Primary to specialized metabolic flow in Cannabis

Overview of the primary to specialized metabolic flow in Cannabis. Plants synthesize metabolites through photosynthesis, which serves as foundational source for both primary and specialized metabolites. Primary metabolites, produced through essential pathways such as glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), shikimate pathway, and urea cycle, provide precursors for specialized metabolite biosynthesis. This diagram highlights key cannabinoids (blue), terpenoids (green), and nitrogen-containing (orange) and phenolic (purple) compound pathways, with examples of metabolites frequently found in Cannabis further detailed in Section 3. A solid arrow represents one enzymatic reaction (bold abbreviation next to it is the name of the enzyme), whereas a dashed arrow indicates sequences of multiple reactions. The figure is adapted from schemes by Flores-Sanchez and Verpoorte (2008) [29]. Abbreviations are found in Appendix A—Table A1, Table A2, Table A3, Table A4 and Table A5
Primary to specialized metabolic flow in Cannabis
Download JPG
View figure at PMC Read paper at PMC
PMC

Publication

Exploring the Lesser-Known Bioactive Natural Products of Plant Species of the Genus Cannabis L.: Alkaloids, Phenolic Compounds, and Their Therapeutic Potential (2025) Raphaël Boucher, et al. Plants (Basel). 2025 May;14(9). Figure: F1.

Gene mentions


Organism Group Word Match Source NCBI Symbol NCBI ID
Homo sapiens Primates LDC LDC ncbigene_synonym LUM 4060
Homo sapiens Primates AST AST ncbigene_synonym GOT1 2805
Homo sapiens Primates AST AST ncbigene_synonym SLC17A5 26503
Homo sapiens Primates NOS NOS ncbigene_synonym NOS1 4842
Homo sapiens Primates NOS NOS ncbigene_synonym NOS2 4843
Homo sapiens Primates NOS NOS famplex_relations NOS3 4846
Homo sapiens Primates ARG ARG ncbigene_synonym ABL2 27
Homo sapiens Primates ARG ARG ncbigene_synonym RERE 473
Homo sapiens Primates ADC ADC ncbigene_synonym AZIN2 113451
Homo sapiens Primates ADC ADC ncbigene_synonym GADL1 339896
Homo sapiens Primates lla ILA ncbigene_synonym TNFRSF9 3604
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym SERPINA3 12
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym ACTG1 71
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym ACTG2 72
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym FHL5 9457
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym ACOT7 11332
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym ACTBL2 345651
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym POTEKP 440915
Homo sapiens Primates ACT ACT ncbigene_synonym POTEM 641455
Homo sapiens Primates ODC ODC ncbigene_synonym ODC1 4953
Homo sapiens Primates ODC ODC ncbigene_synonym SLC25A21 89874
Homo sapiens Primates CPA CPA ncbigene_synonym CPA1 1357
Homo sapiens Primates PAOX PAOX ncbigene_symbol PAOX 196743
Homo sapiens Primates SAT1 SAT1 ncbigene_symbol SAT1 6303
Homo sapiens Primates SAT1 SAT1 ncbigene_synonym SLC26A1 10861
Homo sapiens Primates SAT1 SAT1 ncbigene_synonym SLC38A1 81539
Homo sapiens Primates PAL PAL ncbigene_synonym PAM 5066
Homo sapiens Primates PAL PAL ncbigene_synonym LRIT1 26103
Homo sapiens Primates PAL PAL ncbigene_synonym SHCBP1 79801
Homo sapiens Primates AANAT AANAT ncbigene_symbol AANAT 15
Homo sapiens Primates ACL ACL ncbigene_synonym ACLY 47
Homo sapiens Primates COMT COMT ncbigene_symbol COMT 1312

