Oxidation of emulsified oat proteins

A review of the literature emphasised the significance of protein oxidation, which can lead to such modifications as the loss of essential amino acids and protein cross-links, and may bring about adverse effects on human nutrition and protein functionality. As the globulin fraction constitutes the predominant storage protein in oats, oxidation of oat globulin is in great need of attention and understanding. Oat globulin-containing oil-in-water emulsions were used as a food model. Thus, the objectives of the present work include the oxidation of oat proteins as well as lipid oxidation in prepared food emulsions together with a commercial oat protein-containing cream, and the possible antioxidant activities of berry phenolics (i.e. ellagitannins) towards protein oxidation. Oat globulin was extracted with a cold isolation buffer preceded by the removal of water-soluble impurities. Oxidation took place in darkness by placing the emulsion and cream samples in an oven with continuous stirring and a constant temperature at 37 oC. Sampling for lipid and protein oxidation measurements was carried out at day 0, 3 6 and 9. During the 9-day oxidation, no hexanal was detected in any oat protein-containing samples except for the ones without oat proteins, which were measured by headspace gas chromatography. The development of protein oxidation in prepared emulsions could not be revealed by the proposed loss of tryptophan fluorescence, as the tryptophan fluorescence actually increased and then decreased in the current study as opposed to continuous decrease as indicated in references, but carbonyl and dityrosine formation reflected the progression of protein oxidation. However, the same fluorescence techniques as in prepared emulsions ended up with contradictory fluorescence results in cream samples due to syneresis of oat creams during oxidation. In conclusion, fluorescence spectroscopy is a promising technique to investigate protein oxidation in food emulsions using carbonyl and dityrosine formation as oxidation markers

Travel Tales of a Worldwide Weed: Genomic Signatures of Plantago major L. Reveal Distinct Genotypic Groups With Links to Colonial Trade Routes

Funding Information: Funding for the project was provided Marie Curie Actions of the 7th European Community Framework Programme, Grant/Award No. FP7/2007-2013/, REA grant agreement no. 606895-Med, no. 656853. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Iwanycki Ahlstrand, Gopalakrishnan, Vieira, Bieker, Meudt, Dunbar-Co, Rothfels, Martinez-Swatson, Maldonado, Hassemer, Shipunov, Bowers, Gardner, Xu, Ghorbani, Amano, Grace, Pringle, Bishop, Manzanilla, Cotrim, Blaney, Zubov, Choi, Yesil, Bennett, Vimolmangkang, El-Seedi, Staub, Li, Boldbaatar, Hislop, Caddy, Muasya, Saslis-Lagoudakis, Gilbert, Zerega and Rønsted.Retracing pathways of historical species introductions is fundamental to understanding the factors involved in the successful colonization and spread, centuries after a species’ establishment in an introduced range. Numerous plants have been introduced to regions outside their native ranges both intentionally and accidentally by European voyagers and early colonists making transoceanic journeys; however, records are scarce to document this. We use genotyping-by-sequencing and genotype-likelihood methods on the selfing, global weed, Plantago major, collected from 50 populations worldwide to investigate how patterns of genomic diversity are distributed among populations of this global weed. Although genomic differentiation among populations is found to be low, we identify six unique genotype groups showing very little sign of admixture and low degree of outcrossing among them. We show that genotype groups are latitudinally restricted, and that more than one successful genotype colonized and spread into the introduced ranges. With the exception of New Zealand, only one genotype group is present in the Southern Hemisphere. Three of the most prevalent genotypes present in the native Eurasian range gave rise to introduced populations in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, which could lend support to the hypothesis that P. major was unknowlingly dispersed by early European colonists. Dispersal of multiple successful genotypes is a likely reason for success. Genomic signatures and phylogeographic methods can provide new perspectives on the drivers behind the historic introductions and the successful colonization of introduced species, contributing to our understanding of the role of genomic variation for successful establishment of introduced taxa.Peer reviewe

DNA barcoding and LC-MS metabolite profiling of the lichen-forming genus Melanelia: Specimen identification and discrimination focusing on Icelandic taxa

