Zou Li-Qiu, Wang Cai-Xia, Kuang Xue-Jun, Li Ying, Sun Chao
Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, China Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China.
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2016 Nov;41(22):4124-4128. doi: 10.4268/cjcmm20162207.
Flavonoids are the valuable components in medicinal plants, which possess a variety of pharmacological activities, including anti-tumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. There is an unambiguous understanding about flavonoids biosynthetic pathway, that is,2S-flavanones including naringenin and pinocembrin are the skeleton of other flavonoids and they can transform to other flavonoids through branched metabolic pathway. Elucidation of the flavonoids biosynthetic pathway lays a solid foundation for their synthetic biology. A few flavonoids have been produced in Escherichia coli or yeast with synthetic biological technologies, such as naringenin, pinocembrin and fisetin. Synthetic biology will provide a new way to get valuable flavonoids and promote the research and development of flavonoid drugs and health products, making flavonoids play more important roles in human diet and health.
黄酮类化合物是药用植物中的重要成分，具有多种药理活性，包括抗肿瘤、抗氧化和抗炎活性。目前对黄酮类化合物的生物合成途径已有明确认识，即包括柚皮素和松属素在内的2S-黄烷酮是其他黄酮类化合物的骨架，它们可通过分支代谢途径转化为其他黄酮类化合物。对黄酮类化合物生物合成途径的阐明为其合成生物学奠定了坚实基础。利用合成生物学技术已在大肠杆菌或酵母中生产出了一些黄酮类化合物，如柚皮素、松属素和漆黄素。合成生物学将为获取有价值的黄酮类化合物提供一条新途径，并推动黄酮类药物和保健品的研发，使黄酮类化合物在人类饮食和健康中发挥更重要的作用。
