Genotypic variation of fatty acid composition in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) oil

Safflower is a multipurpose crop with quality oil and brilliantly colored flowers which are used as a source of natural dyes for food and fabrics. In addition, different parts of the safflower plant have medicinal properties and are useful in treating many chronic diseases. Further, safflower oils are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acid (FA) with a fraction of some very desirable essential fatty acids (EFA). The increased interest for healthier food related with the consumption of long-chain n-3 fatty acids has conducted to the sale of supplements and fortified foods containing these fatty acids. Safflower oils can be considered functional foods without any biochemical additions. The objective of this study was to assay the fatty acid composition of oils obtained from eight safflower cultivars, which belong to the alternative oil crops collection of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad. Oil samples were obtained by pressing seeds in hydraulic press. Fatty acid composition was determined by gas chromatography (Konik HRGC 4000) coupled with a flame ionizing detector, after derivatization to their volatile methylesters (FAME). In order to chemically convert FA to FAME, 10 ul of oils were subjected to transesierification using 190 pl methanolic trimethylsulfonium hydroxide solution (0.2 mol/dm?). Peak identification was performed by comparing the relative retention times with those of a commercial standard mixture of FAME and FA contents are expressed as weight percentages of total FAME. The results have shown significant differences among the safflower cultivars regarding the fatty acids composition. In average, linoleic acid represented the most FA (74.96%) followed by oleic (15.15%), palmitic (5.79%), stearic (2.77%) and a-linolenic (0.40%) acids. Based on obtained results safflower oils were characterized by high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (mean value 75.48%) versus 15.32% of monounsaturated and 8.87% of saturated ones, indicating that the safflower is rich sourse of polyunsaturated EFA (linoleic and a-linolenic)

Etude de la tolérance au déficit hydrique et au stress thermique chez le carthame (Carthamus tinctorius L.) et leurs effets sur le rendement et la qualité des huiles.

Le travail présenté opte pour un objectif d’évaluation des potentialités de tolérance d’une espèce oléagineuse aux stress abiotiques notamment le déficit hydrique et l’hyperthermie. Le carthame est l’une de ces espèces qui constituerait comme un candidat potentiel pour combler le retard enregistré dans la filière oléagineuse en Algérie. L’étude présentée évalue le comportement, la teneur et la composition chimique de l’huile des graines mûres de trois génotypes de carthame d’origine, Française, Syrienne et Algérienne, cultivés durant trois campagnes (2015, 2016, 2017) à Tiaret. Les résultats indiquent que la teneur en huile des graines varie parmi les génotypes conduits et à travers les trois années pour se limiter à des valeurs comprises entre 22.8% et 35.68%. La composition chimique démontre que durant les trois années d’expérimentation, l’huile extraite est constituée essentiellement d’un acide gras polyinsaturé, l’acide linoléique. Les teneurs de ce composé varient entre 74.4 et 79.9%. Ces valeurs limites sont détenues par Halab et la population locale Touggourt respectivement. Il a été constaté que cette variation est conditionnée entre autres par le bilan pluviométrique annuel, où l’accroissement de la précipitation s’accompagne d’une augmentation de la teneur de cet acide. L’acide oléique détient une part importante dans cette composition pour atteindre des valeurs oscillant entre 9.8 et 14.7%. La teneur en acides gras saturés s’annonce faible, atteignant une limite maximale de 9%. Cette huile s’avère aussi riche en d’autres composants qui présentent un intérêt primordial dans la nutrition et la santé humaine comme les phytostérols et les polyphénols. Ce dernier composant se distingue par une activité antioxydante conjuguée élevée. Les stress abiotiques ont grandement amélioré le statut de phytostérols dans la partie insaponifiable de l’huile de carthame. Alors que, l’accumulation des polyphénols s’avère variable en fonction du génotype testés et le régime hydrique adopté. L’importance de l’utilisation médicinale de l’huile de carthame serait davantage concrètable grâce à ses effets anti-âges liés particulièrement à ses activités anti-élastase et anticollagénase élaborées. Cette étude a permis aussi de mettre en évidence la richesse du tourteau de carthame en protéine qui pourrait être utilisé comme aliment de bétail. A la lumière des résultats de ce travail, il a été révélé que l’importance attribuée au carthame et liée grandement à la richesse de ses graines en huile ainsi qu’en composantes chimiques ayant d’intérêt cosmétique et alimentaire remarquable. Par conséquent, l’adaptation de cette espèce oléagineuse dans les aires semi-arides algériennes constituerait un départ réel pour y être exploitée et introduite dans le système de production agricole national

Screening for salt tolerance in maize and comparative evaluation on chemical composition and mineral nutrients

