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Rafiq Lone
Salim Khan
Abdullah Mohammed Al-Sadi Editors
Plant
Phenolics in
Biotic Stress
Management
Plant Phenolics in Biotic Stress Management
Rafiq Lone • Salim Khan •
Abdullah Mohammed Al-Sadi
Editors
# The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore
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Prof. K. K. Koul
vii
viii Acknowledgments
ix
x Contents
Salim Khan has been working as a Research Associate since October 2008 in the
Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He
has done his PhD in Biotechnology from Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi,
India. He has done MSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from G.B. Pant
University of Agriculture and Technology, Uttarakhand, India. Dr. Khan has also
worked as a Guest Lecturer in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has published
many national and international research articles. Dr. Khan has completed many
research projects funded by the Research Centre of Science College, Centre of
Excellence in Biotechnology, Deanship of Scientific Research and National Plan
for Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. He has many patents nationally and
internationally. His main research interest concentrates on molecular markers, seed
cryo-banking, next-generation sequencing, and plant DNA banking.
xiii
xiv Editors and Contributors
Contributors
Indu Sharma Department of Life Sciences, Sant Baba Bhag Singh University,
Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Nandni Sharma Department of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
India
Pooja Sharma Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak
Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Department of Microbiology, DAV University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Ishfaq Ahmad Sheergojri Department of Botany, University of Kashmir,
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Manali Singh Department of Life Sciences, Parul Institute of Applied Sciences,
Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Shraddha Singh Biochemistry Department, Biological Sciences Division, ICMR-
National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Yamini Tak Agricultural Research Station, Ummedganj, Agriculture University,
Kota, Rajasthan, India
Tarikere C. Taranath Environmental Biology Laboratory, P. G. Department of
Studies in Botany, Karnataka University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
Aqsa Tariq Institute of Botany, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus,
Lahore, Pakistan, India
Nasir Aziz Wagay Department of Botany, Government Degree College Baramulla
(Boys), Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Khursheed Ahmad Wani Department of Environmental Science, Government
Degree College, Thindim Kreeri, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Aadil Farooq War Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
Tran Dang Xuan Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering Program, Graduate
School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima,
Japan
Parvaiz Yousuf Department of Zoology, Central University of Kashmir,
Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe
Interaction: A Review 1
Rafiq Lone, Abid Bhat, Naveena Nazim, Nazir Ahmad Malla,
Gulab Khan Rohella, and Heba I. Mohamed
Abstract
Keywords
Phenolics · Symbiosis · AMF · Quorum sensing · Signaling molecules
1.1 Introduction
Plants growth and development depend on several factors, among which major
influencing factors are availability of water, sunlight, and plant–microbial
interactions and coping up with abiotic and biotic stresses (Stout et al. 2006). Plants’
ability to counter a stress (biotic or abiotic) is mostly influenced by their genetical
nature of synthesizing specific compounds which can help survive the plant under
stressful conditions (Paul et al. 2000). Plants synthesize diverse compounds to
escape from different types of stresses in order to maintain phenotypic plasticity
(Kaplan et al. 2008). Majorly, a class of compounds named phenolics with phenolic
acids, polyphenols, flavonoids, and stilbenoids helps plants to defend themselves
from these stresses (Wallis and Galarneau 2020). Aromatic compounds possessing at
least one hydroxyl groups are termed as phenolics. Among the various plant
secondary metabolites, phenolics are possibly the superior ones, located in vacuolar
cells of the epidermis and subepidermis besides the cell wall (Lattanzio et al. 2006).
Plants in the early growing phase have phenolics mainly in the nucleus or in
chloroplasts because they do not have well-developed vacuoles (Khlestkina 2013).
The accretion of phenolic compounds in chloroplasts is directly related to the
chloroplast’s ultrastructural organization and functional activities (Zaprometov and
Nikolaeva 2003). The various types of stress-relieving secondary metabolites found
in cereals, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and many other plants are mostly
phenolics (Tsao 2010). Nearly more than 8000 phenolics and polyphenolics
metabolites have structural properties similar to common phenolics (Bravo 1998).
In plants, these phenolics may be in free or in conjugated forms (Babenko et al.
2019).
