Chemical Adaptation to the Environment: Secondary Metabolite Plasticity in Rutaceae with Ruta graveolens as a Model Species

Abstract

The metabolites of this plant are classified into many groups, including flavonoids, essential oils, coumarins, furanocoumarins and acridone and furoquinoline alkaloids as well as various phenolic acids. The significant diversity in its chemistry has led to a long cultural history of use for many medicinal purposes, and as such has attracted renewed scientific research into the ecological and biological significance of R. graveolens. As an example, laboratory studies of extracts, essential oils and pure chemical constituents have demonstrated numerous biological activity, including antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiparasitic and the ability to modulate metabolic and cellular processes. Alkaloids derived from acridones and furanocridones are of particular interest because of their capacity to induce cytotoxic effects and promote apoptosis, both in vitro.; the author feels these compounds will continue to generate interest as additional studies are completed to provide a better understanding of their mode of action. Although these traits present an encouraging prospect, the high degree of variance observed in metabolite composition as a result of organ-specific accumulation factors, sampled environmental conditions and retrieval methodologies presents a large hurdle to replicate findings and utilize those outcomes through various means. Current trends within the field of plant biotechnology include a focus on establishing regulated in vitro culture systems, including the establishment of clonal uniformity through micropropagation, as well as providing an outlet for genetically stable and rapidly expanding biomasses with improved potential for specialized metabolite synthesis via the employment of hairy root cultures. This chapter provides an integrative review of the current understanding of the phytochemical profile, biological roles and biosynthetic pathways related to R. graveolens and utilizes this information to show that plant biotechnological approaches provide the means to produce standardized, reproducible, and scalable amounts of high-value metabolites from plants of the Rutaceae family.