Osbourn Anne E, Qi Xiaoquan, Townsend Belinda, Qin Bo
The Sainsbury Laboratory, The John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
New Phytol. 2003 Jul;159(1):101-108. doi: 10.1046/j.1469-8137.2003.00759.x.
Collectively plants synthesise a diverse array of secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites are well known as agents that mediate pollination and seed dispersal. They may also act as chemical defenses that ward off pests and pathogens or suppress the growth of neighbouring plants. The ability to synthesise particular classes of secondary metabolite is commonly restricted to selected plant groups, and the evolution of different pathways in distinct plant lineages is likely to have been key for survival and for the generation of diversity at the organism level. An understanding of the evolution of secondary metabolism requires the characterisation of enzymes and genes for complete pathways in a broad range of plants in addition to the two model species, Arabidopsis thaliana and rice. Tracing the ancestry of the pathway components can then unravel the chain of events that led to the creation of individual pathways. This review summarises progress that has been made in the dissection of the pathways for constitutive chemical defences in cereals, namely saponins and benzoxazinoids.
植物共同合成了各种各样的次生代谢产物。次生代谢产物作为介导授粉和种子传播的媒介而广为人知。它们也可能作为化学防御物质，抵御害虫和病原体或抑制邻近植物的生长。合成特定类别的次生代谢产物的能力通常仅限于特定的植物类群，不同植物谱系中不同途径的进化可能是在生物体水平上生存和产生多样性的关键。除了两种模式植物拟南芥和水稻之外，要了解次生代谢的进化，还需要对广泛植物中完整途径的酶和基因进行表征。追溯途径成分的起源，然后可以揭示导致各个途径形成的一系列事件。本综述总结了在剖析谷物组成型化学防御途径（即皂苷和苯并嗪类化合物）方面所取得的进展。
