Folate enhancement in pseudocereals

The literature review described the importance of folate enhancement to human health especially to coeliac patients with an introduction to folate analysis, pseudocereals and possible fortification methods. The aim of this study was to study the natural folate enhancement methods in pseudocereal matrix. Pseudocereal materials consisted of buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa, each of which was subjected to three different treatments: germination, fermentation and combined treatment. Total folate determination was based on an official microbiological assay method (Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469). Germination of pseudocereals lasted for 4–5 days. Fermentation was conducted using either baking yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae ALKO743 or LAB Streptococcus thermophilus ABM5097. All germinated whole grain pseudocereals indeed showed a significant increase in total folate content. Specifically, the increase was 5.4-fold in buckwheat, 5-fold in amaranth and 2.6-fold in quinoa. Fermentation of native pseudocereals also enhanced total folate level. As for the combined treatment, the total folate level of germinated seeds did not further significantly increase or decrease in later fermentation period. Although more studies are needed for processing real pseudocereal foods, our study showed great potential of folate enhancement using germination or fermentation

Photo-Oxidative Stress-Driven Mutagenesis and Adaptive Evolution on the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhanced Carotenoid Accumulation

Marine diatoms have recently gained much attention as they are expected to be a promising resource for sustainable production of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and biofuels as a future clean energy solution. To develop photosynthetic cell factories, it is important to improve diatoms for value-added products. In this study, we utilized UVC radiation to induce mutations in the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and screened strains with enhanced accumulation of neutral lipids and carotenoids. Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) was also used in parallel to develop altered phenotypic and biological functions in P. tricornutum and it was reported for the first time that ALE was successfully applied on diatoms for the enhancement of growth performance and productivity of value-added carotenoids to date. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was utilized to study the composition of major pigments in the wild type P. tricornutum, UV mutants and ALE strains. UVC radiated strains exhibited higher accumulation of fucoxanthin as well as neutral lipids compared to their wild type counterpart. In addition to UV mutagenesis, P. tricornutum strains developed by ALE also yielded enhanced biomass production and fucoxanthin accumulation under combined red and blue light. In short, both UV mutagenesis and ALE appeared as an effective approach to developing desired phenotypes in the marine diatoms via electromagnetic radiation-induced oxidative stress