Phenolics range from simple to complex; simple phenolics like phenolic acids are
low-molecular-weight compounds with one aromatic ring, while complex ones like
tannins possess more than one aromatic ring (Veberic 2016). Flavonoids having two
aromatic rings are an important class of phenolics (Rispail et al. 2005). In the plant
kingdom, phenolics are the essential and universal class of compounds (Naczk and
Shahidi 2004). The structure of phenolics varies from simple to complex regarding
their molecular masses, and they contain an aromatic ring with not less than one
hydroxyl group (Balasundram et al. 2006). These phenolic compounds are called
secondary metabolites as they do not have any role in energy processes and growth
1 Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe Interaction: A Review 3
of a plant directly (Harnly et al. 2007). Foods from plants like cereals, fruits, nuts,
and vegetables contain phenolics in considerable amounts (Aura 2008). To counter
the biotic and abiotic stress, most of the tree species form phenolics-based secondary
metabolites (Chomel et al. 2016; Zwetsloot et al. 2018).
Depending on the structure of chemical, concentration, and environmental
conditions, phenolics can be a source of food or sometimes may be toxic (Shaw
et al. 2006). The respiration rate and microbial community composition show
divergence because of phenolics (Badri et al. 2013; Zwetsloot et al. 2018). In higher
plants, phenolics shows many important properties like antiallergic, anticancerous,
antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant (Cesco et al.
2012; Daglia 2012). The various important processes in plants, like growth, devel-
opment, reproduction, and defense, are aided by phenolics (Dixon 2001).
1.2 Microbes
Every class further splits into subclasses, with flavonoids falling within the C6–
C3–C6 subclass (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006).
Medicinal plants contain simple phenolics like phloroglucinol, catechol, and hydro-
quinone (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006). These simple phenolics are found in different
parts of various plants, like catechol in Gaultheria species, arbutin in Vaccinium
species, and in pear trees (Pyrus communis L., Rosaceae) (Lattanzio 2013). Like-
wise, arbutin has also been reported in Bergenia crassifolia (L.), covering plants dry
weight up to 23%, according to Pop et al. (2009).
This group of phenolic compounds are present everywhere, with ordinary or sparse
families. The C6–C1 class is a restricted one that incorporates benzaldehyde
derivatives and carboxybenzene (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006). Salicylic acid, a member
of this class, is present in small concentrations (≤1 ppm) in essential species of
vegetables and fruits (Herrmann 1989; Tomás-Barberán and Clifford 2000). Vallin
is likely the major notable phenolic aldehyde commonly used as an element of flavor
and aroma (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006). The commonly named phenylethanoids, such
as acetophenone, phenethyl alcohol, hydroxylated, and methoxylated derivatives of
phenylacetic acid, are under the C6–C2 group (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006). The C6–C3
class contains lignols, 3-phenylpropionic acid, and aldehydes of cinnamic,
propenylphenol, coumarins, isochromen-1-one, and chromones (Tsimogiannis
et al. 2006). Hydrocinnamic acid is the most notable one in this class because it is
distributed in almost all the plant species, such as p-coumaric, 3,4-dihydroxy, and
ferulic acid (Rabe et al. 1994). The initial material for the anabolism of monolignols
is included in the C6–C3 group, such as p-coumaryl alcohol (Chiang 2006). Those
coumarins, which were made up of single molecules, were further divided into
simple coumarins, furocoumarins, and pyranocoumarins (Borges et al. 2005;
Bourgaud et al. 2006).
1 Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe Interaction: A Review 5
The phenolic compounds under this class are boundless such as xanthonoids under
the C6–C1–C6 group; stilbenoids, anthraquinones, and acridone under the C6–C2–C6
group; flavonoids under C6–C3–C6 group; and the diarylheptanoids under C6–C7–
C6. In the plant kingdom, due to their wide distribution nature, flavonoids are mostly
studied (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006).
Flavonoids are placed into a separate group based on a bridge present in them which
may be open or make a heterocyclic ring (third ring) (Tsimogiannis et al. 2006).
These constitute the main group of phenolics present in plants (Erlund 2004). There
are two benzene rings in flavonoids attached together by a pyrene ring containing an
oxygen atom (Brodowska 2017). The Flavan system is present in all the chemical
structures of flavonoids (Symonowicz and Kolanek 2012). Chalcone structure is
formed after the condensation of two benzene rings, which upon condensation
makes flavanone, an initiator for other flavonoid groups (Brodowska 2017). Further,
they are divided into different types like flavones, anthocyanins, and flavanols, based
on the dissimilarity in their structure (Brodowska 2017).
Because they are immobile, plants must contend with biotic and abiotic environ-
mental challenges. To combat these pressures, plants produce low-molecular-weight
secondary metabolites. These types of metabolites are obtained from different
pathways such as fatty acid pathway, alkaloid pathway, isopropanol, and
phenylpropanoid pathway (Dixon 2001). Plants form phenolics mainly through
three separate pathways:
CoA from obtained acetate give rise to flavonoids having two phenolic rings
attached together by a unit containing three carbon atoms (Mann 1978). The
biosynthesis of cinnamate from phenylalanine through deamination reaction
catalyzed by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is the main switch in the synthesis
of a large number of phenolics (Koukol and Conn 1961; Macheix et al. 2005).
