Ebelactones inhibit cutinases produced by fungal plant pathogens.

co-hydroxyfatty acids1}. Most plant pathogenic fungi invade their hosts by breaching the intact plant surface, and the cuticle including the polymeric cutin comprises the first barrier to be penetrated. For several host-pathogen interactions it has been demonstrated that cutin-hydrolyzing enzymes excreted by the invading pathogen are a crucial requirement for the penetration of plant cuticles2>3). Consequently, cutinase inhibitors were shown to