The power of Nature as applied to plant secondary
metabolite production can be augmented through the use of
chemical elicitors and selected derivatives of biosynthetic
precursors. Thus, exposure of the roots of hydroponically
grown plants to chemical elicitors induces the selective and
reproducible production of bioactive compounds,33 while the
feeding of seedlings of Catharanthus roseus with various
tryptamine analogues has resulted in the production of nonnatural
terpene indole alkaloids related to the vinca alkaloids.
34