Project description:Blueberry belongs to the genus Vaccinium L. in the Ericaceae and is an economically important shrub that produces small berries that are rich in nutrients. There were differences in the appearance of blueberry leaves under different shade treatments. To explore the differences in metabolites in blueberry leaves under different shading treatments, nontargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabonomic analysis was performed. Different shade intensities resulted in significant differences in the contents of metabolites. A total of 6879 known metabolites were detected, including 750 significantly differentially expressed metabolites, including mainly lipids and lipid-like molecules and phenylpropanoid and polyketide superclass members. Based on a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, the flavone and flavonol biosynthesis pathways were the most significantly enriched. The results of this study provide a reference and scientific basis for the establishment of a high-quality and high-yield shaded blueberry cultivation system.
Project description:The Pandanus tectorius methanolic (PTM) and P. tectorius aqueous (PTA) extracts were investigated for their potential in vivo anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. Parameters including paw thickness measurement, histopathological, and immunohistochemical cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression analyses were measured and analyzed. PTA at 500 mg/kg significantly reduced inflammation after induction of carrageenan (Carr), with mean paw thickness change of 0.110?±?0.024 mm at sixth hour post-induction and histopathological mean inflammatory grade of 1.80?±?0.20. The reduced immunohistochemical COX-2 expression using PTA at 500 mg/kg was determined with mean final 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) intensity of 63.70?±?2.08. The profiling of metabolites by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) revealed presence of ethyl caffeate and dihydroconiferyl alcohol as putative secondary metabolites of PTA which were the major peaks and have been reported to possess anti-inflammatory activities. This research has provided scientific insights of utilizing P. tectorius as a potential anti-inflammatory agent containing secondary metabolites which may be pharmacologically relevant.
Project description:Drought is a lifestyle disease. Plant metabolomics has been exercised for understanding the fine-tuning of the potential pathways to surmount the adverse effects of drought stress. A broad spectrum of morphological and metabolic responses from seven Triticeae species including wild types with different drought tolerance/susceptibility level was investigated under control and water scarcity conditions.Significant morphological parameters measured were root length, surface area, average root diameter and overall root development. Principal Component Analysis, Partial Least-Squares-Discriminant Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were applied to the metabolomic data obtained by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry technique in order to determine the important metabolites of the drought tolerance across seven different Triticeae species. The metabolites showing significant accumulation under the drought stress were considered as the key metabolites and correlated with potential biochemical pathways, enzymes or gene locations for a better understanding of the tolerance mechanisms. In all tested species, 45 significantly active metabolites with possible roles in drought stress were identified. Twenty-one metabolites out of forty-five including sugars, amino acids, organic acids and low molecular weight compounds increased in both leaf and root samples of TR39477, IG132864 and Bolal under the drought stress, contrasting to TTD-22, Tosunbey, Ligustica and Meyeri samples. Three metabolites including succinate, aspartate and trehalose were selected for further genome analysis due to their increased levels in TR39477, IG132864, and Bolal upon drought stress treatment as well as their significant role in energy producing biochemical pathways.These results demonstrated that the genotypes with high drought tolerance skills, especially wild emmer wheat, have a great potential to be a genetic model system for experiments aiming to validate metabolomics-genomics networks.
Project description:The control and interaction between nitrogen and carbon assimilatory pathways is essential in both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissue in order to support metabolic processes without compromising growth. Physiological differences between the basal and mature region of wheat (Triticum aestivum) primary leaves confirmed that there was a change from heterotrophic to autotrophic metabolism. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy confirmed the suitability and phenotypic reproducibility of the leaf growth conditions. Principal Component-Discriminant Function Analysis (PC-DFA) revealed distinct clustering between base, and tip sections of the developing wheat leaf, and from plants grown in the presence or absence of nitrate. Gas Chromatography-Time of Flight/Mass Spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS) combined with multivariate and univariate analyses, and Bayesian network (BN) analysis, distinguished different tissues and confirmed the physiological switch from high rates of respiration to photosynthesis along the leaf. The operation of nitrogen metabolism impacted on the levels and distribution of amino acids, organic acids and carbohydrates within the wheat leaf. In plants grown in the presence of nitrate there was reduced levels of a number of sugar metabolites in the leaf base and an increase in maltose levels, possibly reflecting an increase in starch turnover. The value of using this combined metabolomics analysis for further functional investigations in the future are discussed.
