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Biological Activity of Allelochemicals

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Plant-derived Natural Products

Abstract

All plants produce compounds that are phytotoxic to another plant species at some concentration. In some cases, these compounds function, at least in part, in plant/plant interactions, where a phytotoxin donor plant adversely affects a target plant, resulting in an advantage for the donor plant. This review discusses how such an allelochemical role of a phytotoxin can be proven and provides examples of some of the more studied phytochemicals that have been implicated in allelopathy. These include artemisinin, cineoles, β-triketones, catechin, sorgoleone, juglone and related quinones, rice allelochemicals, benzoxazinoids, common phenolic acids, l-DOPA, and m-tyrosine. Mechanisms of avoiding autotoxicity in the donor species are also discussed.

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    Franck E. Dayan & Stephen O. Duke

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    Dayan, F.E., Duke, S.O. (2009). Biological Activity of Allelochemicals. In: Osbourn, A., Lanzotti, V. (eds) Plant-derived Natural Products. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85498-4_17

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