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Secondary metabolites often play an important role in plant defense against herbivory and other interspecies defenses. Humans use secondary metabolites as medicines, flavourings, pigments, and recreational drugs. [2] The term secondary metabolite was first coined by Albrecht Kossel, the 1910 Nobel Prize laureate for medicine and physiology.
The opposite of secondary metabolites are primary metabolites, which are considered to be essential to the normal growth or development of an organism. Secondary metabolites are produced by many microbes, plants, fungi and animals, usually living in crowded habitats, where chemical defense represents a better option than physical escape. [2]
A secondary metabolite is not directly involved in those processes, but usually has important ecological function. Secondary metabolites may include pigments, antibiotics or waste products derived from partially metabolized xenobiotics. The study of the metabolome is called metabolomics.
They are most widely known for producing secondary metabolites, the source or basis of most pharmaceutical compounds, natural toxins, chemical communication, and chemical warfare between organisms. Metabolic gene clusters are also involved in nutrient acquisition, toxin degradation, [ 7 ] antimicrobial resistance, and vitamin biosynthesis. [ 5 ]
Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, and are part of the group of natural products (also called secondary metabolites). Many alkaloids can be purified from crude extracts by acid-base extraction. Many alkaloids are toxic to other organisms.
In biochemistry, a metabolite is an intermediate or end product of metabolism. [1] The term is usually used for small molecules.Metabolites have various functions, including fuel, structure, signaling, stimulatory and inhibitory effects on enzymes, catalytic activity of their own (usually as a cofactor to an enzyme), defense, and interactions with other organisms (e.g. pigments, odorants, and ...
Molecular structure of the flavone backbone (2-phenyl-1,4-benzopyrone) Isoflavan structure Neoflavonoids structure. Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word flavus, meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans.
First studied in the early 20th century, discovery, biosynthesis, and application of polyketides has evolved. It is a large and diverse group of secondary metabolites caused by its complex biosynthesis which resembles that of fatty acid synthesis. Because of this diversity, polyketides can have various medicinal, agricultural, and industrial ...