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Plant-derived Antimycotics: Current Trends and Future Prospects
South African Journal of Botany 2004, 70(4): 678 Printed in South Africa — All rights reserved
Copyright © NISC Pty Ltd
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY ISSN 0254–6299
Book Review
Plant-derived Antimycotics: Current Trends and Future Prospects M Rai and D Mares (eds) 2003, Food Products Press — an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, New York 13904-1580, United States of America 588 pages ISBN 1–56022–927–6, price $69.95 (Softcover); ISBN 1–56022–926–8, price $99.95 (Hardcover) e-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.haworthpressinc.com
There is a strong realisation worldwide of the pressing need for the development of new, safe and effective antifungal agents. This search has been stimulated by the everincreasing incidence of systemic mycoses in immunologically compromised patients and the unfortunate incidence of certain strains of clinical fungi becoming resistant to the existing antifungals. In the face of this quest it is logical that researchers look to plants to provide the answer, as plants have been combating fungal attack since time immemorial and are likely to have effective defenses against fungal infection that could be exploited. This book brings together recent contributions from distinguished researchers from around the world and provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in the search for new antifungal agents. The book is well written and successfully achieves its aim of reflecting what has been accomplished worldwide in the field of plant-derived antimycotics. The book consists of 24 chapters, the first of which addresses the need for new antifungal drugs and focuses on trends in the search for new antifungal agents as well as the methodology used in this research. This is followed by 23 chapters documenting the extensive search for new antimycotics with different chapters focusing on studies of various plant families and plants from different geographical and environmental locations. These include chapters on the antimycotic activity of the members of the Asteraceae and Meliaceae; as well as the search for natural antimycotics in diverse regions including Croatia, South America, central and west Africa, Palestine, Nepal and Fiji. These regions are all rich in phytodiversity and traditional botanical/medical knowledge. The antimycotic potential of a number of phyto-
chemicals including saponins, essential oils, triterpenic glycosides and rice phytoalexins and elicitors are reviewed. The physiological role of saponins in the plant defense system is discussed in Chapter 10. An exciting chapter (8) on the current state and future directions in plant derived antimycotics reviews the existing assays for detecting antifungal compounds and highlights factors, such as pH and time, amongst others, that can have important influence on the results of these assays. An extensive table of the most important antifungal compounds isolated from plants is also included. Chapter 9 will be of particular interest to mycologists and documents the screening of plants for antifungal properties against crop pathogenic fungi, with special attention given to the detection of compounds showing light-activated antifungal activity. The use of photoactive compounds as antifungal agents are potentially very important for agriculture as the same light mechanisms that activates them leads to their degradation, therefore a great decrease in the toxic residues introduced into the environment is expected by using such compounds. The search for novel antimycotics is of great importance, especially when the need for a natural remedy for the new spectrum of opportunistic fungal infections encountered by AIDS and cancer patients is so great. The purchase price is reasonable for a book of this quality, $69.95 for a softbound copy and $99.95 for a hardbound copy, and will appeal to scientists, mycologists, microbiologists and students alike. With its high quality, comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge of antimycotics and its easy to follow layout, this book comes highly recommended as essential reading for anyone involved in the search for new plantderived antimycotics.
KL Lindsey Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, School of Botany and Zoology, University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, South Africa e-mail: [email protected]
Copyright © NISC Pty Ltd
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY ISSN 0254–6299
Book Review
Plant-derived Antimycotics: Current Trends and Future Prospects M Rai and D Mares (eds) 2003, Food Products Press — an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, New York 13904-1580, United States of America 588 pages ISBN 1–56022–927–6, price $69.95 (Softcover); ISBN 1–56022–926–8, price $99.95 (Hardcover) e-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.haworthpressinc.com
There is a strong realisation worldwide of the pressing need for the development of new, safe and effective antifungal agents. This search has been stimulated by the everincreasing incidence of systemic mycoses in immunologically compromised patients and the unfortunate incidence of certain strains of clinical fungi becoming resistant to the existing antifungals. In the face of this quest it is logical that researchers look to plants to provide the answer, as plants have been combating fungal attack since time immemorial and are likely to have effective defenses against fungal infection that could be exploited. This book brings together recent contributions from distinguished researchers from around the world and provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge in the search for new antifungal agents. The book is well written and successfully achieves its aim of reflecting what has been accomplished worldwide in the field of plant-derived antimycotics. The book consists of 24 chapters, the first of which addresses the need for new antifungal drugs and focuses on trends in the search for new antifungal agents as well as the methodology used in this research. This is followed by 23 chapters documenting the extensive search for new antimycotics with different chapters focusing on studies of various plant families and plants from different geographical and environmental locations. These include chapters on the antimycotic activity of the members of the Asteraceae and Meliaceae; as well as the search for natural antimycotics in diverse regions including Croatia, South America, central and west Africa, Palestine, Nepal and Fiji. These regions are all rich in phytodiversity and traditional botanical/medical knowledge. The antimycotic potential of a number of phyto-
chemicals including saponins, essential oils, triterpenic glycosides and rice phytoalexins and elicitors are reviewed. The physiological role of saponins in the plant defense system is discussed in Chapter 10. An exciting chapter (8) on the current state and future directions in plant derived antimycotics reviews the existing assays for detecting antifungal compounds and highlights factors, such as pH and time, amongst others, that can have important influence on the results of these assays. An extensive table of the most important antifungal compounds isolated from plants is also included. Chapter 9 will be of particular interest to mycologists and documents the screening of plants for antifungal properties against crop pathogenic fungi, with special attention given to the detection of compounds showing light-activated antifungal activity. The use of photoactive compounds as antifungal agents are potentially very important for agriculture as the same light mechanisms that activates them leads to their degradation, therefore a great decrease in the toxic residues introduced into the environment is expected by using such compounds. The search for novel antimycotics is of great importance, especially when the need for a natural remedy for the new spectrum of opportunistic fungal infections encountered by AIDS and cancer patients is so great. The purchase price is reasonable for a book of this quality, $69.95 for a softbound copy and $99.95 for a hardbound copy, and will appeal to scientists, mycologists, microbiologists and students alike. With its high quality, comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge of antimycotics and its easy to follow layout, this book comes highly recommended as essential reading for anyone involved in the search for new plantderived antimycotics.
KL Lindsey Research Centre for Plant Growth and Development, School of Botany and Zoology, University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, South Africa e-mail: [email protected]