Food Industries

Rapid postharvest physiological deterioration (PPD) of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) storage roots is a major constraint that limits the potential of this plant as a food and industrial crop. Extensive studies have been performed to explore the regulatory mechanisms underlying the PPD processes in cassava to understand their molecular and physiological responses. However, the exceptional functional versatility of alternative splicing (AS) remains to be explored during the PPD process in cassava. Here, we identified several aberrantly spliced genes during the early PPD stage...

Squalene is a high-value antioxidant with many commercial applications. The use of microbial cell factories to produce squalene as an alternative to plant and animal extracts could meet increasing market demand. Yarrowia lipolytica is an excellent host for squalene production due to its high levels of acetyl-CoA and a hydrophobic environment. However, the need for precise and complicated gene editing has hindered the industrialization of this strain. Herein, the rapid construction of a strain with high squalene production was achieved by enhancing the homologous recombination efficiency in Y...

The purpose of this study was to identify ovalbumin-derived immunomodulatory peptides by in vitro cell experiments, de novo sequencing, and molecular docking. Ovalbumin hydrolysates were prepared by two enzymes (alkaline protease and papain) individually, sequentially, or simultaneously, respectively. The simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysate (OVAH) had a high degree of hydrolysis (38.12 ± 0.48%) and exhibited immune-enhancing and anti-inflammatory activities. A total of 160 peptides were identified by LC-MS/MS in OVAH...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common microvascular complication of diabetes. Fucoidan, a polysaccharide containing fucose and sulfate group, ameliorates DN. However, the underlying mechanism has not been fully understood. This study aimed to explore the effects and mechanism of fucoidan on DN in high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice. A total of 90 C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned to six groups ( n = 15) as follows: normal control (NC), diabetes mellitus (DM), metformin (MTF), low-dose fucoidan (LFC), medium-dose fucoidan (MFC), and high-dose fucoidan (HFC)...

The conversion of raw barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) to malt requires a process of controlled germination, where the grain is submerged in water to raise the moisture content to >40%. The transmembrane proteins, aquaporins, influence water uptake during the initial stage of controlled germination, yet little is known of their involvement in malting. With the current focus on sustainability, understanding the mechanisms of water uptake and usage during the initial stages of malting has become vital in improving efficient malting practices...

Aromatic compounds are used in pharmaceutical, food, textile and other industries. Increased demand has sparked interest in exploring biotechnological approaches for their sustainable production as an alternative to chemical synthesis from petrochemicals or plant extraction. These aromatic products may be toxic to microorganisms, which complicates their production in cell factories. In this study, we analysed the toxicity of multiple aromatic compounds in common production hosts. Next, we screened a subset of toxic aromatics, namely 2-phenylethanol, 4-tyrosol, benzyl alcohol, berberine and vanillin, against transporter deletion libraries in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: This study compares the efficacy and safety of a tubeless, on-body automated insulin delivery (AID) system with that of a tubeless, on-body sensor-augmented pump (SAP). METHODS: This multicentre, parallel-group, RCT was conducted at 13 tertiary medical centres in South Korea. Adults aged 19-69 years with type 1 diabetes who had HbA1c levels of <85.8 mmol/mol (<10.0%) were eligible. The participants were assigned at a 1:1 ratio to receive a tubeless, on-body AID system (intervention group) or a tubeless, on-body SAP (control group) for 12 weeks...

Plants of the genus Monarda receive growing interest as the sources of herbal raw materials with wide range of potential applications in food, cosmetics, and phytopharmaceutical industry. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in chemical characteristics and biological activity among different organs of plants representing three underinvestigated species of this genus: Monarda bradburiana L. C. Beck, Monarda × media Willd., and Monarda punctata L. The content of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of leaves, stems, and inflorescences were determined...

The lifestyle of human society is drifting apart from the natural environmental cycles that have influenced it since its inception. These cycles were fundamental in structuring the daily lives of people in the pre-industrial era, whether they were seasonal or daily. Factors that disrupt the regularity of human behaviour and its alignment with solar cycles, such as late night activities accompanied with food intake, greatly disturb the internal temporal organization in the body. This is believed to contribute to the rise of the so-called diseases of civilization...

Theaflavin-3,3'-digallate (TFDG) in black tea has a strong antioxidant capacity. However, its effect on diabetic liver and kidney injury and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, our findings indicated that TFDG administration effectively lowers the fasting blood glucose and serum lipid concentrations and enhances the functionality and cellular architecture of the liver and kidney in rats with diabetes. The data also showed that TFDG mitigates oxidative harm in the liver and kidney of rats afflicted with diabetes...

