Herbals & Natural Remedies

Biography

Biography: Hawa ZE Jaafar

Abstract

Plants are remarkable source for the discovery of new products with medicinal importance and plant secondary metabolites are rich sources of bioactive constituents used in pharmaceutical industry, food additives, flavors, and other industrial materials. Plants are generally very responsive to biotic and abiotic factors known as elicitors in altering their physiological, biochemical and morphological properties. Elicitation is a process of induced or enhanced synthesis of secondary metabolites by the plants to ensure their survival, persistence and competitiveness. Elicitors are usually capable to induce various modes of plant defense including the production of ROS (reactive oxygen species), the hypersensitive response and the production of phytoalexins, i.e. antimicrobial secondary compounds. The induction of phytoalexin biosynthesis has gained special importance in biotechnological approaches as enhancers of plant-secondary-metabolite synthesis, and could play an important role in biosynthetic pathways of newly discovered enhanced biometabolites of commercial importance. Many of these compounds are of high value as therapeutics (anticancer) or otherwise biologically active agents. Although, increased production through elicitation of secondary metabolites from plant cell cultures has opened up a new area of research, the use has only had limited commercial success due to lack of understanding of how these metabolites are synthesized and high capital cost to set up the production. Whole plants elicitation grown in the field or raised under controlled environment, however, has demonstrated improved secondary metabolites production and enhanced plant growth and development. The paper discusses technique of elicitation and results on enhanced secondary metabolites harvest index of some tropical herbs that may spell future approach to production of quality herbal materials.