Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
J Exp Bot. 2023 Sep 13;74(17):4942-4948. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erad209.
Recent technical and theoretical advances have generated an explosion in the identification of specialized metabolite pathways. In comparison, our understanding of how these pathways are regulated is relatively lagging. This and the relatively young age of specialized metabolite pathways has partly contributed to a default and common paradigm whereby specialized metabolite regulation is theorized as relatively simple with a few key transcription factors and the compounds are non-regulatory end-products. In contrast, studies into model specialized metabolites, such as glucosinolates, are beginning to identify a new understanding whereby specialized metabolites are highly integrated into the plants' core metabolic, physiological, and developmental pathways. This model includes a greatly extended compendium of transcription factors controlling the pathway, key transcription factors that co-evolve with the pathway and simultaneously control core metabolic and developmental components, and finally the compounds themselves evolve regulatory connections to integrate into the plants signaling machinery. In this review, these concepts are illustrated using studies in the glucosinolate pathway within the Brassicales. This suggests that the broader community needs to reconsider how they do or do not integrate specialized metabolism into the regulatory network of their study species.
近年来，技术和理论的进步使得专业化代谢途径的鉴定呈爆炸式增长。相比之下，我们对这些途径如何被调控的理解相对滞后。这一点，再加上专业化代谢途径相对较年轻，导致了一种默认的、常见的观点，即认为专业化代谢的调控相对简单，只有少数几个关键的转录因子和化合物是非调控的终产物。相比之下，对模式专业化代谢物（如硫代葡萄糖苷）的研究开始提出一种新的理解，即专业化代谢物高度整合到植物的核心代谢、生理和发育途径中。该模型包括一个控制途径的转录因子的扩展纲要，与途径共同进化并同时控制核心代谢和发育成分的关键转录因子，以及最后化合物本身进化出调节连接，以整合到植物的信号机制中。在本文综述中，使用芸苔属中的硫代葡萄糖苷途径的研究来说明这些概念。这表明更广泛的研究群体需要重新考虑他们是否将专业化代谢纳入他们研究物种的调控网络。
