Research progress in terms of the biosynthesis and regulation of terpenoids from medicinal plants

Terpenoids from medicinal plants are widespread secondary metabolites in nature and exist as multiple types with different structures that are crucial in plant growth and development.Moreover, terpenoids exert a broad range of biological activities, including antitumor, antioxidation, anti-viral, and so on.In this study, artemisinin, tanshinone, and ginsenoside were selected as three representative examples, and progress in terms of research on biosynthetic genes, transcriptional regulation, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, biosynthesis and transport was summarized.Future prospects including functional genes excavation and regulation mechanism network of terpenoids were also discussed.