Taxa in the genus Melanelia (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) belong to a group of saxicolous lichens with brown to black foliose thalli, which have recently undergone extensive changes in circumscription. Taxa belonging to Parmeliaceae are prolific producers of bioactive compounds, which have also been traditionally used for chemotaxonomic purposes. However, the chemical diversity of the genus Melanelia and the use of chemical data for species discrimination in this genus are largely unexplored. In addition, identification based on morphological characters is challenging due to few taxonomically informative characters. Molecular identification methods, such as DNA barcoding, have rarely been applied to this genus. This study aimed to identify the Melanelia species from Iceland using DNA barcoding approach, and to explore their chemical diversity using chemical profiling. Chemometric tools were used to see if lichen metabolite profiles determined by LC-MS could be used for the identification of Icelandic Melanelia species. Barcoding using the fungal nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (nrITS) successfully identified three Melalenlia species occurring in Iceland, together with Montanelia disjuncta (Basionym: Melanelia disjuncta). All species formed monophyletic clades in the neighbor-joining nrITS gene tree. However, high intraspecific genetic distance of M. stygia suggests the potential of unrecognized species lineages. Principal component analysis (PCA) of metabolite data gave a holistic overview showing that M. hepatizon and M. disjuncta were distinct from the rest, without the power to separate M. agnata and M. stygia due to their chemical similarity. Orthogonal partial least–squares to latent structures–discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA), however, successfully distinguished M. agnata and M. stygia by identifying statistically significant metabolites, which lead to class differentiation. This work has demonstrated the potential of DNA barcoding, chemical profiling and chemometrics in identification of Melanelia species.The study was financially supported by the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement No. 606895 (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/109122_en.html) as well as a minor contribution from Bergthora and Thorsteinn Scheving Thorsteinsson Fund. The funders provided support in the form of salaries for author [MX], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. The commercial affiliation Arctic Mass has no financial or competing interests in this study but two of the authors MT and FFE are partially affiliated there. Arctic Mass had the role of providing access to instruments (mass spectrometers) used in the study.Peer Reviewe

Authentication of Iceland Moss (Cetraria islandica) by UPLC-QToF-MS chemical profiling and DNA barcoding

The lichen Cetraria islandica or Iceland Moss is commonly consumed as tea, food ingredients (e.g. in soup or bread) and herbal medicines. C. islandica, which has two chemotypes, can be difficult to distinguish from the sister species Cetraria ericetorum. They are collectively referred to as the Cetraria islandica species complex. This study aimed to use an UPLC-QToF-MS chemical profiling together with DNA barcoding to distinguish species and chemotypes of the C. islandica species complex. Our results show that the two chemotypes of C. islandica are clearly distinguishable from each other and from C. ericetorum by the chemometric approach. The RPB2 barcode was able to differentiate C. islandica from C. ericetorum with a barcode gap, but the widely used nrITS barcode failed. Neither of them could discriminate chemotypes of C. islandica. In conclusion, this integrative approach involving chemical profiling and DNA barcoding could be applied for authentication of Iceland Moss materials

Phylogenetic diversity of the lichenized algal genus Trebouxia (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta): a new lineage and novel insights from fungal-algal association patterns of Icelandic cetrarioid lichens (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota)

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Lichens have high tolerance to harsh environmental conditions, where lichen symbiont interactions (e.g. myco- and photobionts) may play a crucial role. The characterization of fungal-algal association patterns is essential to understand their symbiotic interactions. This study investigated fungal-algal association patterns in Icelandic cetrarioid lichens using a multi-locus phylogenetic framework, including fungal nrITS, MCM7, mtSSU, RPB1 and RPB2 and algal nrITS, nrLSU, rbcL and mtCOXII data. Most Icelandic cetrarioid lichenized fungi were found to be specifically associated to the known Trebouxia clade “S” (Trebouxia simplex/suecica group), whereas the lichen-forming fungus Cetrariella delisei forms a symbiosis with a previously unrecognized lineage of Trebouxia, provisionally named as the “D” clade. This new Trebouxia lineage is supported by maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using all four included algal loci.This project was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration (grant agreement number 606895) to FP7-MCA-ITN MedPlant, “Phylogenetic Exploration of Medicinal Plant Diversity”. The Icelandic Research Fund (grant number 185442051) and the Bergthora and Thorsteinn Scheving Thorsteinsson Fund are also acknowledged for financial support.Peer Reviewe

