Fungi occupy an important place in the natural world, as
non-photosynthetic organisms, they obtain their nutrients from the
degradation of organic material. They use many of their secondary
metabolites to secure a place in a competitive natural environment and
to protect themselves from predation. The diverse structures,
biosyntheses and biological activities of fungal metabolites have
attracted chemists for many years. Fungi are ubiquitous and their
activities affect many aspects of our daily lives whether it be as
sources of pharmaceuticals and food or as spoilage organisms and the
causes of diseases in plants and man. The chemistry of the fungi
involved in these activities has been the subject of considerable
study particularly over the last fifty years. Although their
ramifications can be large as in the spread of plant diseases, the
quantities of the metabolites which could be isolated precluded much
chemical work until the advent of spectroscopic methods. Whereas many
natural products derived from plants were isolated prior to the 1960s
on a scale which permitted extensive chemical degradation, this was
rarely the case for fungal metabolites. This book is an introduction
to the chemistry of fungal metabolites. The aim is to illustrate
within the context of fungal metabolites, the historical progression
from chemical to spectroscopic methods of structure elucidation, the
development in biosynthetic studies from establishing sequences and
mechanisms to chemical enzymology and genetics and the increasing
understanding of the biological roles of natural products. The book
begins with a historical introduction followed by a description of the
general chemical features which contribute to the growth of fungi.
There are many thousands of fungal metabolites whose structures are
known and the book does not aim to list them all as there are
databases to fulfill this role. The book's aim is to describe some of
the more important metabolites classified according to their
biosynthetic origin. Biosynthesis provides a unifying feature
underlying the diverse structures of fungal metabolites and the
chapters covering this area begin with a general outline of the
relevant biosynthetic pathway before presenting a detailed description
of particular metabolites. Investigations into these biosyntheses have
utilized many subtle isotopic labelling experiments and compounds that
are fungal pigments and those which are distinctive metabolites of the
more conspicuous Basidiomycetes are treated separately. Many fungal
metabolites are involved in the interactions of fungi with plants and
others are toxic to man and some of these are described in further
chapters. Fungi have the ability to transform chemicals in ways which
can complement conventional reactions and the use of fungi as reagents
forms the subject of the final chapter. This book will be particularly
useful to anybody about to embark on a career in chemical microbiology
by providing an overall perspective of fungal metabolites as well as
an essential reference tool for more general chemists.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781847558329
Publisert
2016
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Royal Society of Chemistry
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter