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Recently, people have started growing wild vegetables in mainland Southeast Asia despite the abundance of domesticated ones. In this study, we analyzed the drivers for this trend by targeting wild paddy field plants in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Surveys were conducted on the use, domestication status, and market status of plants, and cultivation skill of the growers in Vientiane Municipality/Province and Houaphan Province, by targeting 171 market vendors and 54 growers, in 2013–2019 and 2022. A total of 31 paddy field plants were used as vegetables, of which 7 were grown. Centella asiatica, Limnophila chinensis, Limnophila geoffrayi, and Houttuynia cordata have been grown since the 2000s for selling at local markets, and because of demand for safe and healthy vegetables, time saved in traveling to harvesting sites, or ease of cultivation. The possible drivers for growing them were the preference for wild foods in Lao dietary culture, emerging concerns about agricultural chemical use on commercially produced vegetables, increased trade of wild plants at local markets, the ease with which these plants can be vegetatively propagated, and their resistance to pests and diseases. The results of this study have implications for food security, plant conservation, and domestication research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swiddeners in the Bago Mountains, Myanmar collect two economically important non-timber forest products (NTFPs)—Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz (Apocynaceae) roots and Amorphophallus bulbifer (Roxb.) Blume (Araceae) corms. We analyzed household strategies for NTFP collection at ST village located on a paved road with direct access to middlemen, and KC village connected to a paved road by 10 km of a non-paved foot path. The number and percentage of harvesters of both species was greater at KC village than at ST village. Males contributed more (79.5%) than females (20.5%) to the R. serpentina harvest at KC village but not at ST village. Women could collect A. bulbifer within the limited time they had available from undertaking household tasks at both villages. The average amount of both species per harvest was higher at KC village than at ST village. The total production amounts of R. serpentina were 441.2 kg and 626.6 kg (valued at USD 529.5 and USD 751.9), and those of A. bulbifer were 1175.8 kg and 2254.6 kg (USD 117.6 and USD 225.5) per year at ST village and KC village, respectively. The NTFPs provided supplementary income for household members in the pre-harvest season of the swidden livelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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To elucidate the role of microbes and endogenous proteases in the formation of the taste-active components during processing of heshiko, a Japanese traditional seafood produced by aging salted mackerel with rice bran, the production of lactic acid, free amino acids, and acid-soluble peptides throughout the aging process was compared in the absence and presence of antibiotics including chloramphenicol, penicillin, and cycloheximide. Although viable counts on fish flesh on a 2.5% NaCl-GYP agar plate increased to 10 cfu/g with the aging process of heshiko in the absence of the antibiotics, adding the antibiotics suppressed the increase in viable counts to less than 10 cfu/g throughout the aging process. Lactic acid barely increased due to the suppression of microbial growth by the antibiotics. In spite of the inhibition of bacterial growth throughout the processing of heshiko upon the addition of the antibiotics, little difference was observed in the production of free amino acids and acid-soluble peptides. These results suggest that, unlike lactic acid (which is a fermentation product of lactic acid bacteria), free amino acids and acid-soluble peptides are mainly produced through protein hydrolysis by endogenous proteases in mackerel meats during the aging process of heshiko. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbiological profiles during the processing of heshiko, produced by aging salted mackerel with rice bran for over seven months, were investigated in connection with the production of organic acids and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN). Viable counts in commercial heshiko samples were in the range of 10-10 cfu/g in 2.5% NaCl-GYP agar medium, and over 80% of them were identified as Tetragenococcus halophilus via 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. When experimentally processing heshiko using conventional practices, viable counts in fish flesh increased to 10 cfu/g during the aging process with rice bran, which was accompanied by a marked increase in lactic acid but only slight production of VBN. Although the dominant species among the microflora in raw mackerel was identified as a Staphylococcus sp., the microflora diversified during the salting process. T. halophilus was prominent during the early stage of aging. The microflora gradually simplified with aging, and eventually consisted of only T. halophilus after five months of aging. These results suggest that a simple microflora consisting of T. halophilus forms when processing heshiko using conventional practices because of the stable environment present, which contains carbohydrates as fermentation materials in rice bran, along with high salinity (around 10%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lupane triterpenes were found to promote melanogenesis, a hallmark of B16 2F2 mouse melanoma cell differentiation. Studies of the structure-activity relationships demonstrated that the keto function at C-3 of the lupane skeleton played important roles in the melanogenic activities of lupane triterpenes on melanoma cells. The carbonyl group at C-17 of lupane triterpenes was essential against their apoptosis-inducing activity against human cancer cells via the inhibition of topoisomerase I. We investigated whether signaling mechanisms were involved in the stimulative effects of lupane triterpenes on the melanogenesis of B16 2F2 cells. In experiments using selective inhibitors against various signal transduction molecules and Western blotting analysis, it was suggested that p38 MAPK was involved in melanoma cell differentiation as a downstream effector of PKA. Lupeol (compound 1), a lupane triterpene, induced dendrite formations, a morphological hallmark of B16 2F2 cell differentiation by rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton. The activation of cofilin, an actin depolymerizing factor, by compound 1 caused actin fiber disassembly in B16 2F2 cells. Furthermore, compound 1 was shown to inhibit the cell motilities of human melanoma and neuroblastoma in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a study of paddy vegetation in central Laos. Plants were inventoried and vegetation types classified. Relationships between vegetation and agricultural practices were identified. A total of 184 wild herbaceous species and 17 cultivated species were recorded in two villages. Of the wild species, 19 were used by local people, four were rare species, and three were major weeds. Paddy vegetation was arranged in order of water regime from shorter to longer hydroperiod by DCA. The factors contributing to high species diversity were: (1) the presence of species unique to different paddy types; (2) the presence of remnant species from original vegetation; and (3) the impact of agricultural practices. Thus, at this study site, multiple plant species coexisted in paddy fields under various agricultural practices, and some species were essential sources of food or were used in other ways to support the subsistence livelihoods of local residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]