Plant photosensitizers: A survey of their occurrence in arid and semiarid plants from North America

Various plants native to arid and semiarid habitats throughout the southwestern United States, Baja California, and northern Mexico were bioassayed for phototoxic natural products. Approximately 115 species representing 57 genera and eight plant families were assayed for phototoxic activity by standard antimicrobial techniques usingEscherichia coli andSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Phototoxic constituents were extracted from numerous members in the Asteraceae (Compositae) and occurred with highest frequency among species of the subtribe Pectidinae (tribe Heliantheae). Extracts ofPectis, the largest genus in the Pectidinae, had substantial light-activated biocidal action despite the paucity of acetylenic thiophenes, the phototoxins characteristic of most other genera in the subtribe. Leaf resin from the creosote bush [Larrea tridentata (Sesse & Mol. ex DC.) Coville; Zygophyllaceae], a dominant desert shrub, possessed potent antimicrobial activity in the absence of light; however, the toxicity of this extract was slightly enhanced in the presence of UVA irradiation. Phototoxic antimicrobials were not detected in extracts of selected species from the Asclepiadaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Lamiaceae, Polygonaceae, or Solanaceae.