0000000000302014
AUTHOR
Sajeva Maurizio
Essential Oil Composition of
Drug resistance is a major obstacle in antibiotic and antitumor chemotherapy. In response to the necessity to find new therapeutic strategies, plant secondary metabolites including essential oils (EOs) may represent one of the best sources. EOs in plants act as constitutive defenses against biotic and abiotic stress, and they play an important role in the pharmacology for their low toxicity, good pharmacokinetic and multitarget activity. In this context, natural products such as EOs are one of the most important sources of drugs used in pharmaceutical therapeutics. The aim of this paper was to identify the chemical composition of the essential oil of Alluaudia procera leaves, obtained by hy…
Electrophysiological and behavioral studies in the evaluation of semiochemical attractants for Stegobium paniceum L. (Coleoptera: Anobiidae)
Stegobium paniceum (L.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), also named drugstore beetle, is one of the major pests for a wide variety of dry and durable stored products. Females of this species produce a sex pheromone, (2S,3R,1’R)-Stegobinone that attracts males and elicit precopulatory searching behaviour. However, (2S,3R,1’R)-Stegobinone has eight possible isomers which are produced during its chemical synthesis and one of them inhibiting the pheromone activity, the (2S,3R,1'S)-Stegobinone form. In addition, the high costs of synthesis of (2S,3R,1’R)-Stegobinone suggest that alternative volatile compounds (e.g. those from food or oviposition sources) might be considered as attractant for traps. In t…
In-vitro regeneration of Calendula maritima Guss. (Asteraceae), a threatened plant endemic to Western Sicily
Calendula maritima is a critically endangered endemic plant of Western Sicily. Besides habitat destruction, the hybridization with the contiguous congener species C. fulgida is a major threat to its conservation. For this reason, seed-based propagation and seed storage are not appropriate for conservation purposes. In the present paper we describe a rapid and prolific In vitro plant regeneration method by direct organogenesis from leaves of C. maritima. Leaf explants were cultured on solid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium in the presence of several plant growth regulator combinations. The best shoot multiplication rate (2.5 shoots/explant) was obtained on the medium containing 4.4 mu M 6-ben…