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Plants
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Roles of Secondary Metabolites in Plants
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Roles of Secondary Metabolites in Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 5264

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Anastasia E. Giannakoula

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: antioxidants; ROS; secondary metabolites; oxidative stress; bioactive compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants accumulate different organic molecules called secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites (SM) are low molecular weight compounds that are not necessary for plants to live but play a crucial role for crop quality and in the interaction of the plant with its ecosystems. These compounds are often involved in plants protection against biotic (bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, or grazing by animals) or abiotic (higher temperature and moisture, shading, injury, or presence of heavy metals) stresses. Typical functions are cell pigmentation in order to attract pollinators and seed dispersers or protection against UV radiation. It is well known that the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antifungal activities of different secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and phytosterols are able to prevent diseases in plants. Plants are also an important source for the discovery of new products of medicinal value, and plants’ secondary metabolites are good sources for human pharmaceuticals. Root, stem, leaves, fruits, and flowers of plants have been found to possess secondary metabolites.

In this Special Issue, we will publish papers on secondary metabolites and their functions in plants, including their involvement in plant protection against biotic or abiotic stresses, as well as the contribution of secondary metabolites to flower colors and pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Anastasia E. Giannakoula
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • secondary metabolites
  • antioxidant
  • antimicrobial
  • antifungal
  • flavonoids
  • biotic
  • abiotic stresses
  • molecular compounds
  • cell pigmentation
  • pharmaceuticals
  • protection

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3439 KiB  
Article
Exogenous Paclobutrazol Reinforces the Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties of Lavender (Lavandula officinalis L.) Oil through Modulating Its Composition of Oxygenated Terpenes
by Salwa M. El-Sayed, Karim. M. Hassan, Ahmed. N. Abdelhamid, Eman E. Yousef, Yasmin M. R. Abdellatif, Samah H. Abu-Hussien, Mohamed A. Nasser, Walaa. A. Elshalakany, Doaa Bahaa Eldin Darwish, Awatif M. Abdulmajeed, Nadiyah M. Alabdallah, Salem Mesfir Al-Qahtani, Nadi Awad Al-Harbi, Eldessoky S. Dessoky, Hatem Ashour and Mohamed F. M. Ibrahim
Plants 2022, 11(12), 1607; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11121607 - 19 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2309
Abstract
Plant growth regulators can affect the primary and secondary metabolites of various plant species. However, the effect of paclobutrazol (PBZ) on the composition of lavender oil, especially related to the terpenoid pathway, is still unclear in literatures. In this study, the effect of [...] Read more.
Plant growth regulators can affect the primary and secondary metabolites of various plant species. However, the effect of paclobutrazol (PBZ) on the composition of lavender oil, especially related to the terpenoid pathway, is still unclear in literatures. In this study, the effect of PBZ as a foliar spray (0.200, 400 and 600 ppm) on the vegetative growth, phytochemical content, and both antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of lavender oil were investigated. The results indicated that all examined PBZ treatments led to a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in growth parameters compared to the untreated plants. Meanwhile, the yield of essential oil was significantly decreased by the treatment of PBZ at 200 ppm compared to the control. In contrast, applied-PBZ significantly enhanced the chlorophyll content and displayed a marked change in the composition of the essential oil. This change included an obvious and significant increase in 3-carene, eucalyptol, γ–terpinene, α-pinocarvone, caryophyllene, β-vetivenene, β-santalol, ledol, geranyl isovalerate, farnesol, caryophyllene oxide, and phytol percentage. Generally, the highest significant values were achieved by the treatment of 400 ppm compared to the other treatments. Furthermore, this treatment showed the highest free radical scavenging activity against DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) by 13% over the control. Additionally, to determine the antimicrobial activities of the extracted oil, each treatment was examined against two strains of Gram positive bacteria (S. aureus and B. cereus), two strains of Gram negative bacteria (S. enteritidis and E. coli), and two fungal species (C. albicans and A. niger) represent the yeast modal and filamentous fungus, respectively. The findings demonstrated that all examined species were more sensitive to the oil that was extracted from lavender plants, treated with 400 ppm PBZ, compared to the other concentrations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Roles of Secondary Metabolites in Plants)
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9 pages, 1217 KiB  
Article
Identification and Characterization of Two Regiospecific Tricetin UDP-Dependent Glycosyltransferases from Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.)
by Sheng Wu, Lijing Chang and Li Tian
Plants 2022, 11(6), 810; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11060810 - 18 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1933
Abstract
Tricetin (5,7,3′,4′,5′-pentahydroxyflavone) is a dietary flavone from flowers of Myrtales plants with demonstrated functions in promoting human health. By contrast, the bioactivity of its glucosylated derivative tricetin 4′-O-glucoside has not been extensively explored. We conducted metabolite profiling analysis of pomegranate (a [...] Read more.
Tricetin (5,7,3′,4′,5′-pentahydroxyflavone) is a dietary flavone from flowers of Myrtales plants with demonstrated functions in promoting human health. By contrast, the bioactivity of its glucosylated derivative tricetin 4′-O-glucoside has not been extensively explored. We conducted metabolite profiling analysis of pomegranate (a Myrtales plant) floral tissues and revealed that tricetin and tricetin 4′-O-glucoside accumulate in anthers, but not petals. In addition, the comparative analysis of anther and petal transcriptomes identified 10 UGTs that are more highly expressed in anthers than petals. Of the 10 UGTs, PgUGT76Z1 and PgUGT73AL1 glucosylated specifically at the 4′-O position of tricetin to form tricetin 4′-O-glucoside. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that PgUGT76Z1 and PgUGT73AL1 belong to different plant UGT groups, suggesting a convergent evolution of these tricetin UGTs. Overall, identification and characterization of PgUGT76Z1 and PgUGT73AL1 not only provides evolutionary insights into tricetin glucosylation, but also offers an opportunity to produce tricetin 4′-O-glucoside in large quantities through microbial biotransformation or plant metabolic engineering, thus facilitating the investigation of tricetin 4′-O-glucoside bioactivities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Roles of Secondary Metabolites in Plants)
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