given stress. Moreover, exogenous treatments with NO donors also enhanced the
accumulation of secondary metabolites, including phenolics, flavonoids,
and caffeic acid derivatives in several species, suggesting the importance of NO
accumulation for the secondary metabolic production. Complete elucidation of its
role in the production of such secondary metabolites, which are pharmaceutically
significant, is very essential for improving the large-scale commercial production
and enhancing stress resilience in plants. Although several reports suggested the
induction of secondary metabolites and NO against a range of stress factors,
establishing link between NO and secondary metabolites under stress needed a
deeper investigation. This chapter chiefly summarizes NO biosynthesis, signaling, and functions under abiotic stress in plants, highlighting what is currently
known about secondary metabolite induction by NO in plants.
Keywords
Nitric oxide · Secondary metabolites · Abiotic stress · Biotic stress · Phenolics ·
Flavonoids
List of Abbreviations
ABA
Abscisic acid
AP2/ERF
APETALA2/ethylene response factor
APX
Ascorbate peroxidase
AsA-GSH Ascorbic acid-glutathione
cADPR
Cyclic ADP-ribose
CAT
Catalase
Cd
Cadmium
cGMP
Cyclic guanosine monophosphate
c-PTIO
2-(4-Carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3oxid
Cu
Copper
DAF-2DA 4,5-Diaminofluorescein diacetate
eNOS
Endothelial NOS
GABA
γ-Aminobutyric acid
H 2 O 2
Hydrogen peroxide
iNOS
Inducible NOS
L-NAME
L-N
G -Nitroarginine methyl ester; N(G)-Nitro-L-arginine methyl
ester
MDA
Malondialdehyde
MeJA
Methyl jasmonate
MYB
Myb-related protein B
NaCl
Sodium chloride
NADPH
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
nNOS
Neuronal NOS
NO
Nitric oxide
NO 2
Nitrogen dioxide
NOS
Nitric oxide synthase
594
P. Santisree et al.