Interaction between mycorrhizal and medicinal plants towards enhancement of secondary metabolites

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) are symbiotic relations between plants and fungi, it has a long history of more than 400 million years. AMF mycelium colonizes the plant root system forming structures like root hairs which are considered as functional site for absorbing nutrient from soil and transfer them into the plant root. AMF increase nutrients uptake from soil as well as improving disease resistance against many pathogens. Medicinal plants are used across the world as primary form of therapy in the all known traditional medical systems which considered safer, cheaper and effective compared with chemicals ones. These plants metabolites are classified as primary metabolites and secondary metabolites, these secondary metabolites are subdivided in three major classes: alkaloids, terpenoids, and phenolics. They contain numerous phytochemicals with beneficial therapeutic as well as preventive effects. AMF inoculation on medicinal plants decreased the infection of bacterial and fungal pathogens, in addition to that The AMF–medicinal plants interaction causes chemical and biological changes lead to change in the secondary metabolite concentrations. In this review, we have summarized the effect of different arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi on increasing or decreasing the secondary metabolites of some medicinal plants and it was discussed about the secondary metabolites pathways involved in AMF–medicinal plants interaction.