Future perspectives and challenges
Glycosylation is one of the most important physiological and biochemical
reactions in nature given its crucial role in a multitude of essential
processes. This intrinsic importance has attracted long-standing and
wide research attention on the characteristics of GTs to facilitate
their application in glycosylation reactions for the metabolic
engineering of natural product biosynthesis. Although several GTs have
been found to be suitable for altering glycosylation patterns, low
catalytic activity and stringent substrate specificity remain limiting
factors in the diversification of PNPs for industrial fermentation
systems.
Many enzymes and genes are involved in flavonoid pathways and have been
characterized. However, many aspects of flavonoid biology remain
unidentified. The expression patterns and activity of some transcription
factors that regulate this branched pathway have not yet been
identified. Very little evidence exists for protein-protein interactions
that form metabolic channels and increase the efficiency of this
pathway. These problems can be solved by achieving efficient engineering
of flavonoid pathways in plants. The great biodiversity of plants that
arose during evolution has generated a concomitant variety of flavonoid
structures known to date, many of which are yet to be discovered.
Further analysis of different plant species will allow the discovery of
novel structures and possibly new metabolic pathways. Future studies
will also contribute to the improvement of floricultural, food,
pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. Moreover, evidence of beneficial
functions of flavonoids in human health and the use of natural compounds
for the prevention and treatment of different pathologies are
continuously increasing worldwide, and interest will continue to grow
among researchers in the coming years.