Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2006, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (1): 68-77.

• 专题介绍 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Progress in Vitamin E Synthesis-related Enzyme Genes and in vivo Functions in Plants

Weidong Pan, Xiaofeng Li, Shuangyan Chen, Gongshe Liu   

  1. (Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093)
  • Received:2005-02-02 Revised:2005-09-27 Online:2006-01-10 Published:2006-01-10
  • Contact: Gongshe Liu

Abstract: There are 8 natural products of vitamin E designated as a, b, g, d-tocopherol and a, b, g, d-tocotrienol. Vitamin E plays an important role in plants, animals and humans physiologically. Vitamin E has close relations not only with reproduction but also with the central nervous system, digestive system, cardiovascular system and muscles. Also, it can be used as drug therapy for coronary disease, anaemia, and carcinoma. Green plants are basic sources of vitamin E for humans and animals.With the development of plant genomics and tropical genomics by rapid isolation of plant tropic metabolism-related enzyme genes and resolving the metabolism pathways, we are gradually approaching a strategy aimed at a better trophic value plus plant resources using metabolic engineering. In this context, this article discusses the current progress in vitamin E synthesis-related enzyme gene cloning and in vivo function exploration in plants.