Les métabolites secondaires des plantes étaient traditionnellement considérés comme des composés

de stockage inactifs ou des déchets métaboliques 1-3. Cependant, au cours des 25 dernières années,
il a été démontré que les représentants de plusieurs classes de produits naturels végétaux (Le.,
Terpénoïdes, alcaloïdes, glycosides cyanogéniques et substances phénoliques) subissent un
renouvellement métabolique rapide4-8. On pense maintenant que de nombreux produits végétaux
secondaires sont dans un état de renouvellement métabolique rapide, avec une accumulation
résultant d'un rapport élevé de biosynthèse à la dégradation métabolique9.

Page 229 Secondary-Metabolite Biosynthesis and Metabolism

Plants consistently synthesize, accumulate, and use a bewildering range of secondary

metabolites as a part of their overall defense strategy. Many of these metabolites have been
used around the world as medicines for various human health problems. In fact, more than
80% of the world’s population relies on plants for principle health care. Nearly half of the
medical prescriptions in the developed world are of plant origin.
In recent years the quest for quality of life and a common belief that plants are “natural and
therefore safe” has paved the way for a wider acceptance of plant-based medicines
worldwide. International trade in medicinal plants has become a major force in the global
economy and the demand is increasing in both developed and developing countries. Thus, the
continued rise in consumer demand for plant based medicines and the expanding world
population have resulted in indiscriminate harvest of wild species of medicinal plants. As
well, a reduction of natural habitats for medicinal plants has placed many wild species in
danger of extinction. The impact of rapid climate changes may also have an adverse effect on
wild-plant species leading to the loss of useful genetic material.
Most medicinal plants are harvested from the wild and the traditional agricultural and
horticultural practices have not been developed even for most commonly used medicinal plant
species.
The production of medicinal metabolites in plants is affected by plant genotype, growth
environment cultivation, harvesting, processing, and distribution.

Medicinal plant preparations may also be contaminated with microbes and soil contaminants
such as heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, and other agricultural chemicals which can cause
qualitative and quantitative changes in the levels of medicinal metabolites.
(Methods in Molecular Biology 547) Kee-Yoeup Paek, Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy,
Eun-Joo Hahn (auth.), Praveen K. Saxena, S. Mohan Jain (eds.) - Protocols for In Vitro
Cultures and Secondary

The earlier efforts in chemosystematics focused on secondary plant products: alkaloids,

betacyanins, carbohydrates, cyanogenic glycosides, glucosinolates, lipids, terpenoids, and
especialiy flavonoids. The latter were particularly well suited for chemosystematic
investigation for several reasons: ease of isolation and characterization, small amounts of
plant material needed for analysis, stability of compounds especially through routine
preparation of herbarium specimens, and low cost to obtain useful information. As a result of
these considerable advantages, literally thousands of studies on use of flavonoids in plant
systematics have been published.
Because of many workers historically interested in the sunflower family, Asteraceae (or
Compositae), in part due to its large size (approximately 23,000 species; Bremer, 1994), and
because hundreds of flavonoid compounds were discovered in this family, many
chemosystematic investigations have been completed on various taxa.