Oxidation with the help of phenylalanine leads to tyrosine biosynthesis along with its
role in the phenolic formation (Kulma and Szopa 2007). The various types of
mechanisms, such as feedback regulation changes after transcription and channeling
of metabolites (Stafford 1974; Blount et al. 2000; Cheng et al. 2001), initiate protein
activity and expression of PAL genes (Hahlbrock and Scheel 1989) that direct the
formation of phenolics. The shikimic acid pathway forms not only essential amino
acids like tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine but also cofactors and important
vitamins (Paiva 2000). Carbohydrates obtained from hexose monophosphate shunt
and glycolysis are changed into chorismate, the forerunner of synthesis of aromatic
amino acids through the shikimic acid pathway (Zabalza et al. 2017). Nearly 20% of
the carbon fixed by plants under ordinary conditions passes through the shikimic
acid pathway, whereas plants facing any stress or showing fast growth fix more
carbon (Tohge et al. 2013). The main site for biosynthesis of most of aromatic
natured amino acids is plastids, but three of those amino acids and a few
intermediates pathways are transported in to cytosol for protein synthesis and extra
compounds obtained through the pathway of shikimic acid (Marchiosi et al. 2020).
Along with phenolic compounds, the shikimic acid route gives carbon as a basic
structure for many important compounds like auxin, salicylic acid, folic acid,
pigments of plants, and simple quinones, which are important in energy transport
along with coupling of electrons in thylakoids (Galili and Tzin 2010; Maeda and
Dudareva 2012). Oxidation with the help of phenylalanine leads to tyrosine biosyn-
thesis along with its role in phenolic formation (Kulma and Szopa 2007) (Fig. 1.1).
Phenolics are the main polyphenols produced by plants which not only protect the
plants from various types of stresses but also has a major role in the interaction of
plants with microbes (Mandal et al. 2010). The region which surrounds the plant root
system is known as rhizosphere, and this region helps the plant to develop interaction
with the micro-organisms present in its vicinity as this region is rich in nutrients
(Tyagi et al. 2018). Phenolics not only provide a defense mechanism to the plants but
also play a vital role for the interaction of rhizobia and legumes by acting as a
signaling molecule (Khare et al. 2020). Phenolic compounds released by injured
plants, like phytoalexins, are toxic for some microbes, while other microbes having
unique mechanisms use these phenols for beneficial purposes (Khare et al. 2020). A
redox reaction mediated by phenolic compounds affects the growth of the soil
microbes through enzyme activity, hormone production, access to plant-based
nutrients, and competition between microbes and nearby plants (Hättenschwiler
and Vitousek 2000; Bhattacharya et al. 2010).
1 Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe Interaction: A Review 7
6-phyrophosphate NADP+
dehyrogenase NADPH
6-phosphoglucose-lactone Glucose-6-phosphate
Ribulose-5-phosphate Fructose-6-phosphate
Ribose-5-phosphate
3-Deoxy-D-Arabinoheptulosonic acid-7-phosphate
Phosphoric acid
H2O
Shikimic acid
Cinnamic acid
Para-caumaric acid
Para-coumaryl CoA
Chalcones
Flavones
Flavanones Isoflavones
Dihydroflavanones
Anthocyanines
Tannins
8 R. Lone et al.
Flavonoids are a separate class of polyphenols that are gaining immense attention
because of their role in mediating the relationship between microbes and plants
(Khare et al. 2020). The nodulation genes which are essential for establishing
rhizobia symbiosis are induced by flavonoids that act as chemical attractants (Perret
et al. 2000). Ruan et al. observed that the flavonoids secreted by the legumes through
exudates of roots have a prominent role in the germination of pathogens present in
pea and beans (Ruan et al. 1995).
The plant–microbe-based association is gaining a lot of attention in the field of
research because these types of interactions are very helpful in maintaining the
equilibrium of the soil’s ecosystem through different ways like availability of
nutrients for plants, enhancing the soil’s fertility, the health of soil, and defense
toward various types of stresses (Tiwari and Singh 2017; Singh and Gupta 2018).
For the maintenance of the soil’s ecosystem, the relation between microbes and
plants is important, which is beneficial for the growth of the plants through signaling,
but we do not have enough information about this signaling and the processes by
which this interaction helps in defense and symbiosis (Shastri and Kumar 2019).
