Phytochemicals are constituents of plants fall into two categories based on their role in basic metabolic processes, namely primary and secondary metabolites. Primary plant metabolites are involved in basic life functions; therefore, they are more or less similar in all living cells. On the other hand, secondary plant metabolites are products of subsidiary pathways as the shikimic acid pathway.
If so, does primary plant metabolites found after the plant is dead?
Hi Chala,
primary metabolites are essential for cell survival. Those are everpresent compounds that are a part of different intracellular mechanism and have a specific task inside the cells.
Secondary metabolites are not essential for plant development. They have different functions. They act like pheromones (signaling molecules) for plant-to-plant signaling, plant-to-insect signaling, plant-to-animal signaling, as a pesticide, fungicide and bactericide.
As the plant gets damaged cells start to die. Directly damaged cells die by necrosis and other usually by apoptotic mechanisms. Primary and secondary metabolites are present in dead plants but degrade over time from environmental exposure, enzyme activity, bacterial and fungal growth and other means of degradation. You should be able to find primary metabolites after plant death.
Are mucilages essential for cell survival? In pharmacognosy, metabolites are those stored in the cell in usable quantities (for us). I think that the difference between the primary and secondary ones lies mostly in the scientific tradition. For example, chlorophyll is stored in large quantities but I've never encounter it being classified among metabolites. From the other hand, even low concentrations of alkaloids are always classified as secondary metabolites as they are specially stored inside vacuolas and due to their highly compound structure and specific synthesis paths in the cell. There is an approach to classify primary metabolites as those common for relatively all plant cells, including starch, soluble sugars, mucilages (I do not know why), while the secondary ones occur as special for restricted groups of plants (tannins, vitamins, alkaloids, terpenoids, vacuole pigments, fatty oils, flavonoids, alpha-hydroxy-acids). I'd hesitate in case of carotenoids as they are stored in plastids.
Best regards,
Jacek
Primary metabolites are those they produced for plant self and utilizes by plants but secondary are those that they do not utilize by plants through its derived from primary metabolites.
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