image: Secondary metabolites from plants play a crucial role in various aspects of daily life and find wide applications in medicine, chemistry, food, and cosmetics. For instance, secondary metabolites from medicinal plants like Panax ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, and Taxus wallichiana serve as key ingredients in pharmaceutical formulations, offering therapeutic benefits for treating a range of diseases. Additionally, plants such as Isatis tinctoria, Rubia cordifolia, and Tulipa × gesneriana are utilized as natural dyes to impart vibrant colors to textiles and other materials. In the food industry, plant secondary metabolites are incorporated into products for flavoring, preservation, and nutritional enhancement, with examples including Vanilla planifolia, Vitis vinifera, and various Vaccinium species. Furthermore, these compounds are integral to the cosmetics industry, where their beneficial properties and pleasant aromas are utilized in skincare, perfumes, and other beauty products. Common plants like Rhodiola rosea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, and Aloe vera contribute to this aspect.
Credit: Horticulture Research
A recent study highlights the pivotal role of alternative splicing in controlling plant secondary metabolism, which is crucial for producing bioactive compounds with significant medicinal and industrial value. This research sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant metabolism and opens new avenues for enhancing the production of valuable plant-derived metabolites.
Plants synthesize a diverse array of secondary metabolites, including terpenoids, flavonoids, and alkaloids, essential for their growth, development, and defense against environmental challenges. These compounds are widely used in medicine, agriculture, and industry. Despite their importance, the regulation of their biosynthesis remains complex and not fully understood. Alternative splicing—a common post-transcriptional process—has emerged as a key regulatory mechanism. Addressing these complexities, the study of alternative splicing in plant secondary metabolism is crucial to advancing our understanding of these pathways.
Conducted by researchers at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and published (DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae173) on July 2, 2024, in Horticulture Research, this study explores how alternative splicing influences plant secondary metabolism. The research provides a comprehensive review of the regulatory impact of alternative splicing on the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, including terpenoids and phenolic compounds. The findings emphasize the importance of alternative splicing in helping plants adapt to environmental stress, offering new insights for bioengineering approaches to enhance plant performance and metabolite production.
The study investigates the detailed mechanisms of alternative splicing in plant secondary metabolism, focusing on its effects on terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and nitrogen-containing metabolites. By altering the expression of key metabolic genes, alternative splicing generates diverse mRNA transcripts, which enhance protein diversity and metabolic flexibility. This regulatory mechanism allows plants to adjust to environmental fluctuations by modulating metabolite synthesis. Notable examples include the splicing of Myeloblastosis (MYB) and basic helix–hoop–helix (bHLH) transcription factors that regulate flavonoid biosynthesis, and enzymes like lipoxygenase (LOX) and strictosidine β-d-glucosidase (SGD), which influence terpenoid and alkaloid production. The study also highlights the role of phytohormones such as jasmonic acid and abscisic acid in modulating these pathways, demonstrating how alternative splicing responds dynamically to biotic and abiotic stresses. This research provides a pathway for targeted interventions to optimize secondary metabolite production.
Dr. Ying Xiao, the lead author, noted, “Our research highlights alternative splicing as a crucial regulatory mechanism in plant secondary metabolism. It not only affects the synthesis of essential metabolites but also boosts plants' resilience to environmental stress. By understanding these processes, we can develop innovative bioengineering strategies to improve plant productivity and increase yields of valuable metabolites. This study lays the groundwork for further exploration into the complex interplay between gene expression, splicing, and metabolic regulation.”
The study’s implications extend across agriculture, medicine, and industry. Understanding the regulatory role of alternative splicing can drive bioengineering efforts to enhance the production of high-value metabolites, including antioxidants, anticancer compounds, and natural flavorings. Such advancements could lead to the development of stress-resilient crops with enhanced yields of beneficial compounds, supporting sustainable agriculture and the production of natural bioactives. Future research will focus on manipulating splicing mechanisms to further optimize plant metabolic pathways for improved performance.
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References
DOI
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae173
Funding information
This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32070332, 32170402, U23A20512), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFC3504800, 2022YFC3501700), the Program of Shanghai Academic/Technology Research Leader (23XD1423500), and the State Key Laboratory of Southwestern Chinese Medicine (SKLTCM202310).
About Horticulture Research
Horticulture Research is an open access journal of Nanjing Agricultural University and ranked number two in the Horticulture category of the Journal Citation Reports ™ from Clarivate, 2023. The journal is committed to publishing original research articles, reviews, perspectives, comments, correspondence articles and letters to the editor related to all major horticultural plants and disciplines, including biotechnology, breeding, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, genetics, inter-species interactions, physiology, and the origination and domestication of crops.
Journal
Horticulture Research
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Relevance and regulation of alternative splicing in plant secondary metabolism: current understanding and future directions
Article Publication Date
2-Jul-2024
COI Statement
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.