Project description:Qualitative metabolomics study on leaves, roots and acorns from Quercus ilex plantlets. We analyzed polar(metanol:water) and apolar (chloroform) fractions.
Project description:Drought is an important environmental factor affecting plant growth and biomass production. Despite this importance, little is known on the molecular mechanisms regulating plant growth under water limiting conditions. The main goal of this work was to investigate, using a combination of growth and molecular profiling techniques, how Arabidopsis thaliana leaves adapt their growth to prolonged mild osmotic stress. Fully proliferating, expanding and mature leaves were harvested from plants grown on plates without (control) or with 25mM mannitol (osmotic stress) and compared to seedlings at stage 1.03.
Project description:This study evaluated the variability of methylxanthine content of Ilex guayusa under different geographical, light, and age conditions, as an opportunity to emphasize the value of the chakra agroforestry system in the search for sustainable use of natural products with potential industrial applications.
Project description:Comparative analysis of tobacco leaves transcriptomes unveils carotenoid pathway potentially determined the characteristics of aroma compounds in different environmental regions. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is a sensitive crop to environmental changes, and a tobacco with unique volatile aroma fractions always formed in specific ecological conditions. In order to investigate the differential expressed genes caused by environmental changes and reveal the formation mechanism of characteristics of tobacco in three different aroma tobacco regions of Guizhou Province, Agilent tobacco microarray was adapted for transcriptome comparison of tobacco leaves in medium aroma tobacco region Kaiyang and light aroma tobacco regions Weining and Tianzhu. Results showed that there was big difference among the gene expression profiles of tobacco leaves in different environmental conditions. A total of 517 differential expressed genes (DEGs) between Weining and Tianzhu were identified, while 733 and 1,005 genes differentially expressed between Longgang and another two tobacco regions Weining and Tianzhu, respectively. Compared with Longgang, up-regulated genes in Weining and Tianzhu were likely involved in secondary metabolism pathways, especially carotenoid pathway, including PHYTOENE SYNTHASE, PHYTOENE DEHYDROGENASE, LYCOPENE ε-CYCLASE, CAROTENOID β-HYDROXYLASE and CAROTENOID CLEAVAGE DIOXYGENASE 1 genes, while most down-regulated genes played important roles in response to temperature and light radiation, such as heat shock proteins. Gene Ontology and MapMan analyses demonstrated that the DEGs among different environmental regions were significantly enriched in light reaction of photosystem II, response of stimulus and secondary metabolism, suggesting they played crucial roles in environmental adaptation and accumulation of aroma compounds in tobacco plants. Through comprehensive transcriptome comparison, we not only identified several stress response genes in tobacco leaves from different environmental regions but also highlighted the importance of carotenoid pathway genes for characteristics of aroma compounds in specific growing regions. Our study primarily laid the foundation for further understanding the molecular mechanism of environmental adaptation of tobacco plants and molecular regulation of aroma substances in tobacco leaves.
Project description:Senescence is initiated immediately in harvested tea leaves, and leads to physiological and biochemical changes, and could affects the final tea products. In the present work, we investigated the relationship between hormones and critical components in harvested tea leaves before withering, changes in hormones including abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and critical components like catechins, theanine, and caffeine were analyzed. Significant changes in these substances were identified and ABA correlated with catechin in harvested tea leaves before withering. RNA-seq transcriptome analysis revealed dramatic differences between tea samples at 1 h and 2 h compared with those at 0 h. The patterns of these three critical components correlated with the expression profiles of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Weighted correlation network analysis of co-expressed genes revealed that genes in the mediumpurple2 module correlated with ABA and catechins. The results of this study suggest that harvested tea leaves before withering undergo significant hormonal changes (ABA, JA, and SA) and ABA may participate in regulating catechin biosynthesis.
Project description:A novel functional drink with nutraceutical properties was formulated from the aqueous extracts of Ilex guayusa, and Vernonanthura patens leaves, and cocoa husks. This juice contains various bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds and methylxanthines, with antioxidant and stimulant properties of pharmacological interest. However, it is known whether herbal extracts' interaction may have adverse toxic effects on human health. To evaluate this functional drink's innocuity, we estimated the acute oral toxicity (AOT) in experimental mice. This paper presents the AOT evaluation of two formulations of a functional drink (pre-formulation and microencapsulation) at a single dose of 2000 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.). No signs of adverse toxicity and mortality were observed after a single oral dose of 2000 mg/kg b.w. Likewise, no significant body and organ weight changes, food and water consumption behavior, and no histopathological changes were observed in the main organs evaluated. In conclusion, this functional drink can be categorized as low toxicity " according to the Globally Harmonized Classification System (GHS), making it a potential beverage with high nutritional and pharmacological value.
Project description:The aim of this study was to evaluate fig (Ficus carica L.) leaves' extract (FLE), olive (Olea europaea L.) leaves' extract (OLE), and their mixture (MLE), to extend the shelf life of pasteurized milk. OLE, FLE, and their mixture MLE (1:1) were added to the pasteurized milk in different concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6%). Several tests were then conducted to determine the activity of these extracts. The antioxidant activity as IC50 was determined by using DPPH radical assay. FLE showed higher IC50 (30.21 µg/mL) compared to the IC50 of OLE (22.43 µg/mL). Phenolic compounds were identified by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The highest antimicrobial activity was obtained with 0.6% concentration. Organoleptic properties indicated that the addition of these extracts did not affect the sensory properties of pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk treated with 0.6% of FLE, OLE, and MLE has significantly decreased (p ? 0.05) lipase and protease activity during the storage period, at 5 °C. The results indicated that extending the shelf life of pasteurized milk from 5 to 16 days was successfully achieved through using 0.6% of FLE, OLE, and MLE. The combination of the two extracts (MLE) provides an efficient and safe method to prolong the shelf life of pasteurized milk, without altering the properties of pasteurized buffalo milk.