ABSTRACT
Cycloartenol, a phytosterol compound, also one of the key precusor substances for biosynthesis of numerous sterol compounds, has a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant, antibiosis and anti-alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, cycloartenol also plays an important role in the process of plant growth and development. This article reviewed the research progress on cycloartenol pharmacological activity in domestic and foreign articles, and summarized the effect of cycloartenol and "cycloartenol pathway" on the plant growth and development, laying foundation for the its further study, development and utilization.
ABSTRACT
Triterpene saponin is one of the important plant secondary metabolities, with anticancer, antivirus, and cholesterol lowering activities. However, the chemical structure of triterpen saponins and biosynthetic pathway are complicated. The content in plants is low and the cost of extract is high. So it is important to explore the biosynthetic pathway and the synthetic biology has become a hot spot for producing triterpene saponins. Synthetic biology has the broad application prospects on the scale production of triterpene saponins and their precursors. In this paper, the research progress in the biosynthetic pathway, synthetic biology, and its application on triterpene saponins are reviewed. The problems faced by synthetic biology are discussed and the great potential of synthetic biology in medicine fields is predicted.