Chemical mentions

Word Match MeSH Name ChEBI
Pyruvate pyruvate pyruvate chebi:15361
TCA TCA trichloroacetic acid chebi:30956
adic ADIC (5S,6S)-6-amino-5-[(1-carboxyethenyl)oxy]cyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylic acid chebi:49197
Cannabidiolic acid Cannabidiolic acid 2,4-dihydroxy-3-[(1R,6R)-3-methyl-6-(prop-1-en-2-yl)cyclohex-2-en-1-yl]-6-pentylbenzoic acid chebi:3359
Cannabinoids cannabinoids chebi:67194
Aspartate aspartate chebi:72314
Linalool linalool 3,7-dimethylocta-1,6-dien-3-ol chebi:17580
Friedelin friedelin (4R,4aS,6aS,6bR,8aR,12aR,12bS,14aS,14bS)-4,4a,6b,8a,11,11,12b,14a-octamethylicosahydropicen-3(2H)-one chebi:5171
Terpenoids terpenoids terpenoids chebi:26873
Kaempferol kaempferol 5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-oxo-4H-chromen-3-olate chebi:58573
Quercetin quercetin 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-4-oxo-4-chromen-7-olate chebi:57694
Luteolin luteolin 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-5-hydroxy-4-oxo-4H-chromen-7-olate chebi:57545
Flavonoids flavonoids chebi:47916
Shikimate shikimate shikimate chebi:36208
lupanine lupanine 2-oxospartein-16-ium chebi:64261
AST AST chebi:76649
Ornithine ORNITHINE L-ornithinediium chebi:44667
urea urea urea chebi:16199
Arginine arginine L-arginine chebi:16467
Quinolizidine Alkaloids quinolizidine alkaloids chebi:26515
Nopaline Nopaline (2R)-2-{[(1S)-4-carbamimidamido-1-carboxybutyl]amino}pentanedioic acid chebi:17249
ARG Arg L-arginine chebi:16467
ADC ADC (3R,4R)-4-amino-3-[(1-carboxylatoethenyl)oxy]cyclohexa-1,5-diene-1-carboxylate chebi:35181
Stilbenes stilbenes chebi:26776
Agmatine agmatine {amino[(4-azaniumylbutyl)amino]methylidene}azanium chebi:58145
Tropine tropine (3-endo,8-syn)-3-hydroxy-8-methyl-8-azoniabicyclo[3.2.1]octane chebi:57554
Cannabisativine Cannabisativine chebi:3361
Putrescine putrescine putrescine chebi:326268
acids acids acid chebi:37527
Spermidine spermidine (4-azaniumylbutyl)(3-azaniumylpropyl)azanium chebi:57834
Spermidine Alkaloids spermidine alkaloids chebi:38524
Spermine spermine N,N'-bis(3-ammoniopropyl)butane-1,4-diaminium chebi:45725
Polyamines polyamines chebi:88061
Phenylalanine phenylalanine (2S)-2-azaniumyl-3-phenylpropanoate chebi:58095
Tryptophan tryptophan (2S)-2-azaniumyl-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propanoate chebi:57912
Cinnamate cinnamate cinnamate chebi:23248
Tyrosine Tyrosine tyrosine chebi:18186
Tryptamine tryptamine 2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethanaminium chebi:57887
TSH TsH chebi:229514
Serotonin serotonin serotonin chebi:350546
Tyramine tyramine tyramine chebi:327995
Hordenine Hordenine 4-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]phenol chebi:5764
Caffeoyl-CoA Caffeoyl-CoA 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-{3-[(3R)-4-{[3-({2-[(3,4-dihydroxyphenylprop-2-enoyl)sulfanyl]ethyl}amino)-3-oxopropyl]amino}-3-hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-4-oxobutyl] dihydrogen diphosphate} chebi:15518
amines amines amines chebi:32952
N-acetylserotonin N-acetylserotonin N-acetylserotonin chebi:17697
Feruloyl-CoA feruloyl-CoA 3'-phosphonatoadenosine 5'-{3-[(3R)-3-hydroxy-4-({3-[(2-{[3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]sulfanyl}ethyl)amino]-3-oxopropyl}amino)-2,2-dimethyl-4-oxobutyl] diphosphate} chebi:57276
Sinapoyl-CoA Sinapoyl-CoA 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-{3-[(3R)-3-hydroxy-4-({3-[(2-{[(2E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]sulfanyl}ethyl)amino]-3-oxopropyl}amino)-2,2-dimethyl-4-oxobutyl] dihydrogen diphosphate} chebi:15540
Sinapate Sinapate (E)-sinapate chebi:30023
Betalains betalains chebi:22861

Disease mentions

Word Match MeSH Name DOID