Project description:Root rot disease poses a devastating threat to Coptis chinensis Franch, a medicinal plant prized for its bioactive alkaloids. To dissect its defense mechanisms, we conducted integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses on resistant (R), early-stage infected (S-ES), and late-stage infected (S-LS) plants. Our findings reveal a disease severity-dependent escalation in flavonoid metabolism. Key metabolites, such as kaempferol and quercetin derivatives, were significantly increased compared to R, paralleled by progressive upregulation of biosynthetic genes (PAL, CHS, CHI, FLS). Strikingly, salicylic acid (SA)-associated metabolites and pathway genes (NPR1, NPR3/NPR4) showed no differential expression across groups, contrasting with typical SA-mediated defenses in other species. This study uncovers flavonoid biosynthesis as the primary defense strategy in C. chinensis during root rot progression, while SA signaling may not be the main defense mechanism. These results provide actionable targets for enhancing disease resistance in medicinal plants through metabolic engineering
Project description:Aging and age-related pathologies can be delayed by specifically targeting the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), a hallmark feature of senescent cells. Achieving the goal using natural or synthetic agents would have a tremendous impact on the quality of lifespan and burden of age-related chronic diseases. We report the potential of rutin, a bioactive phytochemical component derived from natural plants specifically ginkgo boliva, in targeting senescent cells via suppression of the SASP. This study demonstrates the efficacy of rutin as medicinal agent in controlling the influence of senescent human stromal cells and provides a strong rationale for its future use in aging intervention and geriatric medicine.
Project description:This project aims to discover novel bioactive compounds from Streptomyces isolated from the rhizosphere from wild medicinal plants from Hamedan province, Iran. Proteomics is used to assist in discovery and characterization of the compounds. Streptomyces isolates are grown on ISP-4 medium for three days, proteins were extracted and analysed by shotgun proteomics.
Project description:Asterids is one of the major plant clades comprising of many commercially important medicinal species. One of the major concerns in medicinal plant industry is adulteration/contamination resulting from misidentification of herbal plants. This study reports the construction and validation of a microarray capable of fingerprinting medicinally important species from the Asterids clade.
Project description:Traditional medicinal plants contain a variety of bioactive natural products including cysteine-rich (Cys-rich) antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Cys-rich AMPs are often crosslinked by multiple disulfide bonds which increase their resistance to chemical and enzymatic degradation. However, this class of molecules is relatively underexplored. Herein, in silico analysis predicted 80 – 100 Cys-rich AMPs per species from three edible traditional medicinal plants: Linum usitatissimum (flax), Trifolium pratense (red clover), and Sesamum indicum (sesame). Proteomics analysis of seed peptide extracts revealed direct evidence for the translation of 3-10 Cys-rich AMPs per species including lipid transfer proteins, defensins, α-hairpinins, and snakins. Negative activity revealed by antibacterial screening highlights the importance of employing a multi-pronged approach for AMP discovery. Further, this study demonstrates that flax, red clover, and sesame are promising sources of further AMP discovery and characterization.
Project description:Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, showing blood replenishment, anti-tumour, anti-hepatitis, and immunomodulation activities amongst others. However, the mechanism of its pharmacological activities remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of bioactive ingredients from Limonium Sinense using integrated analysis. Water extracts from Limonium Sinense (LSW) showed a strong growth inhibitory effect on multiple cells in both 2D and 3D cultures. Global transcriptomic profiling and further connectivity map (CMap) analysis identified several similarly acting therapeutic candidates, including Tubulin inhibitors and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) modulators. The effect of LSW on cell cycle was verified with flow cytometry showing a G2/M phase arrest. Integrated analysis suggested a role for gallic acid in mediating HIF activation. Taken together, this study provides novel insights into the bioactive ingredients in Limonium Sinense, highlighting the rich natural resource and therapeutic values of herbal plants.