Natural products (NPs),especially those from traditional herbal medicines,can evidently modulate human gene expres-sion at multiple levels,leading to a wide diversity of bioactivities.Although numerous bio-functions of NPs for human body have been found,there is little understanding about how NPs achieve it,as less attention was drawn to the definite mechnism by which NPs regu-late gene expression.Furthermore,based on the rapidly advancing knowledge of mechanisms for gene regulation in recent years,newly-understood mechanisms,such as post-transcriptional regulation,are found to be involved in NP-elicited bio-effects,providing a new perspective on understanding the role of NPs in gene expression.Therefore,in the current review,we summarize the function of NPs in gene expression from the perspectives of transcriptional,post-transcriptional,and post-translational regulation,which will rein-force the understanding of NP-induced effects in gene expression and facilitate the exploration of more NPs with potential therapeutic effects.