Flavonoids: Recent Advances and Applications in Crop Breeding

Abstract

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites that perform a wide range of roles in plants. These include their involvement in plant growth, pigmentation, and UV protection, to a variety of defense and signaling activities. Flavonoids such as chalcones, flavones, flavanols, anthocyanins, and proanthocyanins are widely distributed in the plant kingdom. The metabolic routes of the flavonoids are exploited extensively using several biotech approaches to enhance the crop variety and incorporate varied nutritional benefits. Many flavonoids are key components of medicinal plants and possess nutritional significance. Specific mutations in flavonoid-related genes are typically responsible for the diversity in flavonoids, resulting in quantitative and qualitative variations in metabolic profiles. Thereby numerous attempts have been made to increase flavonoid content in agronomically important species. Flavonoids are also employed in the regulation of inflammation, in arthritis, and in cancer prevention strategies, due to their ubiquity in the human diet. Advances in the comprehension of flavonoid biosynthesis and modulation have prompted a surge in researches aiming at modifying the flavonoid pathway to improve nutritional value, plant defenses against infections and the feeding value of livestock. This chapter briefly discusses the varied role of flavonoids, their biosynthesis, and their distribution over the plant kingdom. Furthermore, it exclusively highlights the several biotech-based trending pieces of research based on introducing flavonoid biosynthesis in commercial crops.