Soil salinity is one of the significant environmental issues that have adverse effects on growth and productivity in Maize (Zea mays). Ultimately, the level of soil salinity hampers grain nutrition in maize. The availability of salt-tolerant maize genotypes, with an adequate grain nutritional quality, is a challenge in agriculture. Despite numerous nutritional studies in maize have been conducted, no report has been made on how nutrition is being affected under saline conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to screen the elite genotypes could sustain chemical composition and mineral nutrients under saline conditions. The hydroponic system was used to screen twenty genotypes of maize for salinity tolerance at the seedling stage. The study employed a completely randomized design (CRD) to test the genotypes under four different levels of salinity (control, 0, 4, 8 and 12dS/m). At the maturity stage, the genotypes were further screened in saline and normal field conditions. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) under split-plot arrangement with four different levels of salinity (control, 0, 4, 8 and 12dS/m) was used. Quantitative analysis of mineral contents was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Both maize under normal and saline field conditions were analyzed. Greenhouse hydroponic screening revealed that G-12, G-13 and G-15 performed best in morphological and physiological traits under saline condition. G-12, G-13 and G-15 performed best in field screening under normal and saline conditions based on yield and yield-related components (plant height, grain yield per plant, 100-grain weight and number of grains per cob). Grain chemical composition showed that G-12, G-13 and G-15 contained high protein (5.93-11.79%) and carbohydrate contents under saline conditions. G-15 was found to have the highest concentration of nutrients such as Ca, Fe and Zn under salinity. Further, the effect of ion antagonism was found to play a vital role in the decrease or increase of mineral nutrients in 20 genotypes under saline conditions. The study results concluded that G- 15 performed the best among the 20 genotypes of maize recommended for cultivation under saline condition

3rd International conference on neglected and underutilized species (NUS): for a food-secure Africa. Accra, Ghana, 25-27 September 2013. Proceedings

The '3rd international conference on neglected and underutilized species: for a food-secure Africa' was held on 25-27 September in Accra, Ghana. These proceedings include 30 papers presented at the conference, organized under the themes: 1. Resilience of agricultural and livelihood systems -- with sub-themes on agronomy, conservation, climate change, health and nutrition; 2. Upgrading value chains on NUS; 3. Creating an enabling policy environment

Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources

The papers included in this Special Issue address a variety of important aspects of plant biodiversity and genetic resources, including definitions, descriptions, and illustrations of different components and their value for food and nutrition security, breeding, and environmental services. Furthermore, comprehensive information is provided regarding conservation approaches and techniques for plant genetic resources, policy aspects, and results of biological, genetic, morphological, economic, social, and breeding-related research activities. The complexity and vulnerability of (plant) biodiversity and its inherent genetic resources, as an integral part of the contextual ecosystem and the human web of life, are clearly demonstrated in this Special Issue, and for several encountered problems and constraints, possible approaches or solutions are presented to overcome these

Processing rice bran to yield added-value oil based extracts

Rice bran, a by-product from rice milling, is an excellent source of natural antioxidants. Lipids in rice bran appear as small spherical droplets called oil bodies. This work attempted to recover the oil bodies from rice bran (fresh, stored and heat-treated) and to determine their chemical, biochemical and physical properties ex vivo. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy, oil bodies were observed mainly in the sub-aleurone and aleurone layer of brown rice. Oil bodies were successfully recovered from rice bran and were enriched in tocochromanols and oryzanol (656 - 1,006 mg/kg lipid and 8,880 - 9,692 mg/kg lipid respectively). Further washing to remove extraneous protein and non-associated compounds, effective lipid concentration increased while protein concentration decreased. The washed oil body preparation contained approximately 35 - 68 % tocochromanols and 60 - 62 % oryzanol of the parent rice bran oil. Therefore, the majority of tocochromanols and oryzanol molecules appeared to be intrinsically associated with rice bran oil bodies ex vivo. Fatty acid composition of rice bran oil bodies was similar to that of parent rice bran. SDS-PAGE of proteins present in differentially washed oil body preparations revealed similar protein profiles; however, there was a relative enrichment of the bands at 16 - 18 kDa (typical molecular weight of oleosins). Rice bran oil bodies possessed negatively charged surface (-30 mV) at neutral pH. As the pH of the oil body suspension was lowered to the pH near pI (about pH 4 - 5), zeta potential of the oil bodies approached zero and the suspension had the least physical stability; aggregation and the least relative turbidity. The biochemical instability of rice occurs immediately after milling, which leads to the limited use of rice bran for human consumption. Free fatty acids and lipid hydroperoxides in rice bran and corresponding oil bodies increased significantly (P<0.05) during storage. Oil bodies recovered from stored rice bran aggregated and coalesced. 41% of tocochromanols in the oil bodies had decomposed while the concentration of oryzanol was relatively stable during the storage. Rice bran heat treatments (pan roasting and extrusion) caused the coalescence of oil bodies in vivo and the instability of an oil body suspension ex vivo. The main findings of this study were that rice bran oil bodies were enriched in phytochemicals including tocochromanols and oryzanol and were resistant to oxidation providing that the oil bodies were still intact. The oil bodies could delay the onset of lipid oxidation of stored lipids inside the oil bodies. This may be explained by the physical barrier of surface membrane protein (oleosin) against pro-oxidants and the intrinsic association between the oil bodies and phytochemicals in rice bran

