Yufen Wang , Ze Huang

Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Medicinal Plant Research, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5   doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0022
Received: 26 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 08 Aug., 2025    Published: 17 Sep., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wang Y.F., and Huang Z., 2025, Analysis of the metabolic pathways of active compounds in Leonurus japonicus from a genomic perspective, Medicinal Plant Research, 15(5): 206-213 (doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0022)

As a traditional Chinese medicine, Leonurus japonicus contains a variety of active ingredients with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. To elucidate the metabolic mechanisms of the active substances, this study, from a genomic perspective, combined transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data to analyze the synthetic pathways and regulatory networks of key metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids and polysaccharides. Research has found that the formation of leonurine involves the expansion of key enzymes, such as ADC, UGT and SCPL, as well as specific gene clusters. Flavonoids such as luteolin regulate estrogen synthesis through the MAPK/CREB pathway. Candidate biosynthesis genes for polysaccharides have also been identified. The study also explored the prospects and challenges of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering in the industrial application of metabolites. This study provides theoretical support and technical paths for the molecular mechanism analysis, resource development and modernization of traditional Chinese medicine of the active components of Leonurus japonicus.

Leonurus japonicus var. tongzi; Bioactive compounds; Metabolic pathways; Genomics; Multi-omics