Exploration
We read a large amount of relevant literature at the beginning of the project to understand the mechanism of production, types and properties of natural plant secondary metabolites, as well as the current state of research. Standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, it has benefited us a lot.
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Cucumber Notes:
1. The production of a large number of plant metabolites relies on the capacity of its own “processing plant”. The epidermal trichome of plants are often considered as the main processing plants for the production of plant metabolites (Huchelmann, et al., 2017).
2. Epidermal trichome are a class of organs unique to plant epidermis. Therefore, to enhance the production of plant metabolites, using genetic engineering to modify the differentiation fate of plant epidermal cells to increase the density and size of their epidermal trichome is one of the feasible ways (Feng et al., 2021).
3. The epidermal trichome of various plants such as Cannabis sativa and Artemisia annua have been used to increase the production of cannabinoids and artemisinins (Hancock, et al., 2024; Li et al., 2024).
4. There are a variety of plant metabolites, of which the most flavonoid compounds are by far the largest number of polyphenols, including about 8000 kinds of flavonoid metabolites.
5. Previous studies have found that flavonoid substances can influence cell wall synthesis (Saffer and Irish, 2018) as well as resist ultraviolet (Peng et al., 2017) among other effects.
We focused on the existing research results, for example, the plant secondary metabolite-artemisinin in Artemisia annua, which is mainly synthesized in the epidermal trichome of Artemisia annua, and the specific synthesis steps of artemisinin in the epidermal trichome, including the enzyme reactions involved, gene regulation, etc., which can provide reference for the research on the synthesis mechanism of secondary metabolites in the epidermal trichome of other plants.
We thought about the global and universal nature of the study and finally we selected cucumber as the plant study.
Cucumber is widely grown and known to the public worldwide, and its distribution is global in nature. Cucumbers are grown and consumed in different climatic zones and in different countries and regions. At the same time, cucumber is very common in people's daily life, and it is one of the frequent side dishes on the dinner table, which is universally consumed. It is closely connected with people's life, and the study of its related characteristics has more practical significance and wide application value. In addition, cucumber has its own easily observable epidermal trichome, and our team members are very familiar with the cucumber crop, and it is convenient to carry out experimental materials, and also provides a convenient way to carry out some basic research for the project.
A comprehensive understanding of the needs and expectations of all parties enables projects to better balance the interests of multiple parties, resulting in greater feasibility and sustainability.
All stakeholders are interconnected and have an impact on each other: agricultural producers' planting decisions affect the supply of raw materials to the food industry, the cosmetics industry and the pharmaceutical industry; scientific researchers' findings provide technical support and innovative ideas to other fields; and the needs and choices of the general public guide the direction of the market. At the same time, environmental protection is a shared responsibility of all stakeholders and requires concerted efforts to realize the goal of sustainable development.