Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. (Rutaceae), a dioecious shrub with hooked prickly branches, has been used as folk medicine for the treatment of the common cold, stomach ache, diarrhea, and jaundice in China, Korea, and Japan. In our phytochemical investigations on this genus, a new megastigmane sesquiterpenoid, which is referred to as schinifolenol A (1), was isolated from Z. schinifoli...

Abstract Background Atractylodes chinensis (DC.) Koidz is a well-known medicinal plant containing the major bioactive compound, atractylodin, sesquiterpenoid. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis demonstrated that atractylodin was most abundant in 3-year old A. rhizome, compared with those from 1- and 2-year rhizomes, however, molecular mechanisms underlying accumulation of rh...

Six sesquiterpenoids 1-6, including two new ones, an ent-daucane-type sesquiterpenoid, asperaculane A (1), and a nordaucane one, asperaculane B (2), and four known nordaucane derivatives, aculenes A-D 3-6, together with the known secalonic acid D (7), were isolated from a fermentation culture of the fungus Aspergillus aculeatus. Their structures and absolute configurations were established by a...

The synthesis, on a large scale, with very good yield and er via an efficient strategy, of a chiral 4-substituted 2-cyclohexenone intermediate, was a milestone in the synthesis of seven analogues of meiogynin A, a natural sesquiterpenoid dimer. These compounds were elaborated in ten linear steps. Their binding affinities for Bcl-xL and Mcl-1, two proteins of the Bcl-2 family, overexpressed in v...

Botrytis cinerea is a polyphagous fungal parasite which causes serious damage to more than 200 plant species and consequent economic losses for commercial crops. This pathogen produces two families of phytotoxins, the botryanes and botcinins, which are involved in the infection mechanism. The B. cinerea genome has provided a complete picture of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of its seco...

The oomycete, Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most important plant pathogens worldwide. This thesis focuses on the late blight pathogen and its host, potato (Solanum tuberosum), and the interaction between these two organisms. Resistance to P. infestans was evaluated histologically, using leaves of potato cultivars with varying levels of general resistance. Preinfectional events could be ...