Chapter 3 - Secondary Metabolites with Antinematodal Activity from Higher Plants

Abstract

Abstract There is a great diversity of secondary metabolites in higher plants with a variety of bioactivities. Metabolites involved in plant–nematode interactions include repellents, attractants, hatching stimulants or inhibitors, and nematotoxicants, either constitutive or inducible in response to the presence of nematodes. Higher plants have yielded a broad spectrum of antinematodal compounds, mainly including aliphatics, polyacetylenes, polythiophenes, furans, terpenoids, quassinoids, phenols and phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids and lignans, flavonoids and alkaloids. These antinematodal metabolites mostly distribute in the following plant families such as Apocynaceae, Cruciferae, Compositae, Graminae, Leguminosae, Liliaceae, Magnoliaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Papaveraceae, Pinaceae, Podostemaceae, Solanaceae, and Umbelliferae. Discovery of novel antinematodal metabolites from higher plants will provide us new knowledge of using natural products to protect plants from nematodes as well as better understanding plant antinematodal mechanisms. This report covers plant-derived antinematodal secondary metabolites especially on plant-parasitic nematodes such as Anguina tritici, Aphelenchoides besseyi, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, Ditylenchus dipsaci, Globodera rostochiensis, Heterodera glycines, Heterodera schachtii, Meloidogyne arenaria, Meloidogyne incognita and Pratylenchus penetrans.