Processing rice bran to yield added-value oil based extracts

Rice bran, a by-product from rice milling, is an excellent source of natural antioxidants. Lipids in rice bran appear as small spherical droplets called oil bodies. This work attempted to recover the oil bodies from rice bran (fresh, stored and heat-treated) and to determine their chemical, biochemical and physical properties ex vivo. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy, oil bodies were observed mainly in the sub-aleurone and aleurone layer of brown rice. Oil bodies were successfully recovered from rice bran and were enriched in tocochromanols and oryzanol (656 - 1,006 mg/kg lipid and 8,880 - 9,692 mg/kg lipid respectively). Further washing to remove extraneous protein and non-associated compounds, effective lipid concentration increased while protein concentration decreased. The washed oil body preparation contained approximately 35 - 68 % tocochromanols and 60 - 62 % oryzanol of the parent rice bran oil. Therefore, the majority of tocochromanols and oryzanol molecules appeared to be intrinsically associated with rice bran oil bodies ex vivo. Fatty acid composition of rice bran oil bodies was similar to that of parent rice bran. SDS-PAGE of proteins present in differentially washed oil body preparations revealed similar protein profiles; however, there was a relative enrichment of the bands at 16 - 18 kDa (typical molecular weight of oleosins). Rice bran oil bodies possessed negatively charged surface (-30 mV) at neutral pH. As the pH of the oil body suspension was lowered to the pH near pI (about pH 4 - 5), zeta potential of the oil bodies approached zero and the suspension had the least physical stability; aggregation and the least relative turbidity. The biochemical instability of rice occurs immediately after milling, which leads to the limited use of rice bran for human consumption. Free fatty acids and lipid hydroperoxides in rice bran and corresponding oil bodies increased significantly (P<0.05) during storage. Oil bodies recovered from stored rice bran aggregated and coalesced. 41% of tocochromanols in the oil bodies had decomposed while the concentration of oryzanol was relatively stable during the storage. Rice bran heat treatments (pan roasting and extrusion) caused the coalescence of oil bodies in vivo and the instability of an oil body suspension ex vivo. The main findings of this study were that rice bran oil bodies were enriched in phytochemicals including tocochromanols and oryzanol and were resistant to oxidation providing that the oil bodies were still intact. The oil bodies could delay the onset of lipid oxidation of stored lipids inside the oil bodies. This may be explained by the physical barrier of surface membrane protein (oleosin) against pro-oxidants and the intrinsic association between the oil bodies and phytochemicals in rice bran

Back to plants for drug discovery: from ethnomedicine to more conventional approaches

