Medicinal Plants: Molecular Dissection of Active Compounds
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 403
Editors
Interests: genetic engineering; abiotic stress; active compounds; medicinal plants; proteogenomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: medicinal plant metabolites; abiotic stress responses; nano-elicitation strategies; plant secondary metabolites; biosynthetic pathway regulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
(1) Introduction (scientific background & importance)
Medicinal plants are among the most valuable natural sources of bioactive small molecules that support human health, sustainable agriculture, and diverse industrial applications. Rapid progress in metabolomics, functional genomics, and synthetic biology has enabled researchers to move beyond compound profiling toward uncovering the molecular basis of biosynthesis, regulation, and diversification of active metabolites. However, for many high-value phytochemicals, key enzymatic steps, pathway branching points, and regulatory circuits remain incompletely understood, limiting both mechanistic insight and scalable production.
We are pleased to invite you to contribute original research articles and review papers to this Special Issue on “Medicinal Plants: Molecular Dissection of Active Compounds”, focusing on plant-derived active compounds with medical, agrochemical, or industrial potential, and emphasizing their biosynthetic pathways and regulatory mechanisms.
(2) Aim of the Special Issue and relation to the journal scope
This Special Issue aims to provide a focused forum for molecular-level investigations of active compounds from medicinal plants with potential medical, agrochemical, or industrial functions. We welcome contributions that elucidate (i) biosynthetic pathways (including precursor supply, pathway architecture, and downstream tailoring reactions), (ii) regulatory mechanisms that control metabolite flux (e.g., transcription factors, hormone/stress signaling, and epigenetic regulation), and (iii) mechanistic links between chemical structure and bioactivity.
By integrating multi-omics, enzyme characterization, computational approaches, and metabolic engineering, this Special Issue aligns with the scope of IJMS by highlighting molecular mechanisms underlying plant metabolite biosynthesis and function. This Special Issue will consolidate state-of-the-art advances and offer an integrated resource that accelerates mechanism-driven discovery and sustainable production of plant active compounds.
(3) Suggested themes and article types for submissions
For this Special Issue, submissions of original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but need not be limited to) the following:
- Discovery and structural elucidation of plant active compounds with medical/agrochemical/industrial relevance;
- Reconstruction and validation of biosynthetic pathways (e.g., terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, alkaloids, chromones);
- Enzyme discovery and functional characterization (TPSs, CYPs, UGTs, OMTs, oxidoreductases, etc.);
- Regulatory networks controlling metabolite accumulation (TFs, signaling pathways, stress/elicitor responses);
- Multi-omics integration (genomics/transcriptomics/proteomics/metabolomics) for gene–metabolite association;
- Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology for improved yield and sustainable production;
- Plant–environment/plant–microbe interactions shaping specialized metabolism;
- Mechanistic studies linking metabolite chemistry to bioactivity and molecular pharmacology;
- Industrial translation: nutraceuticals, cosmetics, flavors/fragrances, crop protection, and bioproducts.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Moxian Chen
Dr. Abazar Ghorbani
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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Keywords
- medicinal plants
- active compounds
- secondary metabolites
- biosynthetic pathways
- metabolic regulation
- terpenoids
- flavonoids
- multi-omics
- metabolic engineering
- bioactivity
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