Glandular chemical defence relying on the action of salicylaldehyde is characteristic for Chrysomela leaf beetle larvae. The salicylaldehyde precursor salicin, sequestered from salicaceous host plants, is deglucosylated and the aglycon further oxidized by a salicyl alcohol oxidase (SAO) to the respective aldehyde. SAOs, key enzymes in salicin-based glandular chemical defence, were previously id...

Rejection of bitter substances is common in many species and may function to protect an animal from ingestion of bitter-tasting toxins. Since many plants are bitter, it has been proposed that high tolerance for bitterness would be adaptive for herbivores. Earlier studies conducted on herbivorous guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) have been used to support this proposal. We tested guinea pigs with bi...

Salicinoids are well-known defense compounds in salicaceous trees and careful screening at the population level is warranted to fully understand their diversity and function. European aspen, Populus tremula, is a foundation species in Eurasia and highly polymorphic in Sweden. We exhaustively surveyed 102 replicated genotypes from the Swedish Aspen collection (SwAsp) for foliar salicinoids using...

The total synthesis of two natural phenolglycosides of the family Salicaceae, namely: populoside and 2-(β-d-glucopyranosyloxy)-5-hydroxy benzyl (3-methoxy-4-hydroxy) cinnamoate and nine not found yet in plants acyl derivatives of phenoglycosides: 2-(β-d-glucopyranosyloxy)-benzylcinnamoate, 2-(β-d-glucopyranosyloxy)-benzyl (4-hydroxy) benzoate, 2-(β-d-glucopyranosyloxy)-benzyl (3-methoxy-4-hydro...

Lactobacillus salivarius Rogosa et al. 1953 was described as a homofermentative lactobacillus with two varieties: salivarius, typified inter alia by the ability to ferment rhamnose, and salicinius, characterized by the ability to ferment the glucoside salicin. These varieties have become accepted as subspecies divisions. We have examined the relatedness of 32 L. salivarius strains by a polyphas...

Plants have developed biochemical responses to adapt to biotic stress. To characterize the resistance mechanisms in poplar tree against Apripona germari, comprehensive metabolomic changes of poplar bark and xylem in response to A. germari infection were examined by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS). It was found that, four days after feeding (stage I), A. germari i...

An anaerobic, mesophilic, sporeforming, xylanolytic bacterium was isolated from decayed Pinus patula wood chips. The cells of this organism were gram-negative rods, had peritrichous flagella, and formed terminal round endospores which distended the cell wall. Xylan, cellobiose, fructose, glucose, maltose, mannose, melezitose, raffinose, rhamnose, salicin, sucrose, and xylose were utilized. The ...