Co-evolution of Secondary Metabolites
During Biological Competition for Survival
and Advantage: An Overview
1
Kishan Gopal Ramawat and Shaily Goyal
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Diversity and Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Biology of Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4 Competition for Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5 Role in Plant-Insect Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Abstract
Plants produce secondary metabolites which are involved in several biological
processes and interactions with other organisms from microbes to insects to
higher plants. These processes are variously termed as plant-plant interaction,
allelopathy, herbivory, parasitism and mutualism, and induction of plant protection by other microorganisms. Plants are under selection pressure to protect
themselves from herbivores/parasites, whereas herbivores/parasites struggle for
their survival from plant defense to obtain food and reproduction site. Plants
develop defense mechanism from herbivores over a period of 400 million years.
Therefore, both develop various strategies to adapt and adjust with changing
environment. In this introductory chapter, a brief review of co-evolution of
secondary metabolites not only to complete the biological process but also to
compete with each other for survival is presented.
K. G. Ramawat
Department of Botany, University College of Science, M. L. Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India
e-mail: kg_ramawat@yahoo.com
S. Goyal (*)
Department of Life Earth and Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX,
USA
e-mail: goyalshaily@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_45
3
During Biological Competition for Survival
and Advantage: An Overview
1
Kishan Gopal Ramawat and Shaily Goyal
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Diversity and Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Biology of Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4 Competition for Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5 Role in Plant-Insect Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Abstract
Plants produce secondary metabolites which are involved in several biological
processes and interactions with other organisms from microbes to insects to
higher plants. These processes are variously termed as plant-plant interaction,
allelopathy, herbivory, parasitism and mutualism, and induction of plant protection by other microorganisms. Plants are under selection pressure to protect
themselves from herbivores/parasites, whereas herbivores/parasites struggle for
their survival from plant defense to obtain food and reproduction site. Plants
develop defense mechanism from herbivores over a period of 400 million years.
Therefore, both develop various strategies to adapt and adjust with changing
environment. In this introductory chapter, a brief review of co-evolution of
secondary metabolites not only to complete the biological process but also to
compete with each other for survival is presented.
K. G. Ramawat
Department of Botany, University College of Science, M. L. Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India
e-mail: kg_ramawat@yahoo.com
S. Goyal (*)
Department of Life Earth and Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX,
USA
e-mail: goyalshaily@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_45
3