General secondary metabolites

Low-molecular-weight products, generally secondary metabolites such as alcohols, carboxyhc and an iino acids, antibiotics, and vitamins, can be recovered using many of the standard operations such as liquid-hquid extraction, adsorption and ion-exchange, described elsewhere in this handbook. Proteins require special attention, however, as they are sufficiently more complex, their function depending on the integrity of a delicate three-dimensional tertiaiy structure that can be disrupted if the protein is not handled correctly. For this reason, this section focuses primarily on protein separations. Cell separations, as a necessary part of the downstrean i processing sequence, are also covered. 

Of course, classes/groups of metabolites which occur (almost) ubiquitously or at least frequently in the plant kingdom ( general secondary metabolites ) are also constituents of both large Solanales families (i) phenolics such as simple cinnamic acid derivatives (Sect. 6.4), hydroxycoumarins (Sect. 6.6), hydroxycinnamate conjugates (Sect. 6.7), flavonoids (Sect. 6.8), lignans (Sect. 6.9), (ii) sterols (Sect. 7.6), (iii) carotenoids (Sect. 7.12), (iv) fats/oils and fatty acids (Sect. 8.1), (v) carbohydrates (Sect. 8.2) etc. 

Precursor selection An important step in designing a microbial labeling process is the identification of one or more suitable labeled precursors. Generally, secondary metabolites are biosynthesized via primary metabolites from five metabolic sources. These are amino acids, shikimic acid (shikimic acid pathway), acetate and its homologues (polyketide pathway), mevalonic acid (isoprene pathway) and carbohydrates. Selection of a suitable precursor is primarily influenced by the biosynthetic pathway(s) involved, but also depends on the desired position of label in the product and the availability of labeled precursors. 

Neither the mechanism by which benzene damages bone marrow nor its role in the leukemia process are well understood. It is generally beheved that the toxic factor(s) is a metaboHte of benzene (107). Benzene is oxidized in the fiver to phenol [108-95-2] as the primary metabolite with hydroquinone [123-31-9] catechol [120-80-9] muconic acid [505-70-4] and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene [533-73-3] as significant secondary metabolites (108). Although the identity of the actual toxic metabolite or combination of metabolites responsible for the hematological abnormalities is not known, evidence suggests that benzene oxide, hydroquinone, benzoquinone, or muconic acid derivatives are possibly the ultimate carcinogenic species (96,103,107—112). 

The results of studies of secondary metabolites of Hawaiian endemics are primarily useful in assessing levels of variation within taxa, but some generalizations relating to relationships with likely ancestors can be made. We start our survey with a genus well known to North Americans, Bidens, commonly called beggars ticks. 

The current state of analytical SPE was critically reviewed and no major changes of the technique have been observed. Overviews of the developments of the extraction technologies of secondary metabolites from plant materials refer to three types of conventional extraction techniques that involve the use of solvents, steam, or supercritical fluids. Each technique is described in detail with respect to typical processing parameters and recent developments. Eollowing the discussion of some technical and economic aspects of conventional and novel separation processes, a few general conclusions about the applicabilities of the different types of extraction techniques are drawn. ... 

The general metabolism of sulfur, extensively described in many texts of biological sciences, is not considered in this article some topics (e.g. metallo-enzymes) are discussed elsewhere in this volume (Chapter 11.2). Our focus is on sulfur-containing secondary metabolites in microorganisms and plants. In view of the vast literature, we can only provide an eclectic account citing recent work where possible. 

In general, macroalgae of the order Dictyotales serve as a good model to evaluate this question because their species possess isomorphic life stages and are rich in secondary metabolites. However, because of the difficulty in distinguishing morphologically similar (e.g., isomorphic haploid and diploid) individuals, most studies have been limited to surveying only reproductive individuals. 

---