Plant roots secrete various functional compounds in the rhizosphere; these
compounds have an essential part in the physicochemical associations and biological
interaction of plants with surrounding environment. These compounds, through
signaling, provide benefits to the microbes and to the plants involved with these
microbes. Thus, these interactions in between the plants and microbes may be useful,
dangerous, and neutral depending on the molecular signals exchanged (Shastri and
Kumar 2019). To attract these beneficial microbes, plants prepare various signaling
compounds, which may include both primary as well as secondary metabolites
(Singh et al. 2016). Microbes present in the surrounding of the plants secrete various
small and volatile molecules like plant hormones, hydrogen cyanide, enzymes,
siderophores, homoserine, etc. These molecules are identified by the plant, and
plants start to prepare strategies for their normal growth and development (Ortíz-
Castro et al. 2009). Plants and soil microbes frequently engage in long-lasting close
interactions with other species on this planet, like pathogenesis and symbiosis. The
plant and microbe interactions present in the soil may be for a short period of time or
long-lasting; interactions like symbiosis as well as pathogenesis are the commonest
ones of long-lasting interactions, and the role of these interactions in nitrogen
fixation and mycorrhizae formation is well studied. With the help of these types of
interactions, the plant attains a healthy growth as well as defense against diseases
(Shastri and Kumar 2019) (Fig. 1.2).
The roots of the leguminous plants have a specialized structure, i.e., nodule, which
originates because of the symbiosis with the rhizobia bacteria. The bacteria present
in the nodules of the roots discriminate into bacteroids fixing nitrogen in reduced
form for the plant in return for glucose and shield (Becker et al. 1998; Schauser et al.
1999). The physiology behind the rhizobium and legume interaction and the
1 Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe Interaction: A Review 9
1. Iron chelation
2. Nitrogen fixation
Fig. 1.2 Effect of plant microbe interaction on the growth and development of the plant
mechanism involved in the fixation of nitrogen has mainly been explored by many
researchers (Broughton et al. 2000; Jones et al. 2007).
The microbe–plant-based interaction involves various signal molecules, and this
interaction is vital for the root nodules formation. Consequently, a number of
characteristics involved in plant–bacteria identification, nodule emergence, and the
fixation of nitrogen have been well-researched (Kondorsi and Schultze 1998; Geurts
et al. 2005). In recent times, in Arachis hypogaea, it has been found that the
expression and assemblage of phenolics occur during nodulation (Chakraborty and
Mandal 2008). The leguminous plants secrete various signaling molecules such as
betaines, aldonic acids, and flavonoids inside seeds as well as in roots which help in
plant–rhizobium symbiosis (Phillips and Torrey 1972). In the interaction between
the bacteria and rhizobia inside the rhizosphere, the phenolics not only help in their
growth but also act as chemoattractants for legume–rhizobia symbiosis (Hartwig
et al. 1991; Caetano-Anolles et al. 1988). Phenolic compounds having free –OH
groups can hinder in flavonoid signaling involved in symbiosis of rhizobia–legume
as well as in the fixation of nitrogen (Fox et al. 2001). The rhizobia being occupied in
symbiosis also helps in the production of flavonoids in roots as well as in their
nodules, sets Nod factor formation during infection, and also earlier to infection
(Zuanazzi et al. 1998). Different phenolic compounds are secreted from various parts
of leguminous plants, like flavonols from Vicia faba, vanillin from peanuts, and
isoflavonoids from soybeans (Bekkara et al. 1998; Zawoznik et al. 2000; D’Arcy-
Lameta and Jay 1987). These phenolics control the gene expression of nodulation
and also show a prominent effect on legume–rhizobial interaction (Mandal et al.
2010). The various phenolics involved in rhizobia–legume symbiosis differ in their
structure, but they all have a nonreducing side chain of long fatty-acid having an N-
acyl group, biologically active in the leguminous plant, bring about the prevention of
root hairs formation as well as cell division in cortical cells inside the roots which
causes the formation of nodules (Mandal et al. 2010). In a mixture containing both
10 R. Lone et al.
the legumes and rhizobia, it has been found that both of these are important for this
interaction (Zawoznik et al. 2000; Novikova 1994). In Rhizobium trifolii, it has been
found that some phenolics help in the activation of the nod genes while others in its
suppression (Djordjevic and Rolfe 1988).
