Allelopathy Journal

Flavonoids, usually regarded as dispensable phytochemicals derived tTom plant secondary metabolism, play important roles in then biology of plants by affecting several developmental processes. Bioactive flavonoids also signal to microbes, serve as allelochemicals and are important nutraceuticals in the animal diet. Despite the significant progress made in identifying flavonoid pathway genes and regulators, little is currently known about the protein targets offlavonoids in plant or animal cells. Recently, there have been advances in our understanding of the roles that flavonoids play in developmental processes of plants. The multiple cellular roles of flavonoids can reflect their chemical diversity, or might suggest the existence of cellular targets shared between many of these seemingly disparate processes. In this review, we examine recent advances in the understanding of the roles that flavonoids play in developmental processes of plants, such as auxin transport, pollen germination and signalling to microorganisms, and discuss their allelopathic and anti-tumour activities. We also discuss the intriguing possibility that the apparently distinct activities of flavonoids in plant and animal cells could be a consequence of these phytochemicals modulating the function of similar proteins in both kingdoms.