Advances in natural small molecules on pretranslational regulation of gluconeogenesis

Different tissues and organs coordinate to keep glucose levels at homeostasis. However, excessive gluconeogenesis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus increases blood glucose and causes dysregulation of homeostasis, which easily induces various diseases. Therefore, inhibiting excessive gluconeogenesis is a potential direction to regulate the disorder of blood glucose homeostasis and treat diabetes. The process of gluconeogenesis can be pretranslationally or posttranslationally regulated, and some natural small molecules can be involved in the pretranslational phase of gluconeogenesis, regulating glucose homeostasis by inhibiting gene expression, interfering with RNA transcription, and antagonizing related proteins. This paper will classify and review the natural small molecules with pretranslational regulation of gluconeogenesis according to the action sites and signaling pathways.