Fungi in plants

Osbourn, A.E., Wubben, J.P., Daniels, M J. Saponin detoxification by phytopathogenic fungi. In Plant-Microbe Interactions Volume 2. Stacey, G, Keen, N.T. ed., New York Chapman and Hall, 1995a, pp. 99-124. Osbourn, A. Bowyer, P., Lunness, P., Clarke, B., Daniels, M. Fungal pathogens of oat roots and tomato leaves employ closely related enzymes to detoxify different host plant saponins. Mol Plant Microb Interact 1995b 8 971-978. 

Gessner, M. O. Newell, S. Y. (2002). Biomass, growth rate, and production of filamentous fungi in plant litter. In Manual of Environmental Microbiology, 2nd edn, ed. 

USE Anisomycin and deacetylanisomycin in the eradication of bean mildew to inhibit other pathogenic fungi in plants. 

The above survey of the present state of our knowledge emphasizes the complexity of the problem, and our limited knowledge of the role of these fungi in plant nutrition, especially in agricultural crops. Some fungi are unquestionably beneficial, or even essential, under some ecological conditions, whereas under other conditions they may have only a limited beneficial effect or occasionally be harmful. 

Rogers, S. O. and Bendich, A. J. (1994) Extraction of total cellular DNA from plants, algae and fungi. In Plant Molecular Biology Manual, Dl, Ed. 2 (ed. S. B. Gelvin and R. A. SchUperoort). Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 1-8. 

C,2H220ii,2H20. M.p. 9TC. A non-reducing disaccharide, which forms the principal carbohydrate of insect haemolymph. It comprises about 25% of trehala manna, the cocoons of a parasitic beetle. Trehalose also occurs in fungi, e.g. Amanita muscaria, generally replacing sucrose in plants lacking chlorophyll and starch. 

Terpenoids are classified according to the number of five-carbon multiples they contain. Monoterpenoids contain 10 carbons and are derived from two isopentenyl diphosphates, sesquiterpenoids contain 15 carbons and are derived from three isopentenyl diphosphates, diterpenoids contain 20 carbons and are derived from four isopentenyl diphosphates, and so on, up to triterpenoids (C30) and tetraterpenoids (C40). Monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids are found primarily in plants, bacteria, and fungi, but the higher terpenoids occur in both plants and animals. The triterpenoid lanosterol, for example, is the precursor from which steroid hormones are made, and the tetraterpenoid /3-carotene is a dietary source of vitamin A (Figure 27.6). 

Fungi (Mycophyta, Mycota, Eumycetes) are chlorophyll-free plants, eukaryotic cells growing in hyphae or yeasts and causing diseases in plants, animals and humans. 

Tables 2.6 and 2.7 give examples of the modes of action of pollutants in animals and in plants/fungi, respectively. It is noteworthy that many of the chemicals represented are pesticides. Pesticides are designed to be toxic to target species. On the other hand, manufacturers seek to minimize toxicity to humans, beneficial organisms and, more generally, nontarget species. Selective toxicity is an important issue. Regardful of the potential risks associated with the release of bioactive compounds into the environment, regulatory authorities usually require evidence of the mode of toxic action before pesticides can be marketed. Other industrial chemicals are not subject to such strict regulatory requirements, and their mode of action is frequently unknown.

Zryd, J.P. and Christinet, L., Betalains, in Plant Pigments and Their Manipulation, Davies, K., Ed., Annual Plant Reviews 14, CRC Press/Blackwell, Oxford, 2004, 185. Gill, M. and Steglich, W., Pigments of fungi (Macromycetes), Progr. Chem. Organic Natural Products, 51, 1, 1987. 

Plants are continually exposed to a vast array of potential phytopathogenic fungi nevertheless, plants resist to most of them by blocking fungal development soon after penetration. Resistance against pathogens can be distinguished in resistance at the species level (non-host resistance) and resistance at the cultivar level (race-cultivar resistance). Plants lack a circulatory system and antibodies and have evolved a defense mechanism that is distinct from the vertebrate immune... 

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