Project description:Jatropha integerrima Jacq., family: Euphorbiaceae, is used in India and subtropical Africa to treat different skin conditions. In this study we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of J. integerrima leaves extract (JILE) using rat paw edema model. The extract was administered orally (200 and 400 mg/kg) or applied topically as creams at 2.5, 5, and 10% strength. Four hours post-treatment, maximum reduction of edema volume by 63.09% was observed after oral administration of JILE (400 mg/kg) as compared to indomethacin with 60.43%. The extract anti-inflammatory effect was accompanied by a decrease in NO, prostaglandin PGE2, TNF-α and PKC levels by 19, 29.35, 16.9, and 47.83%, respectively. Additionally, topical applications of JILE showed dose dependent reduction in paw edema and resulted in normalized levels of PGE2, TNF-α, and PKC when used as 10% cream. Signs of inflammations were reduced or absent from paw tissue of animals receiving JILE either orally or topically. Finally, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of JILE resulted in the annotation of 133 metabolites including 24 diterpenoids, 19 flavonoids, 10 phenolic acid conjugates, 8 cyclic peptides, 6 phytosterols, 4 sesquiterpenes, and 4 coumarins. Several of the annotated metabolites have known anti-inflammatory activity including vitexin, isovitexin, fraxitin, scopeltin, stigmasterol, and many diterpenoidal derivatives.
Project description:Passiflora mollissima commonly known as “banana passion fruit” is usually consumed as fresh food or processed products, being seeds and peel the main by-products of the industrial processing. The potentially bioactive metabolites from banana passion fruit PLE-extract seeds have been recently characterized by HPLC-HRMS after sequential pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) To apply a Foodomics approach to study the effects of a banana passion fruit seeds PLE-extract (with high antioxidant capacity and enriched in phenolic-type compounds) on the transcriptome and metabolome of HT-29 colon cancer cells.
Project description:Yams (Dioscorea spp.) are cultivated and consumed as edible tubers, while their leaves are discarded as waste or burned with negative environmental impact. Herein, the metabolites of two yam species (Danma, DAN; Dunggeunma, DUN), harvested in June, July, and August, were profiled using GC-TOF-MS and UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/MS and the antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated to stimulate the utilization of yam leaves as a by-product. We observed that the relative levels of amino acids, organic acids, sugars, and saponins decreased linearly with prolonged harvest time, while fatty acid, phenanthrene, and flavonoid levels gradually increased. Furthermore, the leaf extracts obtained in August exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. To determine the antioxidant-contributing metabolites, OPLS-DA was performed for the leaf metabolites of DAN and DUN leaves harvested in August. Hydroxytyrosol-glucoside, apigenin-rhamnoside, and rutin were more abundant in DUN, while luteolin, phenanthrene derivatives, epicatechin, and kaempferide were relatively higher in DAN and their respective metabolites were positively correlated with the antioxidant activity. Moreover, secondary metabolites were more abundant in the leaves than in the roots, and consequently, the antioxidant activity of the former was also higher. Overall, the potential value of yam leaves as a renewable source of bioactive compounds is proposed.
Project description:In this study, we performed LC-QTOF-MS-based metabolomics and RNA-seq based transcriptome analysis using seven tissues of M. japonicus.
Project description:Stone leaf (Tetracera scandens) is a Southeast Asian medicinal plant that has been traditionally used for the management of diabetes mellitus. The underlying mechanisms of the antidiabetic activity have not been fully explored yet. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the α-glucosidase inhibitory potential of the hydromethanolic extracts of T. scandens leaves and to characterize the metabolites responsible for such activity through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics. Crude hydromethanolic extracts of different strengths were prepared and in vitro assayed for α-glucosidase inhibition. GC-MS analysis was further carried out and the mass spectral data were correlated to the corresponding α-glucosidase inhibitory IC50 values via an orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) model. The 100%, 80%, 60% and 40% methanol extracts displayed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory potentials. Moreover, the established model identified 16 metabolites to be responsible for the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of T. scandens. The putative α-glucosidase inhibitory metabolites showed moderate to high affinities (binding energies of -5.9 to -9.8 kcal/mol) upon docking into the active site of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isomaltase. To sum up, an OPLS model was developed as a rapid method to characterize the α-glucosidase inhibitory metabolites existing in the hydromethanolic extracts of T. scandens leaves based on GC-MS metabolite profiling.