Elevated levels of monoterpenes and diterpene resin acids are produced in the stems of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var latifolia) saplings when wounded and inoculated with the blue-stain fungus Ceratocystis clavigera or when wounded and treated with a pectic fragment from tomato leaves (PIIF) or a fungal cell wall fragment (chitosan). This induced defensive response (hyperoleoresinosis) is t...

Stimulation of human platelet adenylate cyclase by the diterpene forskolin is associated with a decrease in the apparent substrate (MgATP) affinity of the enzyme. Addition of the stimulatory hormone prostaglandin E1 not only further increased the Vmax. of the forskolin-stimulated platelet adenylate cyclase but also caused a further increase in the Km value for MgATP, by up to 20-fold compared w...

Diterpenoid biosynthesis has been extensively studied in plants and fungi, yet cloning and engineering diterpenoid pathways in these organisms remain challenging. Bacteria are emerging as prolific producers of diterpenoid natural products, and bacterial diterpene synthases are poised to make significant contributions to our understanding of terpenoid biosynthesis. Here we will first survey dite...

Salvinorin A (1) is a hallucinogenic neoclerodane diterpene isolated from the widely available psychoactive plant Salvia divinorum and is the first example of a non-nitrogenous opioid receptor ligand. At present, there is little information available as to why this compound is selective for kappa opioid receptors. One approach to better understanding the mode of binding of 1 at kappa receptors ...

Two new cembranes, columnariols A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the cultured soft coral Nephthea columnaris. The structures of cembranes 1 and 2 were elucidated by spectroscopic methods. In the anti-inflammatory effects test, cembranes 1 and 2 were found to significantly inhibit the accumulation of the pro-inflammatory iNOS and COX-2 protein of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264...