Simple phenylpropanoids: recent advances in biological activities, biosynthetic pathways, and microbial production.

Covering: 2000 to 2023Simple phenylpropanoids are a large group of natural products with primary C6-C3 skeletons. They are not only important biomolecules for plant growth but also crucial chemicals for high-value industries, including fragrances, nutraceuticals, biomaterials, and pharmaceuticals. However, with the growing global demand for simple phenylpropanoids, direct plant extraction or chemical synthesis often struggles to meet current needs in terms of yield, titre, cost, and environmental impact.

Structure-driven protein engineering for production of valuable natural products.

Proteins are the most frequently used biocatalysts, and their structures determine their functions. Modifying the functions of proteins on the basis of their structures lies at the heart of protein engineering, opening a new horizon for metabolic engineering by efficiently generating stable enzymes. Many attempts at classical metabolic engineering have focused on improving specific metabolic fluxes and producing more valuable natural products by increasing gene expression levels and enzyme concentrations.

Biosynthesis and regulation of diterpenoids in medicinal plants.

Plant diterpenoids are widely distributed and abundant natural products with diverse structures and functions in nature, which have been commonly used in pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial production. In recent years, plant diterpenoids have attracted increasing attention, including their biosynthetic pathways, transcriptional regulatory networks, and biological functions. Herein, the biosynthetic pathways of diterpenoids are summarized in a modular fashion.

miR160: An Indispensable Regulator in Plant.

MicroRNAs (miRNA), recognized as crucial regulators of gene expression at the posttranscriptional level, have been found to be involved in the biological processes of plants. Some miRNAs are up- or down-regulated during plant development, stress response, and secondary metabolism. Over the past few years, it has been proved that miR160 is directly related to the developments of different tissues and organs in multifarious species, as well as plant-environment interactions.