Search

Ginkgoseeds can serve as not only food but also drugs, which benefit from their plenty of nutritional and functional components. However, the presence of 4’-O-methylpyridoxine (MPN) and its 5’-glucoside (MPNG), known as ginkgotoxin, prohibits people from daily consumption of Ginkgoseeds. People have traditionally believed that removing the plantule or heating Ginkgoseeds will detoxify them and that storing them at low temperatures will reduce the ginkgotoxin through their metabolism. This work aimed to confirm or falsify these traditional understandings. The results showed that the highest content of ginkgotoxin in plantule reached 2246.99 ± 8.19 µg/g. However, removing the plantule can only slightly reduce the toxicity of Ginkgo seeds, because the weight of plantule only accounts for about 1% of Ginkgoseeds. Storage with shells (-20 ℃) was determined to be the optimal storage method for Ginkgoseeds, however, which only led to 12.57% decrease in ginkgotoxin. Boiling treatment was effective in reducing the toxicity by dissolving ginkgotoxin from Ginkgoseeds to water. The content of TMPN (MPN and MPNG) decreased from 534.36 ± 12.99 µg/g to 331.83 ± 5.53 µg/g. Whereas frying, microwaving, and baking had little influence on the content of ginkgotoxin in the case of guaranteeing the edibility of Ginkgoseeds. Interestingly, the conversion of MPNG to MPN was largely reduced by storing under low temperatures and heating treatment, which can reduce the toxicity of Ginkgoseeds because MPNG was much less toxic than MPN. These results involving ginkgotoxin furnish information for safe utilization of Ginkgoseeds.

Nervonic acid (NA) is a monounsaturated very long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) and has been identified with critical biological functions in medical and health care for brain development and injury repair. Yet, the approaches to producing NA from the sources of plants or animals continue to pose challenges to meet increasing market demand, as they are generally associated with high costs, a lack of natural resources, a long life cycle, and low production efficiency. The recent technological advance in metabolic engineering allows us to precisely engineer oleaginous microbes to develop high-content NA-producing strains, which has the potential to provide a possible solution to produce NA on a commercial fermentation scale. In this Review, the biosynthetic pathway, natural sources, and metabolic engineering of NA are summarized. The strategies of metabolic engineering that could be adopted to modify oleaginous yeast to produce NA are discussed in detail, providing the prospecting views for the microbial cells producing NA.

Ergothioneine (EGT) is a unique naturally occurring amino acid that is usually biosynthesized by bacteria and fungi. As a food-derived antioxidant and cytoprotectant, it has several physiological benefits and has a wide range of applications in food, medicine, and cosmetics. Traditional production of EGT is mainly through biological extraction or chemical synthesis; however, these methods are inefficient, making large-scale production to meet the growing market demand difficult. Nowadays, the rapid development of synthetic biology has greatly accelerated the research on the EGT production by microbial fermentation. In this paper, the biological characteristics, applications, biosynthesis, separation, and detection methods of EGT were fully reviewed. Furthermore, the approaches and challenges for engineering microbial cells to efficiently synthesize EGT were also discussed. This work provides new ideas and future research potentials in EGT production.

Biofilm formation is a widespread natural phenomenon that poses a substantial threat to food microbiological safety, with direct implications for consumer health. To combat this challenge effectively, one promising strategy involves the development of functional anti-biofouling layers on food-contact surfaces to deter microbial adhesion. Herein, we explore the methodologies for fabricating both hydrophilic and hydrophobic anti-biofouling materials, along with a detailed examination of their inherent antiadhesive mechanisms. Furthermore, we provide concise insights into exemplary applications of anti-biofouling materials within the context of the food industry. This comprehensive analysis not only advances our understanding of biofilm prevention but also sets the stage for innovative developments in anti-biofouling materials and their future applications in food science. These advancements hold the potential to significantly enhance food microbiological safety, ensuring that consumers can confidently enjoy food products of the highest standards in terms of hygiene and quality.

