Cited by 1,349Plant biochemistry and biosynthesisPlant tissue culture and regenerationTraditional Chinese Medicine Analysis

The effect of developmental and environmental factors on secondary metabolites in medicinal plants

Open access
Li, Yanqun, Kong, Dexin, Fu, Ying, Sussman, Michael R., Wu, Hong·2020·Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

Abstract

Secondary metabolites (SMs) of medicinal plants are the material basis of their clinically curative effects. They are also important indicators for evaluating the quality of medicinal materials. However, the synthesis and accumulation of SMs are very complex, which are affected by many factors including internal developmental genetic circuits (regulated gene, enzyme) and by external environment factors (light, temperature, water, salinity, etc.). Currently, lots of literatures focused on the effect of environmental factors on the synthesis and accumulation of SMs of medicinal plants, the effect of the developmental growth and genetic factors on the synthesis and accumulation of SMs still lack systematic classification and summary. Here, we have given the review base on our previous works on the morphological development of medicinal plants and their secondary metabolites, and systematically outlined the literature reports how different environmental factors affected the synthesis and accumulation of SMs. The results of our reviews can know how developmental and environmental factors qualitatively and quantitatively influence SMs of medicinal plants and how these can be integrated as tools to quality control, as well as on the improvement of clinical curative effects by altering their genomes, and/or growth conditions.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.plaphy.2020.01.006

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  • The quality and efficacy of herbal medicines can be markedly different for species that have different varieties even when grown under identical geographical and climatic conditions.

    “The quality and efficacy can be markedly different for species that have different varieties even when grown under identical geographical and climatic conditions [9].”

    From Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines: Turmeric, Ocimum, and Withania somnifera study (2023) · cites this paper as [9]

    Section 2.1 (page unavailable) says genetic factors affect the synthesis and accumulation of medicinal plants’ secondary metabolites, and the Introduction links these compounds to quality control and clinical effects. The paper does not establish that different varieties have markedly different quality and efficacy when grown under identical geographical and climatic conditions. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The secondary metabolite profile of natural medicines is highly dependent on geographical origin, genotype, and chemotype, including species and variety.

    “However, the secondary metabolite profile is highly dependent on the geographical origin, genotype, and chemotype, including the species and variety of natural medicine [9].”

    From Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines: Turmeric, Ocimum, and Withania somnifera study (2023) · cites this paper as [9]

    Section 3.5 says geographical origin influences secondary metabolites and notes that plants with different genotypes may respond differently. Section 2.1 also identifies species specificity as a genetic factor in their synthesis and accumulation. The paper does not establish variety or chemotype as determinants of the metabolite profile; chemotypes appear only in a reference title. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Herbal medicines derived from different species have very different therapeutic performances due to different bioactive constituents.

    “Furthermore, some herbal medicines are derived from different species and, as a result, have very different therapeutic performances due to different bioactive constituents.”

    From Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines: Turmeric, Ocimum, and Withania somnifera study (2023) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Introduction says that secondary metabolites underpin herbal remedies and that chemical constituents have biological activity. Section 2.1 says species specificity affects the synthesis and accumulation of those metabolites. The paper does not establish that herbal medicines from different species have very different therapeutic performances as a result. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Herbal medicines from different species may have very similar morphological characteristics and could be prone to misclassification.

    “However, they may have very similar morphological characteristics and could be prone to misclassification [9].”

    From Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines: Turmeric, Ocimum, and Withania somnifera study (2023) · cites this paper as [9]

    The Introduction and section 2.1 discuss medicinal plants’ chemical constituents, morphogenesis, and species-specific metabolite production, but not whether different species look alike or are misclassified. Searches for morphological similarity, identification, and misclassification found no passage addressing that claim. The indexed passages provide section labels but no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.73)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. Ashraf, M.A., Iqbal, M., Rasheed, R., Hussain, I., Riaz, M., Arif, M.S., 2018. Environmental Stress and Secondary Metabolites in Plants: an Overview. Plant Metabolites and Regulation under Environmental Stress. pp. 153-167.
  2. Azhar, N., Hussain, B., Ashraf, Y.M., Abbasim, K.Y., 2011. Water stress mediated changes in growth, physiology and secondary metabolites of desi ajwain (Trachyspermum ammi). Pak. J. Bot. 43 (9), 15-19.
  3. Banerjee, A., Roychoudhury, A., 2017. Effect of Salinity Stress on Growth and Physiology of Medicinal Plants. Medicinal Plants and Environmental Challenges. pp. 177-188.
  4. Banerjee, A., Roychoudhury, A., 2018. Effect of Salinity Stress on Growth and Physiology of Medicinal Plants. Plant Metabolites and Regulation under Environmental Stress. pp. 153-167.
  5. Borges, C.V., Minatel, I.O., Gomez-Gomez, H.A., Lima, G.P.P., 2017. Medicinal Plants: Influence of Environmental Factors on the Content of Secondary Metabolites. Medicinal Plants and Environmental Challenges. pp. 259-277.
  6. Katerova, Z., Todorova, D., Sergiev, I., 2017. Plant Secondary Metabolites and Some Plant Growth Regulators Elicited by UV Irradiation, Light And/or Shade. Medicinal Plants and Environmental Challenges. pp. 97-121.
  7. Sanchita, Sharma, A., 2018. Gene Expression Analysis in Medicinal Plants under Abiotic Stress Conditions. Plant Metabolites and Regulation under Environmental Stress. pp. 407-414.
  8. Yang, Z.N., Lu, S.Q., Yu, Z.W., 2012. Comparison analysis of bioactive compunds of Mignolia Rehd. et Wils from different growth ages. Heilongjiang Med. J. 25 (4), 553-555.
  9. Yin, L., Zhao, C., Huang, Y., Yang, R.Y., Zeng, Q.P., 2008. Abiotic stress-induced ex- pression of artemisinin biosynthesis genes in Artemisia annua L. Chin. J. Appl. Environ. Biol. 14 (1), 1-5.

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Authors
Li, Y., Kong, D., Fu, Y., Sussman, M. R., & Wu, H.
Affiliations
  • South China Agricultural University (CN)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
Corresponding author
Wu, Hong
Venue
Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-03
Volume
148
Pages
80-89
ISSN
0981-9428 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2999693090
Cited by
1,349
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 187 · 2025: 276 · 2024: 284 · 2023: 260 · 2022: 197 · 2021: 114 · 2020: 29
FWCI
14.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Science and Technology Innovation Fund Project on Forestry of Guangdong Province (2017KJ-CX006)
  • Nature Science Foundation of China (31870172)
  • Technology and Development Project of Finance Department of Guangdong Province, China ([2015]639)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Plant tissue culture and regeneration
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Traditional Chinese Medicine Analysis
Keywords
secondary metabolites, medicinal plants, plant growth stages, environmental factors, light, temperature, water, salinity, morphological development, plant growth conditions
MeSH terms
Environment, Plants, Medicinal, Temperature, Water, Salinity

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