LAUSR

BACKGROUND Plants produce thousands of chemically diverse secondary metabolites, many of which have valuable pharmaceutical properties. There is much interest in the synthesis of these pharmaceutically-valuable compounds, including the key enzymes and the transcription factors involved. The function and regulatory mechanism of transcription factors in biotic and abiotic stresses have been studied in depth. However, their regulatory roles in the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds, especially in medicinal plants, have only begun. OBJECTIVE Here we review what is currently known about how transcription factors contribute to the synthesis of bioactive compounds (alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, and phenolic acids) in medicinal plants. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Recent progress has been made in the cloning and characterization of transcription factors in medicinal plants on the genome scale. So far, several large transcription factors have been identified in MYB, WRKY, bHLH, ZIP, AP2/ERF transcription factors. These transcription factors have been predicted to regulate bioactive compound production. These transcription factors positively or negatively regulate the expression of multiple genes encoding key enzymes, and thereby control the metabolic flow through the biosynthetic pathway. Although the research addressing this niche topic is in its infancy, significant progress has been made, and advances in high-throughput sequencing technology are expected to accelerate the discovery of key regulatory transcription factors in medicinal plants. This review is likely to be useful for those interested in the synthesis of pharmaceutically-valuable plant compounds, especially those aiming to breed or engineer plants that produce greater yields of these compounds.