Knock-Out and Knock-In Technique for Finding Integrative Components that Contribute to Effect of Chinese Medicines

Elucidating the effective constituents of Chinese medicine (CM) is a big challenge due to its complex constituents and diverse interactions. Knock-out/knock-in technique is a promising strategy to reveal the integrative components that contribute to effect of CM. When the target components are knocked out from the complete sample, the bio-effect alterations before and after the target components being knocked out can reflect the contribution of the target components to the effect of CM. By knocking various concentrations of target components in the negative sample, a content-efficacy relationship can be constructed for the quality control of CM. In this chapter, we summarized the concept, current status and perspectives of knock-out/knock-in technique in the form of a case study to provide a reference for the quality control of CM.