title: Red card for pathogens: phytoalexins in sorghum and maize.
abstract: Cereal crop plants such as maize and sorghum are constantly being attacked by a great variety of pathogens that cause large economic losses. Plants protect themselves against pathogens by synthesizing antimicrobial compounds, which include phytoalexins. In this review we summarize the current knowledge on phytoalexins produced by sorghum (luteolinidin, apigeninidin) and maize (zealexin, kauralexin, DIMBOA and HDMBOA). For these molecules, we highlight biosynthetic pathways, known intermediates, proposed enzymes, and mechanisms of elicitation. Finally, we discuss the involvement of phytoalexins in plant resistance and their possible application in technology, medicine and agriculture. For those whose world is round we tried to set the scene in the context of a hypothetical football game in which pathogens fight with phytoalexins on the different playing fields provided by maize and sorghum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Genetics, Institute of Applied Microbiology, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen 52074, Germany. alana.poloni@rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Alana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poloni
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Genetics, Institute of Applied Microbiology, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen 52074, Germany. jan.schirawski@rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schirawski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000502:physiology; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways; D060467:Disease Resistance; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D045868:Sorghum / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D000094162:Phytoalexins
chemical_list: D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D000094162:Phytoalexins