Boophone disticha (Amaryllidaceae) is widely used in traditional medicine in southern Africa. Several alkaloids, volatile oils and fatty acids have been isolated from the plant. However, there has been no literature report of a triterpene from B. disticha. Cycloeucalenol, a cycloartane triterpene, together with its regio-isomer, was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the bulbs using col...

Chemical signaling plays an important role in predator-prey interactions and feeding dynamics. Like other organisms that are sessile or slow moving, some marine sponges contain aversive compounds that defend these organisms from predation. We sought to identify and characterize a fish chemoreceptor that detects one of these compounds. Using expression cloning in Xenopus oocytes coexpressing the...

Triterpene acids (TAs) are the major bioactive constituents in the medicinal fungus Ganoderma lingzhi. However, fermentative production of TAs has not been optimized for commercial use, and whether the TAs isolated from G. lingzhi submerged culture mycelia possess antitumor activity needs to be further proven. In this study, enhanced TA yield and productivity were attained with G. lingzhi using...

In previous studies of the incorporation of sodium acetateZ-Cl4 (1, 2) and sodium mevalonate-2-C14 (2) into &sitosterol and the acidic triterpenes of Salvia oficinalis, Cl4 from both precursors was found in sterol and triterpenes. The presence of sclareol (Fig. l), /3-sitosterol, oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid II (3, 4) in the plant Xalvia sclarea has afforded an opportunity to duplicate thes...