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Kelussia odoratissima Mozaff. (Apiaceae) is a native plant that has been traditionally consumed in Iran's food and pharmaceutical industries. Overharvesting of the taxon, especially at the beginning of the growing season, due to its considerable medicinal and economic value, is believed to be the main reason for the extirpating of this plant. The consequences of the severe anthropogenic impacts on the genetic diversity of populations are poorly known. In order to investigate the level of genetic variation and patterns of the genetic structure of K. odoratissima, we developed novel microsatellite markers using the 454 Roche next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform for the first time. Out of 1,165 microsatellite markers bioinformatically confirmed, twenty- five were tested, of which 23 were used to screen genetic variation across 12 natural populations. Our results showed that the average number of alleles per locus and the polymorphic information content (PIC) were 10.87 (range 7 to 27), and 0.81 (range 0.67 to 0.94), respectively. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities (± SD) across all populations were 0.80 ± 0.31 and 0.72 ± 0.14, respectively. The average pairwise FST among the populations was 0.37 (range 0.04 to 0.81). Bayesian and distance-based clustering, and principal coordinate analyses revealed at least four major genetic clusters. Although high level of structure can be explained by landscape topography and geographic distance, presence of admixed populations can be associated to seed or pollen dispersal. Contrary to expectations, the high level of genetic variation and lack of inbreeding suggest that overexploitation has not yet significantly purged the allelic variability within the natural populations in protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Spearmint essential oil is a valuable medical and food product. Spearmint essential oil is effective for the treatment of flatulence, indigestion, nausea, and colic along with Alzheimer, obesity, and fungal infections. Methods: This study evaluated the quality and quantity of spearmint essential oil by examining some extraction strategies. The procedures were hydrodistillation, hydro-steam distillation, microwave-assisted hydro-distillation, and open hydro-distillation. The hydro-distillation had five pH levels (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) and four NaCl concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2%). microwave-assisted hydrodistillation at a power of 225 W was applied for 60, 90, and 120 minutes for process durations. The solvent extraction of herbal distillate obtained by an open hydro-distillation system was done using n-pentane and n-hexane to achieve a recovered essential oil by a rotary evaporator. Results and discussion: The results showed that the lowest pH in the hydrodistillation process led to obtaining double yield compared to the control. Additionally, at 1 and 1.5% NaCl concentrations, the oil yield increased by 12.86 and 20.87%, respectively. Although the yield was reduced by microwave-assisted hydro-distillation, however within 120 minutes, carvone increased by 12.7% and limonene decreased by 42.3%. The best quality of spearmint oil belonged to solvent extraction followed by rotary evaporator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The present study is the first assessment of the fatty acids of leaf and essential oil compositions of new three habitats of aerial parts of K. odoratissima. Methods: The aerial parts of K. odoratissima from the three habitats were dried. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation for 3 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus, then the analysis of the components was carried out using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. To study the oil yield and fatty acids, the dried leaves subjected to extraction in hexane by using Soxhlet Apparatus. To analyze fatty acids from the oil fractions by gas chromatography technique, the oil was subjected to transesterification to obtain the fatty acid methyl esters, which, were dissolved in hexane and subjected to GC analysis. Results: According to the results, a total of 43 components, the major constitutes of essential oil compositions were (Z)-Ligustilide (76.45%), Unknown-A (4.47%), (E)-Ligustilide (2.57%), (Z)-Butylidene phthalide (2.37%), 5-pentyl cyclohexa-1,3-diene (1.57%) and Kessane (0.77%) in K. odoratissima. The sixteen fatty acids were separated from the oil (5% yield per 100 g dry matter). Linoleic acid (25.46%), α-Linolenic acid (16.66%), Palmitic acid (11.92%), Oleic acid (9.33%), Stearic acid (4.72%), Petroselinic acid (2.53%), Arachidonic acid (2.51%) and Erucic acid (1.76%) were major fatty acids. Conclusion: Generally, K. odoratissima is a rich source of essential fatty acids and phthalide derivatives, specially (Z)-ligustilide. This study was presented valuable information about the phytochemical properties, which can be useful for the future researches on the pharmacological effects of K. odoratissima.