Chemical preservatives are widely employed as the primary approach to inhibit food spoilage, yet their acceptance among consumers is progressively diminishing. Consequently, researchers have increasingly made efforts to explore naturel preservatives. Phytochemicals with diverse bioactivities offer promising opportunities for development of natural preservatives. In this study, extracts from a total of ninety plant materials were screened and evaluated for their inhibitory effects against the two pathogenic fungi, Aspergillus flavusand Penicillium citrinum. Initially, twenty plant extract samples exhibiting an inhibition rate exceeding 85 % against either or both fungal strains were conducted for further screening. Then, evaluations of their minimum inhibition concentration (MIC), spore germination, and mycelial growth were carried out for the subsequent screenings. Finally, GC-MS analysis was preformed to detect the chemical composition of the selected plant extracts. Thus, the antifungal index of the ninety plants was calculated and formed a repository of raw material for plant-based preservatives. Moreover, nine promising polar fractions, including petroleum ether fractions of Cinnamomum cassia, Syzygium aromaticum, Amomum tsaoko, Nardostachys jatamansi, Angelica sinensisand trichloromethane fractions of C. cassia, S. aromaticum, Houpoea officinalis, and Ruta graveolenswere regarded as potential constituents for a novel natural preservative.

Active peptides are a class of physiologically active protein fragments, which can be prepared from different sources. In the past few decades, the production of peptides with various effects from different plant proteins continues to receive academic attention. With advances in extraction, purification, and characterization techniques, plant protein-derived active peptides continue to be discovered. They have been proven to have various functional activities such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antithrombotic, and so on. In this review, we searched Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure for relevant articles published in recent years. There are 184 articles included in this manuscript. The current status of plant protein-derived active peptides is systematically introduced, including their sources, preparation, purification and identification methods, physiological activities, and applications in the food industry. Special emphasis has been placed on the problems of active peptide exploration and the future trend. Based on these, it is expected to provide theoretical reference for the further exploitation of plant protein-derived active peptides, and promote the healthy and rapid development of active peptide industry.

Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) is an essential enzyme in the folate pathway and has been recognized as a well-known target for antibacterial and antifungal drugs. We discovered eight compounds from the ZINC database using virtual screening to inhibit Rhizoctonia solani(R. solani), a fungal pathogen in crops. These compounds were evaluated with in vitroassays for enzymatic and antifungal activity. Among these, compound Hit8 is the most active R. solaniDHFR inhibitor, with the IC50of 10.2 μM. The selectivity of inhibition is 22.3 against human DHFR with the IC50of 227.7 μM. Moreover, Hit8 has higher antifungal activity against R. solani(EC50of 38.2 mg L–1) compared with validamycin A (EC50of 67.6 mg L–1), a well-documented fungicide. These results suggest that Hit8 may be a potential fungicide. Our study exemplifies a computer-aided method to discover novel inhibitors that could target plant pathogenic fungi.

4′-O-Methylpyridoxine (MPN) and MPN-5′-glucoside (MPNG) are collectively known as ginkgotoxin, which are the main toxic ingredients of excessive consumption of Ginkgo bilobaseeds. Water extraction is the generally adopted sample preparation method for high-performance liquid chromatography determination of ginkgotoxin. However, endogenous enzymes such as glycosidases in Ginkgo bilobaseeds can hydrolyze MPNG to MPN in the process of water extraction, which will result in the measured contents of MPN and MPNG but not their natural contents in Ginkgo bilobaseeds. In this work, inhibitors for the endogenous enzymes were first screened, and it was found that silver fluoride could effectively inhibit endogenous enzymes such as glucosidase and phosphatase. The optimized concentration of silver fluoride was 25 mmol/L, which could effectively inhibit the endogenous enzymes for more than 60 h. A new sample preparation method based on water extraction with 25 mmol/L silver fluoride addition was thus developed. This method was employed to determine the native contents of MPN and MPNG in the exotesta and kernel of five Ginkgo bilobaseed cultivars. The result showed that the contents of MPNG in the exotesta and kernel of five cultivars were significantly higher than those of MPN. MPNG was present at high content in raw seeds, which was the main form of ginkgotoxin in seeds. The method established in this work is simple and effective and can be used to accurately quantify the native contents of MPN and MPNG.