Phenolics not only regulate the expression of nod genes responsible for symbiosis
but also bring changes in legume–rhizobium interaction (Kondorsi and Schultze
1998). During legume–rhizobial symbiosis, rhizobium secretes chemical molecules
with the help of nod genes, which regulate the nodule formation on roots. The
activation of these nod genes is controlled by the activator protein, i.e., nod D protein
(Horvath et al. 1987). The signaling molecules secreted by the leguminous plants are
identified by the rhizobia, which in return secrete lipo-chitooligosaccharide nod
factor which brings the changes in the morphology of root hairs of legumes, causes
the development of infection thread inside the root cortical, nodule formation and
nitrification (Mandal et al. 2010). Phenolics are essential for nodule formation, e.g.,
flavonoids released from various regions of the roots changes the gene expression of
nod genes and nodule organogenesis (Redmond et al. 1986). The Rhizobial nod
genes (NodD1/NodD2/NodD3) are activated by the secreted flavonoids from the
roots, and the genes’ products trigger the transcriptional activation of all other nod
genes. Root-based flavonoids trigger the expression of other nod genes by binding to
their transcriptional activation site. The inner membrane of the cell contains
flavonoids that the NodD proteins are targeted to and interact with (van Rhijn and
Vanderleyden 1995). These flavonoids produced from the roots fasten with the
1 Role of Phenolics in Plant–Microbe Interaction: A Review 11
transcription active regions of Nod genes of rhizobia, and as a result of this, their
occurs the transcriptional activation of further essential nod genes. These proteins of
NodD are present inside the membrane of cytoplasm, and it interacts with flavonoids
in the interior of the same membrane (van Rhijn and Vanderleyden 1995). It has
been found that flavonoids also control cell division through the transport of auxin or
through its direct impact on the adjustment of the cell cycle (Ferguson and Mathesius
2003). Flavonoids show a positive impact on the synthesis of indole-3-acetic acid
(IAA) during symbiosis, probably through the formation of molecules responsible
for nod signaling (Prinsen et al. 1991). Host plant-based flavonoids help in nodule
organogenesis through the activation of the nod gene y4wEFG present on the
downstream region of the nod box, which contains protein information necessary
for the formation of IAA by Rhizobia (Theunis et al. 2004). It has been reported that
for the formation of nodules, there must be high levels of auxin, which helps in
the cell division and also in the formation of nodule primordia (deBilly et al. 2001).
The stimulation of nodulating components of nod genes causes the first stage in the
production of root nodules. The main member of the Rhizobiaceae family, i.e.,
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is causing tumors in plants, mostly in dicotyledonous
at their injury sites (Lippincott et al. 1981). The plasmid of this bacterium has a
specific segment, i.e., T-DNA, which helps in its transport as well as its attachment
to the host plant’s genome. A gene present on this plasmid, i.e., virulence (vir) gene,
has a main role in the processing and transport of T-DNA (Mandal et al. 2010). The
transcriptional regulation of vir genes are regulated by virA and virG (Heath C. The
control of the vir gene is maintained by two members, i.e., virA and virG (Heath
et al. 1995)).The protein virA is the main one because it understands the signals
coming from the plant and sends these signals to VirG protein which then activates
other vir genes through binding to their upstream sites. The locus of virA protein
12 R. Lone et al.
regulates which phenolic compound may act as the stimulator of vir genes, and this
protein also identifies these phenolics (Lee et al. 1992). Requena et al. recognize a
new gene (GmGin1) having a domain with two proteins that gets downregulated
during symbiosis, and this gene may act as a detector for signaling in plants. This
protein present in the cell membrane has amino and carboxy terminus. After sensing
the signals of a plant, its carboxy end experiences splicing, while its amino side is
still fused with the plant signals serving as a nucleophile.
As phenolics are everywhere, they have a crucial role in interacting with plants and
the environment (Iakimova et al. 2005). Plants are frequently invaded by different
organisms, such as insects, herbivores, and pathogens (War et al. 2012). During the
invasion by the pathogen, some parts of the plant may get infected only in certain
circumstances (Iakimova et al. 2005; Lam 2004). The diseased plant uses a quick
and potent hypersensitive response (HR) defense mechanism to respond with the
infection (Lam 2004). In plants, this hypersensitive response is considered as a quick
defense mechanism to fight against biotic and abiotic stress, and this defense system
is known as hypersensitive response (Coll et al. 2011). This process may be
damaging for the cell, e.g., it may cause cell death in many cases (War et al. 2012;
Coll et al. 2011). Like animals, plants, too, require programmed cell death as a
strategy for growth, expansion, and defense in opposition to diseases (Coll et al.
2011; Danon et al. 2000). UV radiation, chemical toxins, and oxygen starvation
cause damage to a plant’s cells, and the affected tissue actively reacts to these
environmental stresses (Lois and Buchanan 1994; Iriti and Faoro 2009; Ellis et al.
