Secondary Metabolites

Secondary metabolites are organic molecules that are not involved in the normal growth and development of an organism. While primary metabolites have a key role in survive of the species, playing an active function in the photosynthesis and respiration, absence of secondary metabolites does not result in immediate death, but rather in long-term impairment of the organism’s survivability, often playing an important role in plant defense. These compounds are an extremely diverse group of natural products synthesized by plants, fungi, bacteria, algae, and animals. Most of secondary metabolites, such as terpenes, phenolic compounds and alkaloids are classified based on their biosynthetic origin. Different classes of these compounds are often associated to a narrow set of species within a phylogenetic group and constitute the bioactive compound in several medicinal, aromatic, colorant, and spice plants and/or functional foods.