Sound vibration is one of natural stimuli trigging physiological changes in plants. Recent studies showed that sound waves stimulated production of a variety of plant secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, in order to enhance seed germination, flowering, growth or defense. In this review, we examine the potential role of sound stimulation on the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and the followed cascade of physiological changes in plants, from the perspective of transcriptional regulation and epigenetic regulation for the first time. A systematic summary showed that a wide range of factors may regulate the production of secondary metabolites, including plant species, growth stage, sound types, sound frequency, sound intensity level and exposure time, etc. Biochemical and physiological changes due to sound stimulation were thoroughly summarized as well, for secondary metabolites can also act as a free radical scavenger, or a hormone signaling molecule. We also discussed the limits of previous studies, and the future application of sound waves in biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites.

声音振动是引发植物生理变化的自然刺激之一。最近的研究表明，声波刺激了多种植物次生代谢物的产生，包括类黄酮，以增强种子的发芽、开花、生长或防御。在这篇综述中，我们首次从转录调控和表观遗传调控的角度研究了声音刺激对植物次生代谢物生物合成以及随后的级联生理变化的潜在作用。系统总结表明，多种因素可调节次生代谢产物的产生，包括植物种类、生长阶段、声音类型、声音频率、声音强度水平和暴露时间等，彻底了解了声音刺激引起的生化和生理变化。总结一下，次级代谢产物也可以充当自由基清除剂或激素信号分子。我们还讨论了先前研究的局限性以及声波在植物次生代谢物生物合成中的未来应用。