Polyphenols are the second most abundant class of substances in nature, and include tannins and flavonoids, many of which have extremely important antioxidant properties which have now been shown to have a key role in the prevention of cancer in humans.

This important book covers polyphenol chemistry, biosynthesis and genetic manipulation, ecology and plant physiology, food and nutritional aspects and the effects of polyphenols on health. Included within the contents are cutting edge chapters on biotic and abiotic stress in plants, safety and toxicity in foods, functionality and...

Plants have evolved both general and highly-specialized defense mechanisms that function to prevent diseases caused by the majority of microbial pathogens they encounter. Highly-specialized defense is governed by specific interactions between pathogen avr (avirulence) genes' loci and alleles of the corresponding plant disease resistance (R) loci. These defences can be very dynamic as microbes from the same species can act differently in their co-evolution with the specific host plant, which in turn has similarly evolved its response to external threats.

There have been major...