Secondary compounds in plants

Bell, A. A. In "Report of the Research Planning Conference on the Role of Secondary Compounds in Plant Interactions (Allelopathy)" McWhorter, C. G. Thompson, A. C. Hauser, E. W. Eds. USDA, Agricultural Research Service Tifton, Georgia, 1977 pp. 64-69. 

Endress, R., Plant cells as producers of secondary compounds, in Plant Cell Biotechnology, Endres, R., Ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1994, 121. 

Janzen, D. 1973. Community structure of secondary compounds in plants Pure and Applied Chemistry 34 529-538. 

From chorismic acid, four major pathways lead to essential metabolites tryptophan, phenylalanine and tyrosine, p-aminobenzoic acid and the folate group of coenzymes, and the isoprenoid quinones (Fig. 7.2). Numerous secondary compounds in plants and other organisms are formed from products and intermediates of these pathways. 

McKey D (1974) Adaptive patterns in alkaloid physiology. Am Nat 108 305-320 McKey D (1979) The distribution of secondary compounds within plants. In Rosenthal GA, Janzen DH (eds) Herbivores their interactions with plant secondary metabolites. Academic, New York, pp 55-133... 

Alkaloids, nitrogen-containing compounds generally found as secondary metabolites in plants, are also classical examples of renewables. In contrast to terpenes, they show a great variety in molecular structure, and the different classes of alkaloids are usually based on their basic ring systems. Many pharmaceutically active... 

Because of its importance, the application of planar chromatography for the analysis of various secondary metabolites in plants such as heterocyclic oxygen compounds (coumarins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, etc.) has been reviewed many times [143,144],... 

Storey, H., and R. G. Wyn Jones. Quaternary ammonium compounds in plants in relation to salt resistance. Phytochemistry 1977 16 447—453. Neurath, G. B., M. Dunger, E. G. Pein, D. Ambrosius, and O. Schreiber. Primary and secondary amines in the human environment. Food Cosmet Toxicol 1977 15 275-282. 

Herbicides are the biocides most likely to affect the metabolism of plants, including secondary metabolism [107]. The synthesis of hydroxyphenolics and anthocyanin in plants can be influenced by a variety of environmental and chemical stimuli. Some herbicides were found to raise the levels of these compounds in plants [108] whilst others had the opposite effect [109]. The products of secondary metabolism are controlled by enzymes, including PAL and chalcone isomerase (Cl), and several herbicides appear to intensify the activities of those enzymes involved in the accumulation of hydroxyphenolic compounds and anthocyanin biosynthesis in several plant species [109-111] whereas others depress this activity [112]. For example,... 

McKey, D., The distribution of secondary compounds within plants, in Herbivores Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites, Rosenthal, G.A. and Janzen, D.H., Eds., Academic Press, New York, 1979, 55. 

The cyclopropyl group is found as a structural element in a wide range of naturally occurring compounds, in plants and in microorganisms, both fungal and bacterial. In many cases the cyclopropyl functionality is a stable structural entity in secondary metabolites, while in others a cyclopropanoid intermediate is generated transiently as a connecting element between a substrate and a final product both in primary and secondary metabolism. 

Secondary Metabolites from Higher Plants as Pest Control Agents An activity related to various efforts to Identify compounds in plants with resistance to pests, and subsequently to attempt selection of lines with higher concentrations, is the utilization of these compounds (or the synthetic species) in field pest control. The following includes a few examples from a very large scientific activity. Jacobson (23) has tested azadlrachtin, a sesquiterpenoid from the neera tree, Azadlrachta indlca (A. Juss), against several insects and nematodes. It is effective at concentrations as low as... 

L-Ascorbic acid is found all over the plant world, often in quite large quantities and distributed throughout the plant. The biochemistry of vitamin C in plants is very poorly understood. view which. seems to be accepted generally is that in some way L-ascorbic acid is merely a secondary product of plant metabolism. It. seems curious that such a ubiquitous compound in plants should be there almost incidentally as a by-product of other proces.ses, though it is fortunate for tho.se creatures that have lost their ability to synthesise the vitamin that it is. so ... 

Successful commercialisation of the formation of the secondary compounds by plant cell cultures has been achieved by the production of shikonin pigments from plant cell cultures of Lithospermun erythrorhizon S. Hwang by Mitsui Petrochemical Industries Ltd. Several studies have investigated factors influencing shikonin production in cultured cells. For example, studies were conducted with a BK-39 callus culture of Lithospermun erythrorhizon, which produced seven shikonin derivatives. Selected BK-39 cultures produced almost the same profile of shikonin naphthoquinones as the initial culture [352]. 

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