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Antiphytoviral Activity of Essential Oils of Some Lamiaceae Species and There Most Important Compounds on CMV and TMV

The aromatic plants produce a large, diverse array of organic compounds, which are known as secondary metabolites. These substances are typically found in only one plant species or a taxonomically related group of species. Secondary metabolites can be divided into three groups according to their mode of biosynthesis: terpenes, phenolic and nitrogencontaining compounds. Terpenes are lipids synthesized from acetyl-CoA via the mevalonic acid pathway. There are classified by the number of 5-carbon units which they contain: 10-carbon terpens (two C5 units) are called monoterpenes, 15-carbon terpens (three C5 units) are sesquiterpenes, 20-carbon (four C5 units) are diterpenes … and polyterpenoids (C5)n carbons [1]. Lamiaceae family includes about 3500 species spread all over the world but mostly in the Mediterranean area. The species of the investigated family are well known as aromatic species, as they contain substantial quantities of the essential oils. In these studies we have used species of three genuses (Satureja, Teucrium and Micromeria) which grow in unpolluted areas of the coastal part of Croatia. In all cases there are aromatic plants that produce essential oils as normal metabolic activity. Producing essential oil is one of the morphological and anatomical adaptations of xerophyte plant which was formed in response to the specific conditions of plant life, as well as a hypersensitivity reaction to the temperature cross flow and water stress [2]. In these plants essential oils mainly producing glands that are part of the epidermis [3]. Essential oils are variable mixtures, principally of terpenoids, and specifically of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, and represent secondary metabolites that occur as intracellular cytoplasmic products and they are isolated from dried aerial plant parts by distillation or extraction. Monoterpenes, are divided into two groups of compounds regular and irregular, of which is precursor geranylpyrophosphate. Regular monoterpenes divided into acyclic, monocyclic and bicyclic groups. Sesquiterpenes are acyclic and cyclic C15 components, which is precursor farnesylpyrophosphate [1]. A significant number of plants of this family have been used in traditional medicine and their posses a wide spectrum of biological activities, which may be of great importance in several fields such as antimicrobial [4, 5] and antiphytoviral activity [6, 7]. A novel way to reduce the proliferation of plant viruses is the use of essential oils or there compounds. The ability of plants to defend themselves from infection is related to the activation of the immune response. Antiviral substances are not only protection for a species that produces them, but also for species that breed in its immediate neighbourhood. This is the reason that we have to isolate the essential oils used wild plants that grow on uncontaminated and isolated habitat.

essential oil, thymol, carvacrol, β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, CMV, TMV

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