Biosynthesis and Regulatory Mechanism of Secondary Metabolites in Medicinal Plants 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Medicinal plants are an important resource for humans. However, compared with model systems and crops, the number of studies on medicinal plants has fallen far behind the amount of research conducted on other topics. Recently, with the increase in demand for medicinal plants and the development and application of high-throughput technologies, the research field of medicinal plants has rapidly expanded. Significant progress has been made in the genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics of medicinal plants. Numerous studies have contributed to the biosynthetic pathway of secondary metabolites, genes encoding key enzymes of the pathway, and the regulatory mechanisms of secondary metabolism. This enables the production of secondary metabolites through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. Moreover, novel technologies and strategies are being developed and applied to this research field. This open access Special Issue of IJMS is devoted to publishing original research and review articles on medicinal plant studies, highlighting the recent advances in the biosynthesis and regulatory mechanisms of secondary metabolites, particularly the significant discoveries from intensive studies, and the development and application of novel technologies. This Special Issue aims to provide an accessible collection of research that shares the latest innovative results from the research field of medicinal plants to aid further studies on secondary metabolism, medicinal plant improvement, and the production of functionally important secondary metabolites. 

Topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics of medicinal plants;
• The biosynthetic pathway of secondary metabolites;
• Key enzyme genes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites;
• The epigenetic regulation of secondary metabolism: microRNA, long noncoding RNA, DNA methylation, RNA methylation, etc.;
• Transcription factor and regulatory network in medicinal plants;
• The metabolic engineering and synthetic biology of secondary metabolites;
• The application of high-throughput sequencing technologies;
• Databases associated with the biosynthesis and regulation of secondary metabolites;
• Novel technologies and strategies for secondary metabolism studies.

Prof. Dr. Shanfa Lu
Guest Editor

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• biosynthetic pathway
• epigenetic regulation
• high-throughput sequencing
• medicinal plant
• metabolic engineering
• omics
• regulatory mechanism
• secondary metabolite
• synthetic biology
• transcription factor

• Biosynthesis and Regulatory Mechanism of Secondary Metabolites in Medicinal Plants in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (13 articles)