1999; Van Doorn and Woltering 2005). During hypersensitive response (HR), plant
cells may undergo death, and their cell membranes deposit phenolics to fortify
themselves (Iakimova et al. 2005). As the hypersensitive response HR is turned on
inside the plant, stressed plant cells undergo structural changes (such as biotic stress)
(Coll et al. 2011; Lam et al. 2001). Infected tissues in plants receive phenolics during
hypersensitive response (HR), which changes the chemical structure of those tissues.
An example of this is the accumulation of phenolics in damaged tissues of tomato
and the accumulation of lignin polymers (Zhu and Yao 2004; Mandal and Mitra
2007; Panina et al. 2007). Cells close to wounded tissues are activated, boosting
phenolic compound production to limit local infections (Ferreira et al. 2007). Some
plants produce phytoalexins in response to pathogen infections, such as
hydroxycoumarins and conjugates of hydroxycinnamate (Bhattacharya et al. 2007;
Zipfel 2008). Abiotic stresses can also encourage plants to produce phenolics
(Treutter 2010). The relationship between temperature and the buildup of phenolics
in tracheophytes may be either positive or negative (Treutter 2010). Compared to
summer berries, phenolics are elevated in winter berries, according to research by Xu
and colleagues (2011). According to several studies, when hypersensitive response
(HR) happens in plants, the damaged cells turn brown, indicating Phenolic produc-
tion in that area (Iakimova et al. 2005; Xu et al. 2011). Numerous plant defensive
mechanisms against microbial invaders depend on the production, release, and
storage of phenolics (Bhattacharya et al. 2010). Plant pattern recognition receptors
produce phenolics when they identify potential pathogens through specific
pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which results in immunity
(Bhattacharya et al. 2010; Zipfel 2008). As a consequence, the infection’s progres-
sion is limited before the virus completely takes control of the plant (Zipfel 2008;
Bittel and Robatzek 2007). Lignins, their polymers, and further phenolic compounds
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with other such like stuff. He was a merry drunken fellow.” It was the
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In the Dutch synagogue which Evelyn visited on that Saturday in
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thoughtful little Hebrew of some nine years of age. Evelyn would
have fixed his intelligent gaze upon that child’s face, had he had any
means of divining that the diminutive Hebrew body before him
clothed a soul destined to open new doors of light to Christian
Europe. The boy was Baruch Spinoza, born on the 24th of
November, 1632, of parents who, for their faith, had given up wealth
and a happy home in sunny Spain, and had sought freedom on the
foggy shores of the North Sea. Rabbinical lore was young Spinoza’s
first study; mediaeval Hebrew wisdom, largely made up of Messianic
and Cabbalistic mists, his next; to be followed by the profane
philosophy of Descartes: altogether a singular blend of mental
nutriment, yet all assimilated and transformed by young Baruch’s
brain; a multitude of diverse guides, yet all leading the original mind
the same way—not quite their way. Study bred independent thought,
and independent thought translated itself into independent action.
Baruch ceased to frequent the synagogue; for the synagogue had
ceased to supply him with the food for which his soul craved. A bribe
of 1,000 florins a year was offered by the Rabbis, but
1656
was firmly rejected; excommunication followed, and
curses many and minute, not unaccompanied by an attempt at
assassination; but they were serenely disregarded. Baruch was not
Uriel. For answer he translated himself into Benedictus, and the
name was not a misnomer; for he was soon to become known as
one of the kindliest of men, as well as one of the deepest and
boldest of thinkers that our modern world has seen.
When the two goddesses appeared to Spinoza, as they do to
every one of us once in our lives: the one plump and proud and
persuasively fair, the other modest of look, reverent, and unadorned;
and they offered to the young Jew of Amsterdam the momentous
option of paths, he did not long hesitate in his choice. Turning his
back upon the world, and a deaf ear to its Siren songs of success,
he chose to earn a modest livelihood by making lenses. Too honest
to accept the Synagogue’s price for hypocrisy, he was too proud
even to accept the gifts of disinterested friendship and admiration,
and too fond of his freedom to accept even a professorial chair of
Philosophy. Like his great contemporary and compatriot Rembrandt,
Spinoza was incapable of complying with the world’s behests or of
adapting himself to its standards. The public did not inspire him, and
its applause left him profoundly unmoved. He scorned the smiles as
much as the frowns of Fortune, and calmly pursued his own path,
undaunted by obloquy, unseduced by temptation: a veritable
Socrates of a man, voluntarily and wholly devoted to the humble
service of Truth. In meditation he found his heart’s delight, and, while
grinding glasses for optical instruments in his solitary attic, he
excogitated other aids for the eye of man. A quiet pipe of tobacco, a
friendly chat with his landlord or his fellow-lodgers and their children,
and, when bent on more violent dissipation, a single-combat
between two spiders, or the antics of a foolish fly entangled in their
toils, furnished the cheerful ascetic with abundant diversion. On
those last occasions, his biographer tells us, “he would sometimes
break into laughter.” And having lived his own life,
1677
Spinoza died as those die whom the Olympians love:
in the meridian of manhood and intellectual vigour, leaving behind
him the memory of a blameless character to his friends, and the
fruits of a mighty genius to the world at large. For the goddess to
whom he had dedicated his whole life did not despise the sacrifice.
