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Betulinic acid, a pentacyclic triterpene, is distributed in a variety of plants, such as birch, eucalyptus and plane trees. It shows a wide spectrum of biological and pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antimalarial, anti-HIV and antitumor effects. Among them, the antitumor activity of betulinic acid has been extensively studied. However, obtaining betulinic acid from natural resources can no longer meet the needs of medicine and nutrition, so methods such as chemical synthesis and microbial biotransformation have also been used to prepare betulinic acid. At the same time, with the development of synthetic biology and genetic engineering, and the elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways of terpenoid, the biosynthesis of betulinic acid has also been extensively researched. This article reviews the preparation of betulinic acid and its pharmacological activities, in order to provide a reference for the research and utilization of betulinic acid.

In this work, using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model, we showed that BetA could inhibit cell proliferation and lead to lethal cytotoxicity accompanying programmed cell death (PCD). Interestingly, it was found that vacuolar protease Pep4p played a pivotal role in BetA-induced S. cerevisiae PCD. The presence of Pep4p reduced the damage of BetA-induced cells. This work implied that BetA may induce cell death of S. cerevisiae through mitochondria-mediated PCD, and the deletion of Pep4 gene possibly accelerated the effect of PCD. The present investigation provided the preliminary research for the complicated mechanism of BetA-induced cell PCD regulated by vacular protease Pep4p and lay the foundation for understanding of the Pep4p protein in an animal model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]