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Plant-derived Natural Products pp 269–279Cite as

Participation of Phytochemicals in Plant Development and Growth

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Abstract

Phytochemicals, also known as natural products and specialized compounds, display well known functions in plants providing varying levels of protection to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. The biosynthesis of phytochemicals is tightly spatio-temporally regulated, often restricted to specialized cells, yet their transport within plants allow them to interact with, and modulate, other signalling networks. In this chapter, we describe how phytochemicals participate in plant development and growth, further blurring the boundaries between primary and secondary metabolism, and between hormones and phytochemicals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     The xenohormesis theory assumes that longevity provides an evolutionary advantage, yet the consequences of mild stress on reproductive output, which is under strong selective constrains, remains unknown

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Lucille Pourcel & Erich Grotewold

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  1. Lucille Pourcel
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  2. Erich Grotewold
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Correspondence to Erich Grotewold .

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    Glossary

    Phytohormones

    Phytohormones are substances that, at low concentration, function to coordinate plant growth and development. The compounds that have been considered as plant hormones include indole-3-acetic acid (auxin), cytokinins, gibberellins (GA), ethylene and abscisic acid (ABA). In addition, brassinosteroids, jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) have been shown to display important growth regulating activities and are also considered to function as phytohormones.

    Xenohormesis

    Interspecies communication of stress signals. This term as been proposed by Howitz and Sinclair [56] to explain the ability of animals and fungi to “sense” and being activated by molecules that are not produced in these organisms, such as phytochemicals.

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    Pourcel, L., Grotewold, E. (2009). Participation of Phytochemicals in Plant Development and Growth. In: Osbourn, A., Lanzotti, V. (eds) Plant-derived Natural Products. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85498-4_12

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