Recent Advances in Phytochemistry 

About: Recent Advances in Phytochemistry is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Functional genomics & Plant secondary metabolism. It has an ISSN identifier of 0079-9920. Over the lifetime, 183 publications have been published receiving 6268 citations.

Plant apparency and chemical defense

Abstract: A major objective of insect ecology is to explain observed patterns of interaction between plants and herbivorous insects. We would like to understand both how such patterns are maintained in ecological time and also how they have come about in evolutionary time. A test of how far such understanding has progressed will be our ability to predict how patterns vary from one kind of community to another and how they will change when subjected to natural or human disturbance.

Chapter Nine Evolution of acyltransferase genes: Origin and diversification fo the BAHD superfamily of acyltransferases involved in secondary metabolism

Abstract: Enzymatic acylation is a widespread substitution reaction that is notably involved in the diversification of natural substances produced by plant secondary metabolism. Acylation may also trigger nonenzyme-catalyzed reactions in natural product biosynthesis. The glycerophospholipid acyltransferase (CoA)–dependent acyltransferases are also much diversified with respect to their molecular mass, oligomeric structure, and amino acid sequences. Several distinct classes of enzymes have been characterized among prokaryotes and animals, and many do not show any sequence conservation with other acyltransferases described in this chapter. The chapter describes a recently characterized acyltransferase superfamily from higher plants and fungi. The evolutionary aspects of this gene superfamily are discussed in the chapter, with a special emphasis on the acyltransferases of Arabidopsis thaliana , whose genome is being completely sequenced. Clustering of genes that participate in a common metabolic pathway—a general feature of prokaryotic gene organization—has been observed in filamentous fungi for many dispensable metabolic pathways (rare nutrient utilization and natural product biosynthesis).

Interactions among conifer terpenoids and bark beetles across multiple levels of scale: An attempt to understand links between population patterns and physiological processes

Abstract: Introduction 80 Bark Beetles and Associated Microorganisms in Host Conifers 80 Localized Reactions: Constitutive and Induced Defenses 83 Whole Trees: Individual Tree Defenses and Group Colonization 85 Populationand LandscapeLevel Dynamics: Bimodal Equilibria, Allee Effects, and Extended Phenotypes 89 Constraints on Population Eruptions 99 How to Link the Scales? 107

Chapter five Glucosinolate hydrolysis and its impact on generalist and specialist insect herbivores

Abstract: Summary Since the biological activities of glucosinolates arise principally from their hydrolysis products, understanding the ecological roles of glucosinolates in plantherbivore interactions requires a detailed knowledge of the formation, occurrence, comparative activities and mode of action of their hydrolysis products. However, the reactivity and volatility of glucosinolate hydrolysis products and their limited commercial availability has made them difficult to study. In this review, we have summarized the results of a number of investigations carried out in the past few decades that assessed the effects of isolated glucosinolate hydrolysis products on insect herbivores. The best studied hydrolysis products, the isothiocyanates, have frequently been shown to be toxic or deterrent to insects, and so would appear to serve as potent defenses against herbivory. Studies comparing the toxicity of various hydrolysis products suggest that isothiocyanates are more toxic than their corresponding nitriles, but most of this work has been carried out with microbes, nematodes, and mammals, rather than insects. More comparative studies need to be undertaken in which the full range of hydrolysis products, including epithionitriles, thiocyanates, and oxazolidine-2-thiones, is tested with insects. When possible, compounds should be tested with ecologically relevant insect herbivores, those that may actually come into contact with plant parts containing glucosinolates under natural conditions.