Alkaloid fingerprinting resolves Huperzia selago genotypes in Iceland

Pre-print (óritrýnt handrit)The club moss family Lycopodiaceae produces a diverse array of bioactive lycopodium alkaloids (LAs). In particular, the alkaloid huperzine A (hupA) has grasped attention since it is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor of medical interest in Alzheimer's disease. Although the structural diversity and bioactivities of LAs have been studied to some extent, their chemotaxonomic value is mostly unexplored, especially to a lower taxonomic unit (e.g. subspecies or genotypes). This study focused on previously reported Icelandic Huperzia selago genotypes, and aimed to evaluate the chemotaxonomic value of LAs in resolving them. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), alkaloid fingerprints of H. selago taxa were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA). Our results revealed that each genotype tends to have its own alkaloid profile. Genotype 1 and 3 form distinct groups in a PCA plot, where genotype 2 is an intermediate between the other two genotypes. HupA and its derivative, huperzine B, both contribute to the differentiation of genotype 3 from the others. Therefore, our study demonstrated the potential of alkaloid fingerprints in resolving deep taxonomic groups and selecting plant taxa of medicinal importance.This work was supported by The People Program (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 (grant number 606895); Icelandic Research Fund (grant number 152604051); and the Bergthora and Thorsteinn Scheving Thorsteinsson Fund

Infraspecific Variation of Huperzine A and B in Icelandic Huperzia selago Complex

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)The alkaloids huperzine A and huperzine B were originally isolated from the Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata. They are known inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase, and especially huperzine A shows pharmaceutical potential for the treatment of Alzheimerʼs disease. Its supply heavily relies on natural plant sources belonging to the genus Huperzia, which shows considerable interspecific huperzine A variations. Furthermore, taxonomic controversy remains in this genus, particularly in the Huperzia selago group. With focus on Icelandic H. selago taxa, we aimed to explore the relatedness of Huperzia species using multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, and to investigate correlations between huperzine A contents, morphotypes, and genotypes. Phylogenetic analysis was performed with five chloroplastic loci (the intergenic spacer between the photosystem II protein D1 gene and the tRNA-His gene, maturase K, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit, tRNA-Leu, and the intergenic spacer region between tRNA-Leu and tRNA-Phe). Huperzine A and huperzine B contents were determined using an HPLC-UV method. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that previously proposed Huperzia appressa and Huperzia arctica should not be considered species, but rather subspecies of H. selago. Three genotypes of Icelandic H. selago were identified and presented in a haplotype networking diagram. A significantly (p < 0.05) higher amount of huperzine A was found in H. selago genotype 3 (264 – 679 µg/g) than genotype 1 (20 – 180 µg/g), where the former shows a typical green and reflexed “selago” morphotype. The huperzine A content in genotype 3 is comparable to Chinese H. serrata and a good alternative huperzine A source. Genotype 2 contains multiple morphotypes with a broad huperzine A content (113 – 599 µg/g). The content of huperzine B in Icelandic taxa (6 – 13 µg/g) is much lower than that in Chinese H. serrata (79 – 207 µg/g).The People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Unionʼs Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 (grant number 606895) and the Icelandic Research Fund (grant number 152604051) are acknowledged for financial support. This study was also funded from the Bergthora and Thorsteinn Scheving Thorsteinsson Fund.Peer Reviewe

Chemical Mutagenesis and Fluorescence-Based High-Throughput Screening for Enhanced Accumulation of Carotenoids in a Model Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Diatoms are a major group of unicellular algae that are rich in lipids and carotenoids. However, sustained research efforts are needed to improve the strain performance for high product yields towards commercialization. In this study, we generated a number of mutants of the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a cosmopolitan species that has also been found in Nordic region, using the chemical mutagens ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG). We found that both chlorophyll a and neutral lipids had a significant correlation with carotenoid content and these correlations were better during exponential growth than in the stationary growth phase. Then, we studied P. tricornutum common metabolic pathways and analyzed correlated enzymatic reactions between fucoxanthin synthesis and pigmentation or lipid metabolism through a genome-scale metabolic model. The integration of the computational results with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry data revealed key compounds underlying the correlative metabolic pathways. Approximately 1000 strains were screened using fluorescence-based high-throughput method and five mutants selected had 33% or higher total carotenoids than the wild type, in which four strains remained stable in the long term and the top mutant exhibited an increase of 69.3% in fucoxanthin content compared to the wild type. The platform described in this study may be applied to the screening of other high performing diatom strains for industrial applications.This research was supported by the Icelandic Technology Development Fund with Grant No. 163922-0611, Landsvirkjun Energy Research Fund and NYUAD faculty research funds (AD060).Peer Reviewe

Protective Roles of Gadd45 and MDM2 in Blueberry Anthocyanins Mediated DNA Repair of Fragmented and Non-Fragmented DNA Damage in UV-Irradiated HepG2 Cells

Peer reviewe

Protective Roles of Gadd45 and MDM2 in Blueberry Anthocyanins Mediated DNA Repair of Fragmented and Non-Fragmented DNA Damage in UV-Irradiated HepG2 Cells

Peer reviewe