Every man who is born into this world is either a Greek or a Jew.
Spinoza was both. His teaching may be described as a recapitulation
of the world’s thought. Hellenic rationalism and Hebrew mysticism
found in his work an organic union. Briefly stated, the lesson which
the Jewish sage taught the Western mind, like all great lessons, was
a very simple one: that man is not the centre of creation; that the
universe is a bigger affair than the earth; and that man holds an
exceedingly small place even on this small atom of a planet. Old
Europe was gradually growing to the suspicion that one book did not
contain the whole of God’s truth between its covers—that it did not
constitute a final manifestation of the will of God. She was now to
hear, much to her astonishment and indignation, that the human race
did not engross the whole attention of Providence. It was an
elementary lesson enough; but it came as a revelation even to minds
like Lessing’s and Goethe’s. It was a salutary lesson, too; but it was
too new to be recognised as such. Man is a creature of conceit; the
Tractatus would teach him humility. Therefore, the Synagogue
anathematized it, Synodical wisdom condemned it, the States-
general interdicted it, the Catholic Church placed it upon the Index:
they all execrated it; none of them understood it. Posterity has
embraced it. To-day who would be a thinker must in mental attitude,
125
if not in doctrine, be a Spinozist.
CHAPTER XVII
At the further end of this Jewish quarter stood a little school for
Christian children, who learnt in it “swich maner doctrine as men
used there,” that is, “to singen and to rede.” Among these youthful
scholars was a widow’s son, “a litel clergeon, seven year of age,”
whom his mother had taught to kneel and pray before the Virgin’s
image. Day by day on his way to and from school, as he passed
through the Jewry, this Innocent used full merrily to sing “Alma
Redemptoris”:
But
The Jews took the hint, and conspired to chase this Innocent out
of the world. They hired a homicide, and, as the boy went by, this
cursed Jew seized him, cut his throat, and cast him into a pit.
The poor widow waited all night for her little child in vain, and as
soon as it was daylight she hastened to the school and elsewhere,
seeking it, until she heard that it had last been seen in the Jewry.
Half distracted with anguish and fear, she continued her search
among the accursed Jews, now calling on Christ’s mother for help,
now imploring every Jew she met to tell her if her child had passed
that way. They all answered and said no!
But Jesus, who loves to hear his praises sung by the mouth of
Innocence, directed her steps to the pit, and there, wondrous to
relate, she heard her child, with its throat cut from ear to ear, singing
lustily “Alma Redemptoris.”
“So loude, that al the place gan to ringe.”
The Christian folk, awestruck, sent for the Provost. The boy was
taken out of the pit, amid piteous lamentations, “singing his song
alway,” and was carried in procession to the Abbey, his mother
swooning by the bier. The Jews were punished for their crime “with
torment and with shameful death”; they were first drawn by wild
horses and afterwards hanged.
Meanwhile, this Innocent was borne to his grave, and when
sprinkled with holy water spoke and sang, “O Alma Redemptoris
mater!” The abbot, “who was a holy man as monks are, or else ought
to be,” began to adjure the child by the holy Trinity to tell him what
was the cause of its singing, “sith that thy throte is cut, to my
seminge?” The child answers: “‘My throte is cut unto my nekkeboon,’
and I should have died long ago. But Jesus Christ wills that his glory
last and be remembered. So I am permitted to sing ‘O Alma’ loud
and clear.”
He relates how Christ’s mother sweet, whom he had always
loved, came to him and, laying a grain upon his tongue, bade him
sing this anthem. Thereupon the holy monk, drawing out the boy’s
tongue, removed the grain, and forthwith the boy gave up the ghost
softly. The martyr’s “litel body sweet” was laid in a tomb of clear
marble.
The Prioresses Tale ends with an apostrophe to young Hugh of
Lincoln “sleyn also with cursed Jewes, as it is notable,” and a
request that he should pray for us “sinful folk unstable.” Amen.
