Biosynthesis Pathways and Regulation Mechanism of Plants Secondary Metabolites

Dear Colleagues,

Plants biosynthesize a wide variety of secondary metabolites (SMs). These biomolecules, although not directly involved in primary processes such as growth and development, confer selective advantages to plants in their ecosystem. Many of them are involved in relationships between the plant and other organisms and in plant defense against abiotic stress. These compounds fill an important role for humans as well. Organoleptic characteristics and health properties of plant-based foods are strongly affected by their SM profile. Moreover, several SMs isolated from plants are marketed as flavors, fragrances, dyes, fine chemicals, pesticides, and drugs. Nevertheless, the cost of these substances is often high due to their low abundance in plant tissues, which limits their large-scale production and further applications.

Although more than 100,000 SMs have been identified to date, only a small percentage of plant species have been subjected to investigation regarding their secondary metabolism. In recent decades, great efforts have been made to identify new SMs and to elucidate their biosynthetic pathways and regulation mechanisms. This fascinating research field has attracted enormous efforts of experts from various disciplines, with the dual purpose of expanding the knowledge on plant secondary metabolism, and of exploiting this knowledge toward large-scale production of SMs of interest.

Therefore, this Special Issue invites articles (original research papers, perspectives, hypotheses, opinions, reviews, modeling approaches and methods) that focus on elucidation of SM biosynthetic pathways, identification, and characterization of involved genes and enzymes, identification of external factors and cell signaling pathways regulating secondary metabolism, and manipulation of biosynthetic pathways to improve yields of desired SMs or to obtain novel derivatives.

Dr. Alessio Valletta
Guest Editor

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• plant secondary metabolism
• secondary metabolite biosynthesis
• secondary metabolite regulation
• alkaloid biosynthesis
• nitrogen/sulfur-containing compound biosynthesis
• polyphenol biosynthesis
• terpenoid/isoprenoid biosynthesis
• metabolic engineering
• secondary metabolite bioproduction
• heterologous gene expression
• elicitation