Dānshēn (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge.), a traditional Chinese medicine, is the dried root and stem of Salvia miltiorrhiza, a plant of Salvia genus in the family of Labiatae, which contains rich tanshinones and phenolic acids. Tanshinone and phenolic acids are the most important active substances of Salvia miltiorrhiza, and the insight into their transcriptional regulatory mechanisms is an essential process to increase their content in vivo. SmMYB36 has been found to have important regulatory functions in the synthesis of tanshinone and phenolic acid, paradoxically, its mechanism of action in S. miltiorrhiza is not clear.

SmMYB36 has functional pleiotropy in regulating the synthesis of tanshinone and phenolic acids. A transcription factor acts in a variety of ways and plays a variety of regulatory roles, which lays a foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory mechanism of active components of S. miltiorrhiza, and provides a useful tool for improving the quality of S. miltiorrhiza and accurately regulating active components by genetic engineering in the future.