MISCELLANEOUS MECHANISMS Hauschka et al.

(1945) found that cysteine and glutathione inactivated parasorbic acid; however, cystine, glycine, and glutamic acid did not affect activity of that allelopathic compound. They suggested, therefore, that parasorbic acid and related unsaturated lactones, such as patulin and penicilic acid, may interfere with cellular proliferation because of their reactivity with SH groups essential to enzyme function. Cavallito and Haskell (1945) reported the same phenomenon about the same time. They found that the antibiotic properties of penicillin and several widely different bacteriostatic substances, all of which were unsaturated lactones, were inactivated by compounds combine and the end products in most cases. They concluded that unsaturated lactone antibiotics may inhibit enzyme activity by uniting with SH and possibly amino groups of enzyme proteins. This could be a basic mechanism of action of all unsaturated lactone inhibitors including the coumarins, protoanemonin, strophanthidin and digitoxigenin in addition to others named above. As was pointed out in Chapter 4, allelopathic substances sometimes promote the infection of plants by pathogens. In fact, they sometimes make species susceptible to certain diseases to which they are normally resistant (Patrick and Koch, 1963). Adams et al. (1970) reported that water-repellent soils are present under several shrub species in southeastern California and thar these are particulary pronounced under Larrea divaricata, Prosopis juliflora and Cercidium floridium. The outward extension of the crown, indicating that substances leached from the aboveground parts of the plants are responsible. Fire increases the thickness of the hydrophobic layer of soil and no annual plants start for several years after a fire even if the crowns are removed. Hummocks under the shrubs are nearly devoid of annual vegetation even without fire, whereas the surrounding soil is densely populated with annuals. This is clearly a case of allelopathy because the effect is due to substances added to the environment by the shrubs, but it certainly represents an unusual mechanism of action. In this case, available soil moisture is simply decreased under the shrubs. As stated at the beginning of this chapter, the mechanisms of actions of allelopathic agents have not been adequately researched. The future will no doubt reveral many important mechanisms that are unknown at present; hopefully, this brief coverage will stimulate more research in this important area of allelopathy.

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