Jianmin Zheng , Chuchu Liu

Institute of Life Sciences, Jiyang Colloge of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Plant Gene and Trait, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 6   
Received: 21 Oct., 2025    Accepted: 27 Nov., 2025    Published: 10 Dec., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study reviews the main metabolic process of saikosaponin, which is formed into a triterpene skeleton from 2,3-epoxysqualene via β-amyrin, and undergoes oxidation and glycosylation modifications under the action of key enzymes such as CYP450 and UGT. It summarizes the progress of gene families such as OSCs, CYP450s, and UGTs and their functional verification. The regulatory laws of hormone signals, environmental stress and transcription factors on the synthetic pathway were summarized. The application of multi-omics technology in the mining of key genes and the construction of metabolic networks was introduced. The strategies for increasing the yield of saikosaponin by using genetic engineering and synthetic biology and the existing bottlenecks at the present stage were also discussed. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis and ideas for understanding the molecular regulatory mechanism of saikosaponin and its application in molecular breeding and industrial production.

Bupleurum chinense; Saikosaponins; Biosynthetic pathways; Key enzyme genes; Integrative multi-omics analysis