The smoke produced from natural substances such as medicinal plants is used in various cultures for different purposes. The use of medicinal fumes has been reported in nearly 50 countries. Among medicinal plants, Tussilago farfara L. known as coltsfoot has been introduced in Canon the famous book of Avicenna a Persian polymath, for chronic dry cough and various pulmonary diseases and shortness of breath. T. farfara is distributed in wet mountainous regions of Iran. For this study, the leaves and flowers of T. farfara were collected from Chalous Road in Iran. The smoke from the burning of T. farfara organs was prepared by homemade glassware trapping the smoke in methanol and then methanol was evaporated. In general, five grams of materials were burned and the smoke was dissolved and trapped in 100 ml of methanol. The trapped and dried materials from the smoke of extracts were filtered and injected into the GC/MS for analysis and identification of its constituents. 51 compounds representing 91.1 and 92.3 percent of smoke extracts of T. farfara were identified in leaf and flower. Also, 57 compounds were detected in the sample of EL and EF with 96.8 % and 97.7 %. The percentage of phenolic compounds that were identified in all extracts of smoke were SL and SF with 52.1 and 46.5, respectively. Phenol, Hydroquinone, P-Cresol and O-Cresol were the major compounds in the smoke extracts. Smoke leaves and flowers of T. farfara were selected to test the antimicrobial to continue. This study examined the bactericidal effect of smoke flowers. Fractions of effective constituents with the help of hexane-ethyl acetate with the method of thin layer chromatography (TLC) were isolated. The results of this experiment showed that a fraction (8:2) of hexane-ethyl acetate inhibited the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. But Escherichia coli was not inhibited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) is one of the most important medicinal and aromatic crops (MACs) in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. It has antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antifungal, antimicrobial, antihemolytic, antiulcer, antispasmodic and several other pharmacological activities. Determining suitable harvest time and most appropriate drying method has an important role in the production of high quality MACs for industry. In this study, aerial parts of hyssop were harvested every three hours over a 12-hour period, from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, during full-flowering stage. Subsequently, different drying methods such as shade-drying, freeze-drying, vacuum- and oven-drying (40, 50 and 60 °C) and microwave-drying (100, 300 and 600 W) were employed and the resulting qualitative traits (color, essential oil content and composition) were evaluated. Over time from morning to noon, the amount of essential oil (EO) was found to have increased, while in the afternoon a gradual decrease of EO content was observed. There were no specific trend changes in the EO components related to the passage of time during the day and only the amount of myrtenol was found to have increased gradually from morning to afternoon. With increasing temperature, in all drying methods applied, the amount of browning index was increased. The glandular trichomes were susceptible to drying method and microwave-dried samples at 600 W had defective and cracked trichomes. The highest EO content (1%) resulting from all drying methods was obtained from microwave drying at 100 W while the lowest (0.15%) was observed after microwave drying at 600 W. Increasing the temperature during drying reduced the EO content, which was higher in vacuum-drying treatments than oven-drying. Regarding the main components of EOs, the highest amount of cis-pinocamphone (65.6%) was obtained by microwave drying at 300 W and the lowest (36.7%) by oven-drying at 60 °C. Finally, it can be concluded from this study that the optimum harvest time for hyssop is 12 noon, during full-flowering stage, and that low power microwave drying (100 W), oven-drying at 40 °C and shade-drying were all able to preserve the desired main active ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High performance liquid chromatography data related to the concentrations of 12 phenolic compounds in vegetative parts, measured at four sampling times were processed for developing prediction models, based on the cultivar, grapevine organ, growth stage, total flavonoid content (TFC), total reducing capacity (TRC), and total antioxidant activity (TAA). 12 Artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed with 79 input variables and different number of neurons in the hidden layer, for the prediction of 12 phenolics. The results confirmed that the developed ANN-models (R2 = 0.90 – 0.97) outperform the stepwise regression models (R2 = 0.05 – 0.78). Moreover, the sensitivity of the model outputs against each input variable was computed by using ANN and it was revealed that the key determinant of phenolic concentration was the source organ of the grapevine. The ANN prediction technique represents a promising approach to predict targeted phenolic levels in vegetative parts of the grapevine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberose volatile components were evaluated at four developmental stages of flowers extracted by Hydrodistillation Extraction (HE), Solvent-Assisted Hydrodistillation Extraction (SAHE), Accelerated Organic Solvent Extraction (AOSE) and Organic Solvent Extraction (OSE). Among the total number of 37 compounds, benzenoids such as benzyl benzoate via AOSE and OSE seemed to have the highest values at Fully Opened stage (FO). In addition, FO showed the highest total amount of sesquiterpenoids extracted by all tested methods. Half-opened stage (HO) had the highest values of monoterpenoids such as 1,8-cineole in all methods of extraction, and benzenoids such as methyl benzoate from SAHE. Unopened bud (UO) and Nearly Slight Opened bud (NSO) stages showed the least amount of volatile compounds. Although OSE is treated as a traditional preparative extractive technique for tuberose oil, SAHE and AOSE could be useful for rapid extraction of preferable compound and the qualitative analysis of volatile components at analytical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essential oils from aerial parts ofAjania semnanensisSonboli in two growing stages were isolated and their chemical constituents were identified. The oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and GC–flame ionization detector (GC–FID). Twenty-three and sixteen compounds comprising 96.5% and 92.0% of the essential oils were identified in the vegetative and flowering stages, respectively. The essential oils with the major compounds 1,8-cineole (32.5% and 27.4%), bornyl acetate (19.1% and 15.0%), camphor (18.9% and 12.2%), lavandulyl acetate (7.4% and 10.0%) and terpinen-4-ol (5.4% and 10.8%) were qualitatively similar. The antimicrobial activity of the oils was investigated against three Gram-positive and one Gram-negative bacteria and one fungus. The results showed a better activity of essential oils against fungus rather than the assessed bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]