Plant metabolic gene clusters in the multi-omics era

Plants produce a diverse array of different metabolites that are indispensable for plant adaption and evolution, but also used by humans as medicines, agrochemicals and cosmetics. The discovery of operon-like gene clusters in plants has improved our understanding of their metabolic diversity and provided a new perspective on the evolution and domestication of plants. The development of high-throughput multi-omics techniques can help to crack the mysteries of plant gene clusters. Analyzing the composition, regulation, function, natural variation, and evolution of plant metabolic gene clusters can help us to clarify the reason for the vast number of diverse metabolites and could lead to the highly efficient utilization of high value-added metabolites. Secondary metabolism in plants gives rise to a vast array of small-molecule natural products. The discovery of operon-like gene clusters in plants has provided a new perspective on the evolution of specialized metabolism and the opportunity to rapidly advance the metabolic engineering of natural product production. Here, we review historical aspects of the study of plant metabolic gene clusters as well as general strategies for identifying plant metabolic gene clusters in the multi-omics era. We also emphasize the exploration of their natural variation and evolution, as well as new strategies for the prospecting of plant metabolic gene clusters and a deeper understanding of how their structure influences their function. Secondary metabolism in plants gives rise to a vast array of small-molecule natural products. The discovery of operon-like gene clusters in plants has provided a new perspective on the evolution of specialized metabolism and the opportunity to rapidly advance the metabolic engineering of natural product production. Here, we review historical aspects of the study of plant metabolic gene clusters as well as general strategies for identifying plant metabolic gene clusters in the multi-omics era. We also emphasize the exploration of their natural variation and evolution, as well as new strategies for the prospecting of plant metabolic gene clusters and a deeper understanding of how their structure influences their function. analysis that integrates more than one profiling technology, capturing, for instance, the genome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome and epigenome, across a common set of samples. genetic diversity of an individual organism under natural conditions. group of closely linked nonhomologous genes encoding enzymes from a multistep process such, as the biosynthesis of a secondary/primary metabolite in plants. metabolites with various functions, including those used by humans as medicines, dyes, pigments, cosmetics, agrochemicals, and so on. large (two or more) metabolic gene clusters with related functions colocalizing in a genomic region.