Dear Colleagues,

Plants naturally produce primary and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolites are directly involved in plant growth and metabolic function. Secondary metabolites are not essential for a plant’s basic metabolism but still play significant roles in allowing the plant to adapt to and thrive in its environment. Secondary metabolites are numerous chemical compounds produced by the plant cells through metabolic pathways derived from the primary metabolic pathways. They have great applications in human health and nutrition. They possess various biological activities such as antimicrobial, antifungal, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antitumoral, antiproliferative, and antihypertensive activities. Currently, these compounds can be obtained via extraction from plant raw materials, via chemical synthesis, and from plant in vitro cultures. In many cases, the chemical synthesis of these metabolites is not possible or economically feasible. Plant biotechnology methods provide new tools and strategies not only to produce bioactive secondary metabolites, but also to enhance the quantities of these important phytochemicals. To date, most attempts have been employed to increase biotechnological production using various methodologies (for example, elicitor-mediated enhancement of secondary metabolites) to enhance metabolite biosynthesis and accumulation. Plant cell and tissue culture systems are a feasible option and useful production platform for the production of secondary metabolites that are of commercial importance in pharmaceuticals, food additives, flavors, and other industrial materials.

Biotechnology offers a valuable tool to produce these secondary metabolites in plant cells, tissues, organs, and plants using plant cell and tissue cultures and genetic manipulation for enhanced production of key metabolites. Elicitors are chemical compounds from abiotic and biotic sources that can stimulate stress responses in plants or plant cell and tissue cultures, leading to the activation of biosynthetic pathways for secondary metabolites and the enhanced biosynthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites. By employing biotechnological techniques, it is possible to regulate the biosynthetic pathways of plants in order to enhance the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

The present Special Issue has been conceived with the intention of discussing the various facets in light of recent advances of secondary metabolite production via plant biotechnology. Authors are invited to submit their original research articles and review papers for possible inclusion in this Special Issue.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Biosynthesis, regulation, and biotechnological approaches of plant secondary metabolites via plant cell and tissue cultures;
• Functions of plant secondary metabolites both in nature and in biotechnology;
• Optimizing the culture conditions and environmental and physical factors (elicitors);
• Elicitor-mediated production of secondary metabolites;
• Understanding of secondary metabolite biosynthesis and function;
• Regulation of metabolite biosynthetic pathways;
• Plant cell suspension cultures;
• Plant tissue/organ cultures (adventitious or hairy root cultures, multi-shoot cultures, etc.);
• Plant sprout cultures;
• Scaling up the cultures for large-scale production: bioreactors, smart farming, etc.;
• Biotechnological applications of plant secondary metabolites;
• Identification and modification of endogenous pathways for potential molecular targets;
• Metabolic engineering to improve the production of valuable plant secondary metabolites.

Dr. In-Cheol Jang
Dr. Cha Young Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Secondary metabolites
• Bioactive compounds
• Functional biomaterials
• Plant biotechnology
• Food additives
• Neutraceuticals
• Pharmaceuticals
• Plant cell and tissue cultures
• Metabolic pathway regulation
• Elicitation

• Molecular Research in Plant Secondary Metabolism 2021 in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (12 articles)