Two types of O-methyltransferase are involved in biosynthesis of anticancer methoxylated 4'-deoxyflavones in Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi.

The medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is rich in specialized 4'-deoxyflavones, which are reported to have many health-promoting properties. We assayed Scutellaria flavones with different methoxyl groups on human cancer cell lines and found that polymethoxylated 4'-deoxyflavones, like skullcapflavone I and tenaxin I have stronger ability to induce apoptosis compared to unmethylated baicalein, showing that methoxylation enhances bioactivity as well as the physical properties of specialized flavones, while having no side-effects on healthy cells. We investigated the formation of methoxylated flavones and found that two O-methyltransferase (OMT) families are active in the roots of S.

[Study advance in biosynthesis of flavone from Scutellaria].

Flavones are widely distributed in terrestrial plants and act as important bioactive compounds in medicinal plants. Baicalein, wogonin and their glycosides baicalin and wogonoside are major active components found in medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis. These flavones can induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines, with such pharmacological activities as anti-oxidation, antivirus and liver protection.

[A landscape of transcriptome analysis of three sclerotia growth stages in Polyporus umbellatus].

Polyporus umbellatus,a traditional Chinese precious medicine as long been used for eliminating dampness,diuresis and have effect on cancer,getting more and more popularly in China recently. And the developmental metabolic process of the medicinal fungus,P. umbellatus,has been gotten more attention.