Medicinal Plant Research 2025, Vol.15, No.6, 264-273 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/mpr 264 Feature Review Open Access Advances in Biosynthetic Pathways of Phenylpropanoids inAngelica sinensis YudieWang1, Haomin Chen 2 1 Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China 2 Tropical Medicinal Plant Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding author: haomin.chen@cuixi.org Medicinal Plant Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.6 doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0028 Received: 15 Sep., 2025 Accepted: 20 Oct., 2025 Published: 30 Nov., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wang and Chen, 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. Preferred citation for this article: Wang Y.D., and Chen H.M., 2025, Advances in biosynthetic pathways of phenylpropanoids in Angelica sinensis, Medicinal Plant Research, 15(6): 264-273 (doi: 10.5376/mpr.2025.15.0028) Abstract As one of the most representative medicinal plants of traditional Chinese medicine, Angelica sinensis contains a variety of bioactive constituents, in which phenylpropanoids serve as major functional compounds and are reported to possess significant pharmacological activities, involving antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, circulatory-enhancing, and neuroprotective effects. In the context of advances in molecular biology, metabolomics, and synthetic biology, great progress has been made in recent years regarding the investigation into the biosynthetic pathways of phenylpropanoids in A. sinensis. This study firstly describes the structural characteristics and classification of phenylpropanoids, outlines their distribution pattern and functional relevance in A. sinensis, and highlights recent progress regarding the identification of key biosynthetic enzymes, including PAL, C4H, 4CL, COMT, and CCoAOMT, regulatory factors (including transcription factors such as MYB, bHLH, and WRKY), and associated signaling mechanisms. Furthermore, it summarizes the application of multi-omics integration, gene editing, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology platforms in unlocking biosynthetic mechanisms and enhancing the production of target compounds. In addition, this review considers the influence of environmental conditions, developmental stages, and hormonal signaling on phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. This study provides fundamental theoretical insights into the comprehensive biosynthetic network of phenylpropanoids in A. sinensis and lays a foundation for their innovative development. Keywords Angelica sinensis; Phenylpropanoids; Biosynthetic pathways; Key enzymes and regulatory mechanisms; Synthetic biology 1 Introduction Angelica sinensis, Danggui in Chinese, is one of the most famous medicinal plants in traditional Chinese medicine. It has been used extensively for thousands of years to “nourish blood”, “promote circulation”, and “regulate menstruation”. Its dried root is used in classical prescriptions treating blood deficiency, pain, inflammation, and gynecological disorders. Modern pharmacology has revealed that A. sinensis possesses a wide range of bioactivities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, and immunomodulatory. It is evident that the diverse secondary metabolites, mainly phenylpropanoids, lie at the heart of this varied array of therapeutic properties. Amid the increasing demand worldwide for natural medicine and functional plant resources, elucidation of the biochemical basis of A. sinensis quality formation has been revised up as a central research priority in the science of medicinal plants (Zhi et al., 2024). The most abundant and pharmacologically important classes of secondary metabolites in A. sinensis are the phenylpropanoids, which include key subclasses represented by ferulic acid and its derivatives, coumarins, including osthole, scopoletin, and umbelliferone, and lignans. Structurally derived from L-phenylalanine, they play key roles in the defense of plants, in the maintenance of redox homeostasis, and in stress responses. The phenylpropanoids of A. sinensis represent major active constituents that take part in antioxidant action, anti-inflammatory activity, vasodilatory action, modulation of blood rheology, and the protection of neuronal cells. Ferulic acid is considered as a quality marker in modern pharmacopeias. Biosynthesis and regulation of these phenylpropanoids are important to understand the molecular basis of medicinal functions of the plant (Ren et al., 2025).
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