The multifaceted defense response of plants involves bioactive natural compounds that recognize, intervene, and neutralize the incoming pathogens. Plant secondary metabolites play roles at different stages of infection and disease progression. Studies have shown the synthesis of specific metabolites to confer resistance or tolerance depending on disease severity and other related factors. However, information on the presence, involvement, and regulation of several metabolites remains largely unavailable. The advent of next-gen omics approaches and the availability of high-throughput metabolomics platforms could expedite the studies in this direction. Given this, the present review details the role of secondary metabolites in plant defense, their modulation to achieve better immunity, and the tools and techniques available to study these metabolites. Further, the review also provides a roadmap for undertaking such studies in major crops to delineate the precise roles of novel metabolites and extrapolate the information for developing crops with better resistance against the broad-spectrum of pathogens.

植物的多方面防御反应涉及识别，干预和中和传入病原体的生物活性天然化合物。植物次生代谢产物在感染和疾病进展的不同阶段发挥作用。研究表明，取决于疾病的严重程度和其他相关因素，特定代谢产物的合成可赋予抗性或耐受性。但是，关于几种代谢物的存在，参与和调节的信息仍然非常缺乏。下一代组学方法的问世和高通量代谢组学平台的可用性可以加快这一方向的研究。鉴于此，本综述详细介绍了次级代谢产物在植物防御中的作用，以及为了获得更好的免疫力而进行的调节，以及研究这些代谢物的工具和技术。此外，该综述还提供了在主要农作物中进行此类研究的路线图，以描绘新型代谢产物的精确作用，并推断出信息，以开发对病原体具有更强抗性的农作物。