Journal
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages 250-258Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2013.01.001
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Funding
- Villum Foundation
- Center of Synthetic Biology
- UNIK [Universitetsforskningens Investeringskapital (Investment Capital for University Research)] research initiative of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
- Novo Nordisk Foundation 'Center for Biosustainability'
- Danish Council on Technology and Production Sciences
- Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment
- Australian Research Council [DP1094530]
- Australian Research Council [DP1094530] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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Plants are sessile organisms and dependent on deployment of secondary metabolites for their response to biotic and abiotic challenges. A trade-off is envisioned between resources allocated to growth, development, and reproduction and to the biosynthesis, storage, and maintenance of secondary metabolites. However, increasing evidence suggests that secondary metabolites serve auxiliary roles, including functions associated with primary metabolism. In this opinion article, we examine how the costs of plant chemical defense can be offset by multifunctional biosynthesis and the optimization of primary metabolism. These additional benefits may negate the trade-off between primary and secondary metabolism, and provide plants with an innate plasticity required for growth, development, and interactions with their environment.
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