Recently, the innovative team of tobacco functional components and biosynthesis from Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, together with the East China Agri-Tech Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other units, systematically summarized the composition and types of whole grains and their flavonoids, and described in detail the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and its transcriptional regulation mechanism. The research review was published in Food Research International.

Developing whole grains can not only reduce resource waste, but also lower the risk of chronic diseases, which is an important measure for implementing the Healthy China strategy. The various types of flavonoids found in whole grains are closely related to their biological activity.

This review defines and elucidates the classification methods, composition, and types of whole grains and their flavonoids, detailing the biosynthesis pathways and transcriptional regulation mechanisms of flavonoids. It highlights the important value of metabolomics techniques in elucidating the structural diversity of flavonoids and the functions of their synthesis related structural genes and transcription factors. This review systematically summarizes the diversity and biosynthetic pathways of flavonoids in whole grains, laying a theoretical and technical foundation for the development and utilization of functional whole grains.

The work was supported by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, etc.

Types of whole grains and their characteristic flavonoids.

Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2025.116359

By Yan Ning (yanning@caas.cn)