Methyl-jasmonate and salicylic acid as potent elicitors for secondary metabolite production in medicinal plants: A review

Secondary metabolites are the bioactive compounds of plants which have no role in the development process but are needed for defense purposes. Their synthesis takes place from the primary metabolism of the plant. Plants are a novel source of bioactive compounds from which different drugs are derived. These bioactive compounds have therapeutic value for which they are used all over the world. As medicinal plants are used for the extraction of different compounds they are exploited and becoming threatened. To overcome this problem and to preserve the resulting loss of biodiversity we can conserve the medicinal plants by propagation and the production of secondary metabolites by different in vitro culture techniques. As we know that intact plant has a low potential for chemical synthesis of bioactive compounds so to enhance the production of secondary metabolites elicitors are used. Elicitors are those molecules which enhance the secondary metabolism of the plant. Elicitors may be biotic or abiotic. The present review deals with the synthesis and enhancement of different bioactive compounds by Methyl-Jasmonate (MeJA), Jasmonate (JA) and Salicylic Acid (SA) as elicitors of many medicinal plants in vitro by using different cultures.