Plant Terpenoids Biosynthesis and Transcriptional Regulation

Terpenoids are the most diverse type of plant secondary metabolites, which play important roles in plant survival and human life. However, their contents in plants are usually very limited which seriously diminish the applications. Therefore, increasing the contents of terpenoids in plants is urgently needed. Transcription factors can simultaneously regulate the expressions of multiple enzymes on terpenoid biosynthesis pathway by binding to the cis-elements in their promoters, which are effective tools to improve the yields of terpenoids. In this review, we first introduced the classifications and biosynthesis pathways of terpenoids. Then, we presented the sorts of various transcription factors and updated their roles in coordinating terpenoids biosynthesis. Finally, we discussed the potential applications in plant synthetic biology to provide the references for boosting the yields of terpenoids to meet the market demand.