Bishop Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient Poetry, has preserved
the Scottish ballad of The Jew’s Daughter, which turns on an
incident bearing a close resemblance to Chaucer’s tale, although it
seems to be based on the alleged murder at Trent, in 1475, of a boy
127
called Simon. The name of the victim, on the legend reaching
England, may quite easily have been changed into the familiar Hugh.
The Scottish version is as follows:
“argosies
Laden with riches, and exceeding store
Of Persian silks, of gold, and oriental pearl.”
He does not envy the Christian his fruitless faith, nor does he
see any virtue in poverty:
Round these two objects, “his girl and his gold,” all the emotions
of Barabas centre, and he is happy.
But, alas! Fortune is fickle. At the very moment when Barabas is
congratulating himself on his prosperity, calamity is at the door. A
Turkish fleet has arrived in the harbour to demand from the Knights
of Malta “the ten years’ tribute that remains unpaid.” At this
emergency the Knights hurriedly hold a consultation among
themselves, and, of course, decide that the Jews shall pay the debts
of their Christian masters. The scapegoats are summoned to the
senate-house, and the decision is announced to them, by one of the
Knights, who candidly tells Barabas:
It is in vain that the Hebrews plead poverty. They are told that
they must contribute their share to the welfare of the land in which
they are allowed to get their wealth. Nor will their share be the same
as that of the faithful. The Christians, in suffering them to live in their
country, commit a sin against their God, and the present distress is a
punishment for it:
He is stripped of all he had, his goods, his money, his ships, his
stores; and his mansion is converted into a nunnery. Nothing
remains to him but his life, and he is left to bewail his misery and to
curse its authors to his heart’s content. This he proceeds to do in the
following terms:
But she tells him that his house has been taken possession of by
nuns, and therefore he cannot get at his hidden treasure. On hearing
of this crowning calamity poor Barabas cries:
“My gold! my gold, and all my wealth is gone!”
accusing Heaven and the stars of their exceeding cruelty. But his
courage and cunning do not fail him even then. He rises to the height
of his misfortune and instructs his daughter to go to the Abbess of
the nunnery, and, by pretending that she wishes to be converted, to
obtain access to the treasure. Abigail, after much hesitation,
consents to play the part of hypocrite, and she plays it with
consummate skill and success. “The hopeless daughter of a hapless
Jew” goes to the holy lady and declares that, fearing that her father’s
afflictions proceed from sin or want of faith, she desires to pass away
her life in penitence. She is admitted to the sisterhood as a novice.
Barabas rails at her in simulated wrath, while secretly he gives her
some final instructions concerning the treasure, and parts with her
on the understanding that at midnight she will join him with the
hoard.
Vexed and tormented by the memories of his lost wealth, the
wretched Barabas roams the livelong night, sleepless and homeless,
haunting, like the ghost of a departed miser, the place where his
treasure is hid; and beseeching the God of Israel to direct Abigail’s
hand. At last she appears at a window aloft, and lets the bags fall.
Whereupon the Jew bursts forth into an ecstasy of joy:
“O my girl!
My gold, my fortune, my felicity.
O girl! O gold! O beauty! O my bliss!”
But his joy is short-lived. Before her death Abigail confessed the part
which she had unwillingly taken in the conspiracy that brought about
the mutual murder of the two young gentlemen. The friar who
received Abigail’s confession taxes Barabas with the crime. The Jew,
frightened, tries to save his life by feigned conversion. He promises
to do penance:
But though they hate the Turk, the Christians hate the Jew more
heartily still. They apprise the doomed general of Barabas’ plan, and
the latter is, literally, made to fall into the pit which he had dug for the
Turk. In his fury and despair the wretch confesses all his sins,
boasting of the stratagems by which he had meant to bring confusion
on them all, “damned Christian dogs and Turkish infidels” alike, and,
having cursed his fill, dies. The Knights exact reparation from the
Turks for the sack of the city, and thus the play ends in a triumph for
the Cross.
The Jew, as has been seen, does not become the villain of the
piece, until after he has been made the victim. But the audience is
supposed to execrate his villainy and laugh at his sufferings. The
author takes good care to disarm pity by painting the Jew in the
blackest and most ludicrous colours that he can find on his palette.
He endows him with a colossal nose and all the crimes under the
sun. Barabas’ cruelty to the poor is only equalled by his insolence to
the powerful. He is made to say that he “would for lucre’s sake have
sold his soul.” His contempt and hatred towards the Christians is
dwelt upon with reiterated emphasis:
And when the Turk had related some of his own exploits in the
fields of murder, deceit, and torture of Christians, the Jew sees in
him a brother: