Roles of Metabolites on plant tolerance to Environmental Stress
| February 27, 2024Growing conditions is becoming increasingly difficult due to the drastic and rapid changes in climatic conditions. Amidst this difficulty crop production must continue in other the meet the rising population need.
As plants are subjected to a diverse kind of environmental stresses during their life span, such stresses results in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These activated oxygen species tend to oxidize various cellular biomolecules like proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, a process that challenges the core existence of the cell.
To prevent the accumulation of these ROS and to sustain their own survival, plants have developed an complex anti-oxidative defence system which of-course can be enhanced. The anti-oxidative defence system comprises various enzymatic and non-enzymatic molecules, produced to counter the adverse effect of environmental stresses.
A sizable number of these molecules belong to the category of compounds called metabolites. Metabolites are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the growth and development of plants but perform specialized functions under a given set of conditions. Absence of metabolites results in long-term impairment of the plant’s survivability.
Such compounds generally include pigments, phenolics, and so on. Plant phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and lignin precursors have been reported to accumulate in response to various biotic and abiotic stresses and are regarded as crucial defence compounds that can scavenge harmful ROS.
Another important category of plant metabolites, called brassinosteroids, exhibit stress regulatory and growth-promoting activity and are classified as phytohormones which makes them highly promising and environment-friendly natural substances, suitable for wider application in plant protection and crop yield promotion.