Aflatoxins (AFs), highly carcinogenic natural products, are produced by the secondary metabolism of fungi such as Aspergillus flavus . Essential for the fungi to respond to environmental changes and aflatoxin synthesis, the pheromone mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is a potential regulator of aflatoxin biosynthesis. However, the mechanism by which pheromone MAPK regulates aflatoxin biosynthesis is not clear. Here, we showed Gal83, a new target of Fus3, and identified the pheromone Fus3-MAPK signaling pathway as a regulator of the Snf1/AMPK energy-sensing pathway modulating aflatoxins synthesis substrates...

The fruits of Rosa roxburghii Tratt. are edible nutritional food with high medicinal value and have been traditionally used as Chinese folk medicine for a long time. In this study, 26 triterpenoids including four new pentacyclic triterpenoids, roxbuterpenes A-D ( 1 , 4 , 5 , and 24 ), along with 22 known analogues ( 2 , 3 , 6 - 23 , 25 , and 26 ), were isolated from the fruits of R. roxburghii . Their chemical structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses (including IR, HRESIMS and NMR spectroscopy)...

Plant pathogens have frequently shown multidrug resistance (MDR) in the field, often linked to efflux and sometimes metabolism of fungicides. To investigate the potential role of metabolic resistance in B. cinerea strains showing MDR, the azoxystrobin-sensitive strain B05.10 and -resistant strain Bc242 were treated with azoxystrobin. The degradation half-life of azoxystrobin in Bc242 (9.63 days) was shorter than that in B05.10 (28.88 days). Azoxystrobin acid, identified as a metabolite, exhibited significantly lower inhibition rates on colony and conidia (9...

Enantioselective antibodies have emerged as efficient tools in the field of chiral chemical detection and separation. However, it is complicated to obtain a highly stereoselective antibody due to the unclear recognition mechanism. In this study, the hapten of metolachlor was synthesized and enantio-separated. The absolute configuration of the four haptens obtained was identified by the computed and experimental electronic circular dichroism comparison. Five polyclonal antibodies against the Rac-metolachlor and its enantiomers were generated by immunization...

As a nutritious plant with valuable potential, the Moringa oleifera Lam. (MOL) leaf addition on Fuzhuan brick tea (FBT) for the co-fermentation (MOL-FBT) was an industry innovation and a new route to make full use of MOL leaf. After optimization of the extraction conditions, the best conditions for the polyphenols extraction method from MOL-FBT (MFP) were 60°C for 40 min (1:80, V/W) using response surface methodology. A total of 30 phenolics were identified and quantified. Most of the polyphenols were increased after adding MOL leaf for co-fermentation compared to FBT polyphenols...

Osmotic dehydration (OD) is an efficient preservation technology in that water is removed by immersing the food in a solution with a higher concentration of solutes. The application of OD in food processing offers more benefits than conventional drying technologies. Notably, OD can effectively remove a significant amount of water without a phase change, which reduces the energy demand associated with latent heat and high temperatures. A specific feature of OD is its ability to introduce solutes from the hypertonic solution into the food matrix, thereby influencing the attributes of the final product...

A-type proanthocyanidins (PAs) are a subgroup of PAs that differ from B-type PAs by the presence of an ether bond between two consecutive constitutive units. This additional C-O-C bond gives them a more stable and hydrophobic character. They are of increasing interest due to their potential multiple nutritional effects with low toxicity in food processing and supplement development. They have been identified in several plants. However, the role of A-type PAs, especially their complex polymeric form (degree of polymerization and linkage), has not been specifically discussed and explored...

Microbial cell factories utilize renewable raw materials for industrial chemical production, providing a promising path for sustainable development. Bacillus subtilis is widely used in industry for its food safety properties, but challenges remain in the limitations of microbial fermentation. This study proposes a novel strategy based on lifespan engineering to design robust B. subtilis chassis cells to supplement traditional metabolic modification strategies that can alleviate cell autolysis, tolerate toxic substrates, and get a higher mass transfer efficiency...

Vitamin D, a fat-soluble steroid, has increasingly taken a central role due to its crucial role in human health. It is estimated that about 40% of worldwide population are vitamin D deficient. The fish industry produces significant quantities of waste daily, with consequent high environmental impact. The aim of this work is to place a first brick for the fish waste reuse as a source of vitamin D3 extracts to be used for nutraceutical purposes. For this purpose, an UV conversion method for transforming the 7-dehydrocholesterol, highly present in fish, in vitamin D3 has been optimized...

Grape seed residues represent the raw material to produce several value-added products including polyphenol-rich extracts with nutritional and health attributes. Although the impact of variety and environmental conditions on the polyphenol composition in fresh berries is recognized, no data are available regarding grape seed residues. The chemical composition of grape seed residues from wine distilleries in France, Spain and Italy was characterized by mass spectrometry. Forty-two metabolites were identified belonging to non-galloylated and galloylated procyanidins as well as amino acids...