The year 1967 began a new era for plant pathology, as Japanese researchers reported the discovery of pathogens heretofore unknown in plants. These were called mycoplasmalike organisms, or MLO. Several diseases thought to be caused by viruses were subsequently reexamined, and MLO were identified as the true causal agents. The significance of this discovery is shown by the wide host range of MLO:...

This study investigated the effects of some plant extracts on the bacterial communication system, expressed as quorum sensing (QS) activity. Quorum sensing has a directly proportional effect on the amount of certain compounds, such as pigments, produced by the bacteria. Alcohol extracts of 23 ornamental and medicinal plants were tested for anti-QS activity by the Chromobacterium violaceum assay...

Plants of the Lamiaceae family are important ornamental, medicinal, and aromatic plants, many of which produce essential oils that are used in traditional and modern medicine, and in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industry. Various species of the genera Hyssopus, Leonurus, Mentha, Nepeta, Origanum, Perovskia, Phlomis, Salvia, Scutellaria, and Ziziphora are widespread throughout the wor...

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring pigments ubiquitously present in plants and, as such, part of the human diet. Owing to their biological activity, anthocyanins have beneficial health effects but, unfortunately, are not present in some important crop plants, such as tomatoes. Recently, a 'purple' tomato, highly enriched with anthocyanins, was produced by the ectopic expression of two selecte...

Plants are valuable sources of a vast array of chemical compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, pigments, antimicrobials, pharmaceutical, etc. The majority of the compounds were produced by plants during different stages of cell, tissues and organ differentiation. Plant tissue culture is the process by which parts of plant can be grown in vitro condition in a sterile culture medium. The nutrient ...

Effect of several soil fumigants on plant-parasitic nematodes, weeds, and snapdragon ( Antirrhinum majus L.) production were evaluated in a commercial site in southeast Florida in 2002-03. Treatments consisted of methyl bromide (98%) + chloropicrin (2%), metam sodium, metam sodium + chloropicrin, and a nontreated control. All fumigant treatments reduced (P < 0.05) weed populations compared to t...