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Special Issue "Molecular and Metabolic Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism"

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2023 | Viewed by 996

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Dr. Alexandra S. Dubrovina

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Biotechnology, Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia
Interests: plant secondary metabolism; RNA interference; plant gene regulation; abiotic stress; transgenic plants; calcium sensor proteins
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Dr. Konstantin V. Kiselev

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Biotechnology, Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia
Interests: plant secondary metabolism; stilbenes; plant gene expression; plant cell cultures; calcium signaling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant secondary metabolites have been the subject of intensive research due to their valuable pharmaceutical effects and contribution to plant disease resistance. This Special Issue is aimed to present new advances in understanding the natural mechanisms regulating plant secondary metabolism and new biotechnological approaches for plant secondary metabolite production. We invite original research papers, reviews, communications, and opinion papers devoted to molecular and metabolic regulation of plant secondary metabolism. Understanding secondary metabolite biosynthesis in plants could be useful for both the development of new plant protection strategies and for commercial biologically active compound production.

We welcome papers related but not limited to the following specific topics:

Environmental factors and cell signaling pathway regulating plant secondary metabolism.
Advancements in understanding biosyntesis of plant secondary metabolites.
Transcriptional regulation of plant secondary metabolism.
Biotechnological approaches for plant secondary metabolism regulation.
Production of plant secondary metabolites by biotechnological methods (plant cell cultures, microbial biotransformation etc.).

Dr. Alexandra S. Dubrovina
Dr. Konstantin V. Kiselev
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

plant secondary metabolism
bioactive natural products
phytochemistry
plant cell cultures
secondary metabolite biosynthesis
plant biotechnology

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Open AccessArticle

Isoenzymes of the Flavonoid and Phenylpropanoid Pathways Show Organ-Specific Regulation during Apple Fruit Development

Paolo Baldi

Elisa Asquini

Giovanni Nicolussi Golo

Francesca Populin

and

Mirko Moser

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(18), 14353; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241814353 - 20 Sep 2023

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Abstract

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms controlling fruit development is a primary target for the improvement of new apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) cultivars. The first two weeks of development following pollination are crucial to determine fruit characteristics. During this period, a lot of changes take place in apple fruit, going from rapid cell division to the production of important metabolites. In this work, attention was focused on the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways responsible for the production of numerous compounds contributing to fruit quality, such as flavonols, catechins, dihydrochalcones and anthocyanins. A total of 17 isoenzymes were identified, belonging to seven classes of the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways that, despite showing more than 80% sequence identity, showed differential expression regulation during the first two weeks of apple fruit development. This feature seems to be quite common for most of the enzymes of both pathways. Differential regulation of isoenzymes was shown to be present in both ‘Golden Delicious’ and a wild relative (Malus mandshurica), even though differences were also present. Each isoenzyme showed a specific pattern of expression in the flower and fruit organs, suggesting that genes coding for enzymes with the same function may control different aspects of plant biology. Finally, promoter analysis was performed in order to highlight differences in the number and type of regulatory motifs. Overall, our results indicate that the control of the expression of genes involved in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways may be very complex as not only enzymes belonging to the same class, but even putative isoenzymes, can have different roles for the plant. Such genes may represent an important regulatory mechanism, as they would allow the plant to fine-tune the processing of metabolic intermediates towards different branches of the pathway, for example, in an organ-specific way. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Metabolic Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism)

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Open AccessReview

Overview and Recent Progress on the Biosynthesis and Regulation of Flavonoids in Ginkgo biloba L.

and

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(19), 14604; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914604 - 27 Sep 2023

Viewed by 139

Abstract

Flavonoids and their derivatives play important roles in plants, such as exerting protective activity against biotic and abiotic stresses, functioning in visual signaling to attract pollinators, and regulating phytohormone activity. They are also important secondary metabolites that are beneficial to humans. Ginkgo biloba L. is a well-known relict plant considered to be a “living fossil”. Flavonoids present in ginkgo leaves have antioxidant and anti-aging capacities and show good therapeutic effects on a variety of neurological diseases. To date, studies on flavonoids have mainly focused on their extraction, pharmacological effects, and component analysis and on the expression levels of the key genes involved. However, a systematic review summarizing the biosynthesis and regulatory mechanisms of ginkgo flavonoids is still lacking. Thus, this review was conducted to comprehensively introduce the biological characteristics, value, and utilization status of ginkgo; summarize the effects, biosynthetic pathways, and transcriptional regulation of flavonoids; and finally, discuss the factors (ecological factors, hormones, etc.) that regulate the biosynthesis of flavonoids in ginkgo. This review will provide a reference basis for future research on the biosynthesis and efficient utilization of flavonoids in ginkgo. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Metabolic Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism)

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Open AccessArticle

The Chemical Composition and Transcriptome Analysis Reveal the Mechanism of Color Formation in Tea (Camellia sinensis) Pericarp

Yueyang Du

Yongen Lin

Kaikai Zhang

Dylan O’Neill Rothenberg

and

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(17), 13198; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241713198 - 25 Aug 2023

Viewed by 331

Abstract

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the differential metabolism of albino (white), green, and purple pericarp coloration, biochemical profiling and transcriptome sequencing analyses were performed on three different tea pericarps, Zhongbaiyihao (Camellia sinensis L. var. Zhongbai), Jinxuan (Camellia sinensis L. var. Jinxuan), and Baitangziya (Camellia sinensis L. var. Baitang). Results of biochemical analysis revealed that low chlorophyll content and low chlorophyll/carotene ratio may be the biochemical basis for albino characteristics in the ‘Zhongbaiyihao’ pericarp. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, including DFR, F3′5′H, CCoAOMT, and 4-coumaroyl-CoA, were highly expressed in the purple ‘Baitangziya’ pericarp. In the chlorophyll synthesis of white pericarp, GUN5 (Genome Uncoupled 5) and 8-vinyl-reductase both showed high expression levels compared to the green one, which indicated that albino ‘Zhongbaiyihao’ pericarp had a higher chlorophyll synthesis capacity than ‘Jinxuan’. Meanwhile, chlorophyllase (CLH, CSS0004684) was lower in ‘Baitang’ than in ‘Jinxuan’ and ‘Zhongbaiyihao’ pericarp. Among the differentially expressed transcription factors, MYB59, WRKY41-like2 (CS ng17509), bHLH62 like1 (CS ng6804), and bHLH62-like3 (CSS0039948) were downregulated in Jinxuan pericarp, suggesting that transcription factors played a role in regulating tea pericarp coloration. These findings provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms and theoretical basis for utilizing functional components of tea pericarp. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Metabolic Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism)

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Special Issue "Molecular and Metabolic Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism"

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