Leishmaniasis has a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms due to infection to numbers of Leishmania species and makes enormous mortality and morbidity. There are clues of antileishmanial effects of prenylated coumarins. Apiaceae family is one of the most important sources of coumarins. Air-dried aerial parts of Ferulago angulata and fruits of Prangos asperula were extracted with n-hexane, using a...

The metabolites from the coumarin class, present in tissues of plants belonging mainly to the Rutaceae and Apiaceae families, included compounds with high chemical diversity such as simple coumarins and furocoumarins. These health-promoting components are recognized for their valuable biological activities in herbal preparations but also for their phototoxic effects. In this work, a targeted li...

Esterified drimane-type sesquiterpene lactones such as astellolides display various biological activities and are widely produced by plants and fungi. Given their low homology to known sesquiterpene cyclases, the genes responsible for their biosynthesis have not been uncovered yet. Here, we identified the astellolide gene cluster from Aspergillus oryzae and discovered a novel sesquiterpene bios...

For decades coumarins have been the most commonly prescribed drugs for therapy and prophylaxis of thromboembolic conditions. Despite the limitation of their narrow therapeutic dosage window, the broad variation of intra- and inter-individual drug requirement, and the relatively high incidence of bleeding complications, prescriptions for coumarins are increasing due to the aging populations in i...

Calophyllum brasiliense and Mammea americana (Clusiaceae) are two trees from the tropical rain forests of the American continent. A previous screening showed high trypanocidal activity in the extracts of these species. Several mammea-type coumarins, triterpenoids and biflavonoids were isolated from the leaves of C. brasiliense. Mammea A/AA was obtained from the fruit peels of M. americana. Thes...

BACKGROUND Coumarins are a major group of plant secondary metabolites that serves as defense compounds against pathogens. Although coumarins can be obtained from diverse plant sources, the use of microorganisms to synthesize them could be an alternative way to supply building blocks for the synthesis of diverse coumarin derivatives. RESULTS Constructs harboring two genes, F6'H (encoding ferul...

Although, coumarins are a group of compounds which are naturally found in some plants, they can be synthetically produced as well. Because of their diverse derivatives, origin and properties most of them can be used for medicinal purposes. For example, they can be used against fungal diseases or in studying structure and biological properties of antifungal agents to discover new compounds with ...

Coumarins are nowadays an important group of organic compounds from natural sources that are useful in a number of fields. Because they possess different pharmacological properties, finding the proper extraction conditions for their separation from plant matrices is a very important step. In this report Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) under different temperature conditions and with differen...

Sesquiterpenoids, and specifically sesquiterpene lactones from Asteraceae, may play a highly significant role in human health, both as part of a balanced diet and as pharmaceutical agents, due to their potential for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and cancer. This review highlights the role of sesquiterpene lactones endogenously in the plants that produce them, and explores mechanisms b...

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) sesquiterpene lactones were recently shown to be derived from a common sesquiterpene intermediate, (+)-germacrene A. Germacrene A is of interest because of its key role in sesquiterpene lactone biosynthesis and because it is an enzyme-bound intermediate in the biosynthesis of a number of phytoalexins. Using polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers, we have i...