Simone Bossi

In the last decade plant-to-plant communication has received an increasing attention, particularly for the role of Volatile Organic Compounds as possible elicitors of plant defense. The role of β-ocimene as an interspecific elicitor of plant defense has been recently assessed in multitrophic systems including different plant species (Solanaceae, Poaceae, legumes) and different pest species including chewer insects and phytophagous mites. Both chewer insects and phytophagous mites are known to elicit specific plant defensive pathways which are different (at least in part) from those elicited by sap feeders. The aim of this research was to fill this gap of knowledge and to assess the role of β-ocimene as an elicitor of plant defense against aphid pests, which are sap feeders. For this purpose we used as transgenic tobacco plant releasing an odour plume enriched in this compound as emitter and a tomato plant as receiver. We selected the aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae and its natural enem...

ABSTRACT Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) is an important essential oil plant used for different purposes (from food flavoring to pharmaceutical applications) characterized by the presence of several chemotypes. Here we show the comparative analysis between hydrodistillation of essential oils (EO) and supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE) of an O. basilicum chemotype particularly rich in T-cadinol. SFE yielded a higher percentage of 1,8-cineole (10%; 4-fold), linalool (23.2%; 5.8-fold), eugenol (13.3%; 1.2-fold) and germacrene D (5.6%; 28-fold) with respect to EO. On the other hand, EO composition was characterized by higher percentages of T-cadinol (27.5%; 3-fold) and some other sesquiterpenes with respect to SFE. The presence of high percentages of T-cadinol in EO is of great importance owing to the biological activity of this compound in cancer therapy and as an antibiotic

Plants react to microbial attack with a number of defense mechanisms, including the synthesis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These responses are triggered by elicitors derived from either the cell surface of pathogens or the incomplete hydrolysis of the plant cell wall. Here we show the response of rice (Oryza sativa L., cv Gigante Vercelli) cell cultures following treatment with cell wall hydrolysates prepared from the rice blast Magnaporthe oryzae. Elicitation ...

The effect of the herbicide paraquat was studied in the menthofuran-rich Mentha x verticillata strain No. 60 leaf discs, cuttings and rooted plants in pots. Application of paraquat affected the menthofuran biosynthetic pathway, with a clearly different response in wounded tissues. The mechanism of regulation of menthofuran biosynthesis after paraquat treatment was at the transcriptional level. The role of monoterpene turnover in stress response is also discussed.