ABSTRACT
Secondary metabolism refers to a set of biochemical pathways that are apparently not directly involved in the growth and development of an organism, but is indispensable for its survival. The broad chemical diversity of plant secondary metabolites originates from the hydroxylation, glycosylation, acylation, prenylation, and/or O-methylation of a limited number of chemical scaffolds (Modolo et al., 2009). Given the sessile nature of plants, this group evolved secondary metabolite pathways in response to herbivore or pathogen attacks (de Fatima and Modolo, 2008). Besides conferring resistance/tolerance to environment stresses and providing color and fragrance, plant natural products are important health promoters.
