Phytochemistry, quality control and biosynthesis in ginseng research from 2021 to 2023: A state-of-the-art review...

Panax L. (Araliaceae) has a long history of medicinal and edible use due to its significant tonifying effects, and ginseng research has been a hot topic in natural products research and food science. In continuation of our recent ginseng review, we highlighted the advances in ginseng research from 2021 to 2023 with 157 citations, which exhibited the increasingly systematic, collaborative, and intelligent characteristics. In this review, we firstly updated the progress in phytochemistry involving the ginsenosides and polysaccharides and summarized the researches on the active components. Then, some specific applications by feat of the multidimensional chromatography, mass spectrometry imaging, DNA barcoding, and metabolomics, were analyzed, which could provide rich information supporting the multi-component characterization, authentication, and quality control of ginseng and the versatile products. Finally, the recent biosynthesis studies concerning ginsenosides were retrospected. Additionally, the current challenges and future trends with respect to ginseng research were discussed.