Abstract: Arbutin is an important natural product,which has been widely used in medicine,cosmetics,food and other fields.It occured in many plants but its contents were generally low.Arbutin synthase is the key enzyme for arbutin biosynthesis.It can catalyze the reaction of hydroquinone and carbonyl group to arbutin.In order to provide a theoretical reference for the further production and utilization of arbutin,this article reviewed the research progress on arbutin and arbutin synthase from application value,plant resources and biosynthesis pathway of arbutin and the enzymatic properties of arbutin synthase.

Key words: arbutin, arbutin synthase, research progress