RESEARCH ARTICLE Influence of Ecological Factors on the Production of Active Substances in the Anti- Cancer Plant Sinopodophyllum hexandrum

The quality of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which plays a very important role in the health system of China, is determined by the active substances produced by the plants. The type, content, and proportion of these substances may vary depending on ecological factors in areas where the plants are grown. Sinopodophyllum hexandrum (Royle) T.S. Ying, an endangered plant species with great medical value, was investigated in eight production lo-cations representative of its natural geographical distribution range in China. The correlation between the contents of the active ingredients extracted from the roots and rhizomes of S. hexandrum and the ecological factors were evaluated step-by-step using a series of compu-tational biology methodologies. The results showed that ecological factors had significant effects on the contents but not on the types of the active ingredients in eight production loca-tions. The primary ecological factors influencing the active substances included the annual average precipitation, July mean temperature, frost-free period, sunshine duration, soil pH, soil organic matter, and rapidly available potassium in the soil. The annual average precipi-tation was the most important determinant factor and was significantly and negatively corre