RESUMO
Drought stress could significantly affect the growth of medical plants, while moderate drought stress can effectively improve the quality of medicinal plants. Recently Herbgenomics promotes innovative research on the molecular mechanism for the quality of medicinal plants affected by drought stress. Here, we summarized the effects of drought stress on active compounds including alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenols and saponins, and biomass of medicinal plants. Moreover, the studies on the quality of medicinal plants affected by drought stress using Herbgenomic technologies, the reactive oxygen species metabolism, and ABA signaling pathway, were reviewed. It is proposed to reveal the molecular mechanism for the quality of medicinal plants affected by drought stress, and to explore molecular markers closely related to drought-tolerance traits using medicinal model plant system based on Herbgenomics. This review provides a theoretical basis for improving the quality of medicinal plants, breeding of drought-tolerant medicinal plants and guiding agricultural production of traditional Chinese medicine.