ARS | Publication request: CADINANE-TYPE SESQUITERPENES INDUCED IN GOSSYPIUM COTYLEDONS BY BACTERIAL INOCULATION

Submitted to: Phytochemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: October 4, 1994
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: When infected by plant pathogens, cotton produces a group of chemicals (i.e. phytoalexins) that are toxic to the pathogen. In order to increase resistance of cotton to these pathogens utilizing techniques from molecular biology, it is important to have a clear understanding of how these compounds are synthesized in the plant. We have identified two new compounds in cotton infected with bacterial blight. These compounds appear to be biosynthetic precursors to the phytoalexins that are important in protecting the plant from this disease.

Technical Abstract: Two new sesquiterpenes, the cis- and trans-diastereomers of 7- hydroxycalamenen-2-one, as well as trans-7-hydroxycalamenene, have been identified in extracts from cotyledons of bacterial blight-resistant Gossypium hirsutum harvested during the period of sesquiterpenoid phytoalexin biosynthesis following inoculation with the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum. The cis- and trans-diastereomers were distinguished by NOE correlations predicted from molecular modelling calculations.