Plant Hormones & Secondary

metabolites
 Plant Hormones
• Chemical compounds produced by plants
• Effective at very low concentrations
• Five major hormone groups are:
1. Auxins
2. Gibberellins
3. Cytokinins
4. Abscisic Acid
5. Ethylene
How to remember and correlate?
Auxin
 1. AUXINS mechanism
• Promote cell growth
• Involved in
gravitropism
and phototropism
• Control fruit development
 Auxin
Biosynth
esis
Auxin transport
Auxin functions
 Auxin
functions
ABA
Abscisic acid properties
Abscisic acid
 ABA response to stress
Water stress condition
1. Xylem sap becomes alkaline that favors the dissociation of ABAH to ABA- thus causing the rush of ABA-
to the guard cell resulting in stomatal closure.
2. Movement of K and Cl outside the cell followed by water

1
2
Cytokinin
Cytokinin properties
Cytokinin action
Cytokinin
action
Cytokinin
action
AHK – Arabidopsis histidine kinase
AHP- A Histidine phosphotransfer protein
ARR- A response regulators

Cytokinin
signaling
Cytokinin
signaling
Ethylene
Ethylene Properties
Ethylene Functions
Ethylene Signaling
hylene Signaling
hylene Signaling
Ethylene Functions mechanism
Loss of auxin production
triggers ethylene synthesis
Gibberellin
Gibberellin
Properties
Gibberellin signaling
Gibberellin
signaling
Gibberellin functions
Plant secondary
metabolites
Suman Bhattacharjee
 What is it?
• Plants produce a large, diverse array of organic compounds that appear to have no
direct function in their growth and development. These compounds are known as
secondary metabolites, secondary products, or natural products.
• Secondary metabolites have no direct roles in the processes of photosynthesis,
respiration, solute transport, translocation, protein synthesis, nutrient assimilation,
or differentiation, or the formation of the primary metabolites—carbohydrates,
proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids—discussed elsewhere in this book
• Difference with primary metabolites
• Secondary metabolites also differ from primary metabolites in having a restricted
distribution within the plant kingdom. That is, certain secondary metabolites are
only found in one plant species or related group of species, whereas primary
metabolites are found throughout the plant kingdom.
 Functions of Secondary
Metabolites
• They protect plants against being eaten by herbivores and against
being infected by microbial pathogens.
• They serve as attractants (odor, color, taste) for pollinators and seed-
dispersing animals.
• They function as agents of plant–plant competition and plant–
microbe symbioses
Secondary metabolites are divided into three
major groups

• Plant secondary metabolites can be divided into three chemically

distinct groups:
• Alkaloids
• terpenes
• phenolics and
• nitrogen-containing compounds.

PANT
1. Alkaloids
• Alkaloids generally include alkaline substances that have nitrogen as part of a
ring structure. More than 6500 alkaloids are known and are the largest class
of secondary compounds. They are very common in certain plant families,
especially:
• Fabaceae – peas and beans
• Asteraceae - sunflowers
• Papaveraceae - poppies
• Solanaceae – nightshade, tomato
• Apocynaceae - dogbanes
• Asclepiadaceae - milkweeds
• Rutaceae - citrus
2. Terpenes
• The terpenes, or terpenoids, constitute the largest class of secondary
metabolites.
• Most of the diverse substances of this class are insoluble in water.
• Terpenes are formed by the fusion of five-carbon isoprene units to
acetyl-CoA or its glycolytic intermediates.
• The basic structural elements of terpenes are sometimes called
isoprene units because terpenes can decompose at high
temperatures to give isoprene

