Nanomaterials as novel elicitors of pharmacologically active plant specialized metabolites in cell and organ cultures: current status and future outlooks

• Published in: Plant growth regulation 2024-09, Vol.104 (1), p.5-30
• Main Authors: Murthy, Hosakatte Niranjana, Joseph, Kadanthottu Sebastian, Paek, Kee Yoeup, Park, So Young
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Bioactive compounds; Biocompatibility; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell walls; Cellulose; Chitin; Cultivated plants; Food industry; Food plants; Food quality; Glucan; Heavy metals; hyperaccumulators; Inorganic salts; Life Sciences; medicinal properties; Metabolites; Metal oxides; Methyl jasmonate; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Pectin; pectins; Pharmacology; Phenols; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant cells; plant growth; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Polysaccharides; Review Article; Saccharides; Salicylic acid; salinity; Sulfur; Sulfur compounds; Terpenes; terpenoids; Toxicity; Ultraviolet radiation
• ISSN: 0167-6903; 1573-5087
• DOI: 10.1007/s10725-023-01086-x

Specialized plant metabolites, such as phenolics, terpenes, terpenoids, nitrogen-containing compounds, and sulfur-containing compounds, are commercially valuable owing to their wide array of applications in the medical, pharmacological, cosmetic, agriculture, and food industries. Procuring valuable specialized metabolites from wild or cultivated plants is desirable; however, the concentrations and quality of secondary compounds vary between samples. Therefore, plant cells and organ cultures have been selected as viable alternatives for producing specialized metabolites. Elicitation is a strategy used to enhance the accumulation of specialized compounds in cell and organ cultures. Different biotic substances, including signaling chemicals such as salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate, elements of plant cell walls (cellulose and pectin), polysaccharides from microbes (chitin and glucan), and abiotic substances such as inorganic salts, heavy metals, UV radiation, and high salinity, have been successfully tested and used as elicitors for the hyperaccumulation of bioactive substances in cell and organ cultures. Recently, metals, metal oxide nanoparticles, and carbon-based nanomaterials have been used as unique elicitors to boost the synthesis of bioactive compounds in cell and organ cultures. The applications and usage of nanoparticles as elicitors in plant cell and organ cultures are summarized in this review. The mechanism of elicitation, toxicity, benefits, and drawbacks of using nanoparticles in plant cell and organ cultures are discussed. Graphical abstract