Exploring Plant Secondary Metabolites and Their Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Plants are a source of compounds among which are the so-called secondary metabolites, which have various biological activities. These secondary metabolites are not essential nutrients, but they can have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and other properties that both promote health and provide some benefits to humans. The production of these compounds is affected by various factors such as biotic and abiotic stress, providing plants with adaptation mechanisms, repelling harmful insects and microorganisms, and generating soil–plant–environment interactions, in addition to providing benefits to consumers given the biological properties that these metabolites possess. In this sense, the exploration of the application of various stimuli that resemble biotic and/or abiotic stress conditions, to increase the concentration of secondary metabolites in the plant, is a current trend that has been explored in various areas of research, as well as has possible applications. Among the secondary metabolites that have been most studied in terms of their biological activities and possible applications, polyphenols, carotenoids, flavonoids, glucosinolates, and phytosterols, among others, stand out. However, there are still secondary metabolites whose biological activities are unknown; therefore, their applications have not been delved into. The general concept of this Special Issue is to provide an updated overview on the possible biological activities of secondary metabolites and applications thereof. In particular, we accept the submission of reviews and original research articles that report novel scientific findings on the following topics, among others:

• Strategies that increase the production of secondary metabolites and the conservation of biological activities.
• Application and use of secondary metabolites in various areas such as medicine, pharmacology, cosmetics, agroindustry, food, etc.
• Toxicity of secondary metabolites in applications.
• Innovation for obtaining and applying secondary metabolites for the benefit of humans.
• Agonism and/or antagonism of secondary metabolites in the application areas.

Prof. Dr. Ana Angelica Feregrino Perez
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.

• secondary metabolites
• applications areas
• biological activity
• production of secondary metabolites