Abstract

Historically, spices have played an important economic role, due to their large applications and unique flavor. The supply and cost of spice materials and their corresponding natural products are often affected by environmental, geopolitical and climatic conditions. Secondary metabolite composition, including certain flavor compounds in spice plants, is recognized and considered closely related to plant classification. Both genes and enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of spice flavors are constantly identified, which provides insight into metabolic engineering of flavor compounds (i.e. aroma and pungent compounds) from spice plants. In this review, a systematic meta-analysis was carried out based on a comprehensive literature survey of the flavor profiles of 36 spice plants from nine families. We also reviewed typical biosynthetic pathways and metabolic engineering of most representative aroma and pungent compounds that may assist in the future study of spice plants as biosynthetic factories facing a new challenge in creating spice products.

摘要

从历史上看，香料因其广泛的应用和独特的风味而发挥了重要的经济作用。香料材料及其相应天然产品的供应和成本通常受环境、地缘政治和气候条件的影响。次级代谢物组成，包括香料植物中的某些风味化合物，被认为与植物分类密切相关。参与香料生物合成的基因和酶都不断被鉴定，这为深入了解香料植物中的风味化合物（即香气和刺激性化合物）的代谢工程提供了见解。在这篇综述中，基于对 9 个科 36 种香料植物风味特征的综合文献调查，进行了系统的荟萃分析。