Dimers and polymers of 5 carbon precursors called isoprene units (C5 H8)
Terpen
synthesis
pathway
Mevalonic
acid pathway
shikimic acid
pathway
Some examples
Mevalonat
e pathway
Functions of terpens
• Some terpenes have roles in growth and development
• Terpenes defend many plants against herbivores - For
example, monoterpene esters called pyrethroids,
found in the leaves and flowers of Chrysanthemum
species, show striking insecticidal activity.
3. Phenolic compounds
• Compounds that contain a fully unsaturated six carbon ring linked to
an oxygen are called phenolics.
• Salicylic acid (basic part of aspirin) is a simple phenol.
• Myristicin is a more complex phenol that provides the flavor of
nutmeg.
• Flavonoids are complex phenolics. They are often sold in health food
stores as supplements to vitamin C. The most commonly available
flavonoid is rutin from buckwheat.
• Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid that give flowers red and blue
pigments.
3. Phenolic compounds (cntd.)
• Plants produce a large variety of secondary compounds that contain
a phenol group: a hydroxyl functional group on an aromatic ring:
• These substances are classified as phenolic compounds, or phenolics.
• Plant phenolics are a chemically heterogeneous group of nearly
10,000 individual compounds: Some are soluble only in organic
solvents, some are water-soluble carboxylic acids and glycosides, and
others are large, insoluble polymers
• Phenylalanine is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of most plant
phenolics

Phenylalanine
Phenolics - synthesis pathway
• The shikimic acid pathway converts simple carbohydrate precursors derived
from glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway into the three aromatic
amino acids: phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan.
Synthesis from phenylalanine
Use of Phenolics
• The release of phenolics into the soil may limit the growth of other plants : The release
of secondary compounds by one plant that have an effect on neighboring plants is
referred to as allelopathy.
• Lignin is a highly complex phenolic macromolecule which provides structural role to the
plant
• After cellulose, the most abundant organic substance in plants is lignin, a highly
branched polymer of phenylpropanoid groups:
• Lignin is found in the cell walls of various cell types that make up supporting and
conducting tissues, notably the tracheids and vessel elements of the xylem.
• Functions of lignin:
• Besides providing mechanical support, lignin has significant protective functions in
plants. Its physical toughness deters herbivory, and its chemical durability makes it
relatively indigestible.
• Lignification blocks the growth of pathogens and is a common response to infection or
wounding.
 Phenolics - flavonoids
• The flavonoids are one of the largest classes of
plant phenolics. The basic carbon skeleton of a
flavonoid contains 15 carbons arranged in two
aromatic rings connected by a three-carbon
bridge.
Functions:
• Anthocyanins are colored flavonoids that
attract animals
• Flavones and flavonols may protect against
damage by ultraviolet light
 Phenolics - Tannins deter feeding by herbivores

• A second category of plant phenolic

polymers with defensive properties,
besides lignin, is the tannins.
• Tannins bind the collagen proteins of
animal hides, thereby increasing their
resistance to heat, water, and
microbes.
There are two categories of tannins:
condensed and hydrolyzable.

Condensed tannins = flavonoids + flavonoids (found in woody plants)

Hydrolyzable tannins = Phenolic acid (gallic acid) + simple sugar
3. Nitrogen-Containing Compounds
• A large variety of plant secondary metabolites have nitrogen as part of their structure.
Included in this category are such well-known anti-herbivore defenses as alkaloids and
cyanogenic glycosides.
• Most nitrogenous secondary metabolites are synthesized from common amino acids.
• The alkaloids are a large family of more than 15,000 nitrogen-containing secondary
metabolites.
• They are found in approximately 20% of vascular plant species.
• The nitrogen atom in these compounds is usually part of a heterocyclic ring, a ring that
contains both nitrogen and carbon atoms.
Nitrogenous
compounds- functions
Some examples
Nitrogenous compounds- functions
• Cyanogenic glycosides release the poison hydrogen cyanide [HCN]
• Glucosinolats release volatile toxins : Found principally in the Brassicaceae and related
plant families, glucosinolates break down to produce the compounds responsible for the
smell and taste of vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, and radishes.
• Nonprotein amino acids are toxic to herbivores : Canavanine, for example, is a close
analog of arginine, and azetidine-2-carboxylic acid has a structure very much like that of
proline