![]() ![]() As a major source of traditional and modern medicine, PNPs have had broad implications for human health as a herb remedy for thousands of years, and changed the course of human civilization and history. PNPs are bioactive substances dispensable to normal plant cellular functions yet vital to biodefense and environmental adaptation of plants with a sessile lifestyle. Recently, Lichman has summarized alkaloid pathways as four general steps: (i) accumulation of an amine precursor (ii) accumulation of an aldehyde precursor (iii) formation of an iminium cation and (iv) a mannich-like reaction. The biosynthetic pathways of different alkaloids are diversified and often independent. Originated from the amino acid and isoamylene biosynthetic pathway, alkaloids are generally classified into sparteine, quinine, mescaline, coniine, and aconitine ( Fig. sanguinarine, berberine), and anti-cancer (e.g. Alkaloids are a large group of plant nitrogen-containing compounds with a broad range of pharmaceutical activities such as painkilling (e.g. Terpenoids are biosynthesized through mevalonic acid and methylerythritol phosphate pathways from isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP, C 5), the precursor and fundamental structural unit of all terpenoids including monoterpenoids (C 10), sesquiterpenoids (C 15), diterpenoids (C 20), and triterpenoids (C 30) Ingeneral, phenolics consist of monophenols such as benzenoids,and polyphenols such as flavonoids, stilbenoids, and coumuminoids. Phenolics are synthesized from the shikimic acid biosynthetic pathway where the final products are formed after phenylalanine and aromatic amino acids undergo deaminization, hydroxylation, and coupling reactions ( Fig. ![]() Plant natural products (PNPs) are generally divided into three classes: phenolics, terpenoids, and alkaloids and broadly used as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and fine chemicals. Derived from primary metabolites, secondary metabolites accumulate at cellular, tissue and organ levels through diverse biosynthetic pathways. These powerful substances are also important chemical signals mediating plant communication with symbiotic microorganisms, and attracting pollinators and seed dispersal. To date more than 100 000 natural products are present in the Kingdom of Plants, primarily involved in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. These chemicals known as secondary metabolites or natural products are synthesized by plants to accommodate environmental changes without disrupting much of their cellular and developmental physiological processes. Plants have existed on Earth for hundreds of millions of years and evolved ingenious chemical factories to survive exogenous and endogenous stresses. Natural products in medicinal plants: hidden treasures with healing power Finally, we humbly provide a foresight of the research trend for understanding the biology of medicinal plants in the coming decades. In this review, we attempt to provide a brief update on the current research of PNPs in medicinal plants by focusing on how different state-of-the-art biotechnologies facilitate their discovery, the molecular basis of their biosynthesis, as well as synthetic biology. Critically, systemic biological, multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches integrating and interrogating all accessible data from genomics, metabolomics, structural biology, and chemical informatics are necessary to accelerate the full characterization of biosynthetic and regulatory circuitry for producing PNPs in medicinal plants. PNP research efforts in the pre-genomic era focus on discovering bioactive molecules with pharmaceutical activities, and identifying individual genes responsible for biosynthesis. As we human race face the tremendous public health challenge posed by emerging infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and surging drug prices etc., harnessing the healing power of medicinal plants gifted from mother nature is more urgent than ever in helping us survive future challenge in a sustainable way. Globally, medicinal plant natural products (PNPs) are a major source of substances used in traditional and modern medicine.
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