The Open Systems Biology Journal

2009, 2 : 18-19
Published online 2009 April 14. DOI: 10.2174/1876392800902010018
Publisher ID: TOSYSBJ-2-18

RESEARCH ARTICLE
 Plant Immunity May Benefit Human Medicine

Ephraim Philip Lansky, * and Eviatar Nevo
Institute of Evolution, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel

* Address correspondence to this author at the Institute of Evolution, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel; Tel: +972 545 273 156; E-mail: elansky@research.haifa.ac.il

ABSTRACT

Brachypodium distachyon, a model genomic organism, has also been studied metabolomically for its reactions to specific stimuli such as fungal infection or proximity to other botanical organisms. Coincidentally, the metabolic output in response to pathogenic fungi produces compounds (phospholipids) valuable in treating invasive fungal infections in humans. This leads to general hypothesis that specific stressing of plants may produce compounds of value for the treatment resulting from homologous or identical stressors, and so constitute a novel putative approach for pharmaceutical discovery and development. Some specific examples and suggestions for future study are considered