject of considerable concern. It ap pears reasonable, therefore, that efforts be made to examine more thor oughly the formation and function of latex and associated compounds in order to obtain a better understanding of a number of critical biolog ical and environmental phenomena known to be associated with these phy tochemicals. Possible roles played by these substances in both plants and their surrounding environment are described.