Over the last years, there is rekindling of interest in drug discovery from botanical resources. This thesis proposed two different approaches (from ethnomedicine to scholarly strategies) for drug discovery from medicinal plants, identifying the areas of knowledge involved and addressing the challenges encountered, with the aim of enhancing the chance of success of the overarching process. The first approach consists to review the literature to increase understanding of a plant of interest and generate strong hypotheses for future drug development research on this plant. Illustrating such an approach, we focused on Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (TD). Knowledge about TD was collected from both online databases and non-electronic resources. Overall, a total of 1,804 reports have been collected. After subsequent duplicates removal and screening for relevant titles and abstracts, a total of 119 text articles were obtained and assessed for eligibility. Finally, 168 articles were selected, of which forty-nine were added after analyses of the reference lists of the included papers. We found that all parts of the plant are valued in several cultures for a wide scope of ailments ranging from topical issues \u2014wounds, skeleto-muscular disorders, abscesses, dermatological conditions, and stomach pains\u2014 to systemic disorders such as diabetes, malaria, fever, hepatitis and infectious diseases. Importantly, most of the ethnomedical claims of TD have been substantiated in several studies conducted in vitro and in vivo in animals. Sometimes, findings were conflicting and thanks to this review, we were able to assess the weight of evidence for each pharmacological effect of TD. The anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antidiabetic, antioxidant and anticancer effects do stand out but there is also a stunning array of other relevant pharmacological effects. Chemically, a hundred of chemicals, mainly terpenoids and phenols, have been isolated from various TD extracts so far. Of these, some compounds including Tagitinin C have been linked to the pharmacology of TD. About the toxicological profile, we were able to conclude based on evidence that short-term oral administration of TD is relatively well-tolerated in animals when taken at doses less than 100 mg/kg. The second approach consists to screen the ethnomedical knowledge of indigenous people to select the best plant candidate to launch a drug discovery campaign. So, we carried out a 6-month cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey to explore the use of medicinal plants (MP) in People living with HIV (PLHIV) in the city of Dschang (West Region, Cameroon). Of the 247 HIV-infected respondents, 54.9% reported to use plants. MP users were then kindly invited to provide photographs and/or specimens of plants for botanical identification. A total of 70 MP, chiefly the herbs, were mentioned by informants (82.2% of total MP users, mean\ub1SEM: 2.2\ub10.2 MP/subject, min 1, max 11), of which forty-nine have been botanically identified. Commonly reported pathological conditions or symptoms treated with MP included malaria (n = 27, 18.4% of total citations), cough (n = 20, 13.6%) and abdominal pain (n = 16, 10.9%). The benefits of using MP reportedly ranged from moderate (n = 60, 57.7%) to complete (n = 35, 33.7%) relief, while only 8 subjects (7.7% of MP users) reported no change in their terms. Interestingly, 2 subjects (33.3 % of respondents) denounced fatigue and weight loss. We also observed that THPs were the main advisors of PLHIV on the use of MP. Thus, in the rest of our study, their knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS were surveyed aiming at understanding whether they may be an appropriate resource to assist in the scaling up of HIV prevention and treatment delivery services in Cameroon. 16 THPs were recruited by the chairperson of the Cooperative Society of Producers of Medicinal Plants of West Region based on their good reputation in traditional healing practice. Three of them acknowledged the use of MP to manage HIV diseases in their clients. All THPs who agreed to participate in the survey were also evaluated for their knowledge of HIV transmission, prevention and diagnosis. We found that their knowledge related to HIV was relatively low raising concern about their aptitude to effectively assist conventional health practitioners in fighting against HIV/AIDS. Resulting from literature mining and ethnomedical claims is the adoption of a relevant pharmacological testing system. In any case, the testing systems should represent the biological activities that best match the ethnomedical uses of the selected plant species. In addition, it is important to bear in mind that plant extracts are complex mixtures containing various components and, therefore, their overall activity results from interactions between their naturally occurring ingredients. It is with this background that we conducted a study of comparison of the effects of a whole extract of a particular strain of Cannabis sativa L. to that of cannabidiol (CBD). We knew cannabis is endowed with a potent anti-inflammatory effect attributable mainly to CBD, but also to its entourage. This mechanism by which other compounds occurring in cannabis may contribute to its clinical effects has been espoused as an \u201centourage effect\u201d. The concept of entourage effect was first introduced in 1998 by Ben-Shabat and Raphael Mechoulam but still, there was no hard evidence that the entourage effect is real. So, thanks to a collaboration with a pharmaceutical company, we grew a particular strain of cannabis deprived of THC and standardized in 5% CBD (CM5). Then, we tested the effects of an extract of CM5 in parallel to that of pure CBD at equimolar concentrations on neutrophil functions including oxidative metabolism, migration and production of proinflammatory cytokines. Results show that CM5 0.05-50 \u3bcg/mL and CBD 10-8-10-5 M inhibit the neutrophil functions including ROS production, cell migration, mRNA levels of proinflammatory cytokines (but at the protein level, only TNF-a was inhibited) to a comparable extent, indicating that CBD may be the main responsible of the anti-inflammatory effects of Cannabis. The effects of CBD and CM5 show however remarkable differences in terms of potency and efficacy, suggesting that beyond CBD, other components of cannabis may contribute to its biological effects. As a whole, such results support the use of cannabis and CBD to stem inflammation, however also warrant in-depth investigation of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms to better exploit their therapeutic potential

Hydrogen Sulfide and Reactive Oxygen Species, Antioxidant Defense, Abiotic Stress Tolerance Mechanisms in Plants

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which was previously considered to be toxic, is now regarded as a burgeoning endogenous gaseous transmitter. H2S plays a vital role in the mechanism of response/adaptation to adverse environmental conditions as well as crosstalk with other signaling molecules, including ROS, by affecting the corresponding gene expression and subsequent enzyme activities. Both H2S and ROS are potent signaling molecules that can provoke reversible and irreversible oxidative post-translational modifications on cysteine residues of proteins such as sulfenylation or persulfidation, affecting the redox status and function of the target proteins. The dynamic interplay between persulfidation and sulfenylation occurring on cysteine residues is of great importance in response to environmental changes.The present Special Issue of IJMS has the aim of providing the most current findings on the function of signaling molecules, including H2S and ROS, in higher plants, and it is open to different types of manuscripts, including original research papers, perspectives, or reviews where either ROS, H2S, or related molecules could be involved at the biochemical or physiological levels