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G. FAREEDA* AND V. MUNASWAMY
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, S.V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati – 517 502, A.P.
Natural products have provided key guidelines for new drug discovery. The search for novel natural products with interesting bioactive properties is an ongoing discipline. Thousands of bioactive compounds have the potential or have already been established as pharmaceuticals, or nutraceuticals. The development of crops for bioactive compounds production presents both research and agronomic management challenges and market-related considerations. The population susceptible to develop chronic degenerative diseases represents more than 30% of the worldwide population, so the demand for new alternatives for control of these diseases has increased considerably in recent decades. Increasing consumption of functional foods with a high content of phytochemicals (bioactive compounds) is an option to prevent or correct chronic degenerative diseases. The increasing commercial importance of these chemical compounds has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism, particularly the possibility of altering the production of bioactive plant metabolites by means of tissue culture technology and metabolomics. In today’s world the use of bioactive compounds derived from plants plays an important role in pharmaceutical applications. This review presents information about these metabolites and their applications as well as their importance in agronomy and bioactive effects on human health as nutraceuticals.
Secondary metabolites, Bioactive compounds, Metabolomics engineering.