VIEW ARTICLE

Techniques

Phytoalexins: Efficient Extraction from Leaves by a Facilitated Diffusion Technique. N. T. Keen, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521; Phytopathology 68:1237-1239. Accepted for publication 24 February 1978. Copyright © 1978 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-68-1237.

A method has been devised for the extraction of phytoalexins from leaves challenged with pathogens. The leaves are harvested from intact plants and phytoalexins are extracted by vacuum infiltration with aqueous 40% ethanol and shaking them in the ethanol solution for several hours. Phytoalexins were readily isolated from the filtered solution. The method gave relatively efficient recovery of phytoalexins from soybean plants inoculated with Pseudomonas glycinea and flax plants inoculated with Melampsora lini with minimal quantities of interfering compounds. By using the new technique putative phytoalexins also were recovered from the leaves of pathogen-inoculated celery, sunflower, and wheat plants.