miRNA调控药用植物生长发育和次生代谢

Regulation of Growth, Development and Secondary Metabolism of Medicinal Plants by miRNA

microRNA(miRNA)作为一类内源性的短链非编码RNA,广泛存在于真核细胞中,主要通过对转录本剪切和抑制翻译等方式,参与转录后基因的表达调控。近年来研究表明,多种药用植物中鉴定出大量的miRNA。这些miRNA对药用植物的生长发育和次生代谢产物合成具有调控功能。次生代谢产物是药用植物的主要有效成分,研究miRNA对药用植物次生代谢过程的调控作用具有十分重要的意义。本文综述了miRNA在植物中的产生途径、作用方式和体内功能,在此基础上重点介绍了miRNA对药用植物生长发育和次生代谢产物生物合成的调控作用,并对药用植物miRNA的研究进行了展望,以期为提高药用植物产量,高效获得药用植物有效成分以及临床应用开拓新的思路。

microRNAs (miRNAs), as a class of endogenous short chains of non-coding RNA, widely exist and play important regulatory roles in eukaryotic cells mainly by transcript splicing and translation inhibition. In recent years, studies have shown that a large number of miRNAs have been identified in various medicinal plants. These miRNAs regulate growth, and development and secondary metabolism in medicinal plants. Secondary metabolites are the main effective components of medicinal plants. It is of great significance to study the regulatory roles of miRNA in medicinal plants. In this paper, the biosynthesis, actions and functions of plant miRNAs were summarized. On this basis, miRNAsmediated regulation of growth, and development and secondary metabolism in medicinal plants was emphatically reviewed, and the future direction of the medicinal plant miRNA research was prospected. This review aims to provide new insights into the high production of medicinal plants, the effective achievement of the active ingredients, and the clinical application of medicinal plants.