Identification, Biological Activities and Biosynthetic Pathway of Dendrobium Alkaloids

Zongmin Mou; Yi Zhao; Fei Ye; Yana Shi; Edward J Kennelly; Suiyun Chen; Dake Zhao

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.605994

Identification, Biological Activities and Biosynthetic Pathway of Dendrobium Alkaloids

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Apr 20:12:605994. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.605994. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Zongmin Mou¹, Yi Zhao^{2

3}, Fei Ye⁴, Yana Shi^{5

6}, Edward J Kennelly^{2

3}, Suiyun Chen¹, Dake Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Biocontrol Engineering Research Center of Plant Disease and Pest, Biocontrol Engineering Research Center of Crop Disease and Pest, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
² Department of Biological Sciences, Lehman College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, United States.
³ Ph.D. Programs in Biochemistry, Biology, and Chemistry, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United States.
⁴ Kunming Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China.
⁵ College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
⁶ Institute of Medicinal Plants, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, China.

Abstract

Dendrobium is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Orchidaceae family with more than 1,400 species. Many Dendrobium species have been used as medicinal plants in several Asian countries for thousands of years. Alkaloids were reported as the major biological markers due to their complex chemical compositions and various types. In this review, we summarized the structural types of alkaloids, their pharmacological activities, as well as the mechanisms of biological activities. More than sixty alkaloids were isolated and identified from the Dendrobium genus. Moreover, the pharmacological effects of Dendrobium alkaloids as hepatic lipid and gluconeogenesis regulation, as neuroprotection, and as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetes, and anti-virus factors were described. Besides, the total chemical synthesis of dendrobine is provided, while the biosynthetic pathway of dendrobine has been proposed based on the functions of associated genes. For applications of these invaluable herbs, more researches on the extraction of biological markers from compounds are needed. Further confirmation of the proposed biosynthetic pathways is anticipated as well.

Keywords: Dendrobium; alkaloids; anti-inflammatory; antitumor; biosynthetic pathway; mechanisms; orchidaceae.

Publication types

Review