Elicitors: Role in Secondary Metabolite Production in Medicinal Plants

Elicitors are the stimuli from the living, nonliving, and environmental sources that expedite the synthesis of secondary metabolites in the plants. Secondary metabolites are the byproduct and end-product of various signal transduction pathway that inculcate the response of signal by biotic and abiotic stimuli. Secondary metabolites are generated in response to the various elicitors having key role in stress tolerance mechanism for the plants. It plays a role in defense mechanism against biotic factor and enhances tolerance to the abiotic stresses. The medicinal property of secondary metabolites makes it eye catching for the researchers. The yield of secondary metabolites is often limited in plant; thus, role of various elicitors for secondary metabolites is important to study. Elicitors are key regulators for few secondary metabolites and enhance the yield, but doses and duration of exposure to the elicitor need to be standardized.