Responses of in vitro cell cultures to elicitation: regulatory role of jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate: a review

Plants are regarded as resources to obtain various industrially important compounds such as pharmaceutical, agrochemical and aromatic products which are produced in their roots, stem, leaves and other aerial parts and mostly extracted from field-grown plants. However, the over-exploitation of plants for secondary metabolites often leads to becoming endangered and in threat of extinction. Owing to these constraints, in vitro culture techniques provide an alternative to overcome problems associated with field production and promotes their conservation. The use of elicitation for the enhancement of secondary metabolite production is gaining importance. Elicitation is defined as an increased production of biomass and secondary metabolites in both in vitro and ex vivo grown plants, subjected to the exposure of different elicitors. The process of elicitation is influenced by culture conditions like elicitor concentration, duration, age and composition of culture. So, this review emphasises the role of these in vitro culture conditions on secondary metabolite production and to pave way for their enhanced in vitro production. Also discussed are various elicitor responses on different biochemical and molecular pathways to elucidate the mechanism of action of jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate in secondary metabolite production.