Houttuynia cordata: Analyzing the genome behind the medicinal plant

Houttuynia cordata, commonly known as yuxingcao, has been a key ingredient in traditional medicine for centuries, valued for its antibiotic-like properties and ability to treat various ailments. Despite its longstanding use, the genetic mechanisms underlying its medicinal compounds have remained largely unexplored. This gap in knowledge has hindered the full exploitation of its therapeutic potential, creating a pressing need to investigate the genomics of H. cordata to understand the biosynthetic pathways of its alkaloids and uncover the plant's evolutionary history.