Nano-Elicitation of Secondary Pharmaceutical Metabolites in Plant Cells: A Review

In recent years, metabolism researches using nanomaterials have been focusing on human and animal cells, and therefore very limited data are available about influence of nanomaterials on biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in plant cells. Plants produce different types of secondary metabolites including terpenoids, phenolics, tannins, and alkaloids, which are known to act as vital mediators for the interaction with other living (biotic) or non-living (abiotic) agents under stressful conditions. Elicitors may induce physiological and biochemical processes of the target plants and activate defense mechanisms. Application of signaling molecules as elicitors has evolved an efficient technique for the production of pharmaceutically active compounds in plants. However, relatively little has been done regarding the application of nanomaterials as potential elicitors for production of industrially valuable compounds. Here, we provide studies proving that nanomaterials can function as elicitors of plant defensive chemistry that are mostly accompanied by enhanced production of different secondary metabolites.