Elicitation, a new window into plant chemodiversity and phytochemical drug discovery.
Plant extracts collected from the wild are important sources for drug discovery. However, these extracts suffer from a lack of reproducible bioactivity and chemical composition caused by the highly inducible, variable, and transitory nature of plant secondary metabolism. Here, we demonstrate that exposing roots of hydroponically grown plants to chemical elicitors selectively and reproducibly induced the production of bioactive compounds, dramatically increased the hit rate, and more than doubled the number of plant species showing in vitro activity against bacteria, fungi, or cancer. Elicitation performed under controlled conditions dramatically improves reliability and efficiency of plant extracts in drug discovery while preserving wild species and their habitats.
Poulev
Alexander
A
Biotech Center, Foran Hall, 59 Dudley Road, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8520, USA.
O'Neal
Joseph M
JM
Logendra
Sithes
S
Pouleva
Reneta B
RB
Timeva
Vesa
V
Garvey
Alison S
AS
Gleba
Doloressa
D
Jenkins
Ivan S
IS
Halpern
Barbara T
BT
Kneer
Ralf
R
Cragg
Gordon M
GM
Raskin
Ilya
I
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects; D018527:Hydroponics; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts