植物苯丙烷代谢途径

众所周知,固着生长的植物经常受到环境中各种生物和非生物胁迫的威胁。所以在漫长的进化过程中,植物必须将多样的环境信号整合到其发育过程中,以实现适应性形态的发生和代谢途径的精确调控,最终使植物完成整个生长周期。研究显示,苯丙烷代谢作为植物重要的次级代谢途径之一,其代谢产物,例如木质素、孢粉素、花青素和有机酸等,在调控植物适应性生长的过程中发挥着重要功能。特别是在药用植物中,苯丙烷代谢还与众多药用活性成分的合成息息相关,几乎所有包含苯丙烷骨架的天然药效成分均由苯丙烷代谢途径直接或间接合成,例如黄酮类、萜类和酚类等。此外,经苯丙烷代谢途径产生的一些次级代谢产物还能由植物根系外泌到周际土壤中,通过改变根系微生物的菌群生态,而影响植物生长和抵抗生物或非生物胁迫的能力。同时,苯丙烷代谢介导的这种植物-微生物互作也与药用植物的道地品质密不可分。本文综述了近年来植物苯丙烷代谢途径的最新研究进展,重点对该代谢途径中代谢产物的生理功能及表达调控机制进行了介绍,以期更深入地理解药用植物苯丙烷代谢与药材性状之间的潜在关系,旨在指导优良中草药的遗传育种,以进一步促进我国中医药事业的蓬勃发展。

Phenylpropanoid Metabolism Pathway in Plants

It is well established that plants as sessile organisms, are constantly threatened by various biotic and abiotic stresses in the living environment. So, during the long evolutionary process, sessile plants have to integrate a wide variety of environmental cues into their developmental programme to prioritize adaptive morphogenesis and metabolic pathways precise control. Previous studies have shown that the phenylpropane metabolic pathway is one of the important secondary metabolic pathways in plants, and the metabolites via phenylpropane metabolism, such as lignin, sporopollen, anthocyanin and organic acids, play an important role in the regulation of plant adaptive growth. In medicinal plants, the phenylpropane metabolic pathway is closely related to the synthesis of many medicinal active ingredients. Almost all natural medicinal molecules containing phenylpropane skeleton are synthesized directly or indirectly through this metabolic pathway, for example flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols, etc. In addition, some secondary metabolites biosynthesized through phenylpropane metabolic pathway can be secreted from the plant root system into the peripheral soil to affect plant growth and ability of abiotic and biotic stress resist, by changing the microbial ecology of plant root system. Meanwhile, this phenylpropane-mediated plant-microbe interaction can also affect the genuine characters of the medicinal plants. In this paper, we summarize the latest research progress of plant phenylpropane metabolic pathway, especially the physiological functions and expression regulation mechanism of the products of phenylpropane metabolic pathway are introduced. We aim to provide guidance for further understanding of the potential relationship between the quality of medicinal plants and plant phenylpropane metabolic pathway, in the end to direct excellent Chinese herbal medicine breeding, then to further promote the vigorous development of Chinese medicine in China.