Life | Special Issue : Health Benefits of Microbial or Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Their Secondary Metabolites

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Health Benefits of Microbial or Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Their Secondary Metabolites

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A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 3690

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Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Healthy and meaningful eating habits are fundamental to maintaining fitness and immunity, and are a relevant topic in fields such as food, medicinal food, nutrition, natural medicine, nutraceuticals, herbs, prebiotics, and probiotics for higher-class organisms. Nevertheless, it remains relatively complicated to maintain these habits in daily life. From the beginning of life, the consumption of food facilitates the development of immunity. The old Chinese saying “bìng cóng koǔ rù, huàn cóng kǒu chū" (a life perspective) means that the occurrence of diseases depends on what you eat, and they can occur due to excessive consumption. Hence, the evolution of animals with a “jaw” who can open their mouths to eat “more and diverse” foods can be explained by the reliance of higher-class organisms on acquired immunity, in order to prepare ahead and to memorize and develop tolerances to certain foods in nature. There are fundamental differences in the nutrient uptake of higher-class organisms (such as humans) compared to primitive lifeforms such as microbes in terms of “consuming” or “eating” food in pursuit of health. Food consumption overall has slowed down with the development of ligand–receptor/structure–function relationships, as well as neuronal and physical innervations, through evolution in the face of resource competition. Therefore, "eating" has replaced "consuming" in higher classes of living things in the diverse natural world. Learning and teaching what to eat has become instinctive and embedded in culture and tradition across generations (from parents to their offspring). The acquisition of necessary nutrients through eating choices satisfies people’s overall physiological needs, thus enabling them to maintain health and sound immunity, habitually coming back to the circle of life.

In this Special Issue of Life, we welcome articles and reviews conveying ideas, hypotheses, findings, new discoveries, knowledge and wisdom on maintaining a healthy life, a healthy body and a healthy environment. Specifically, we will focus on intra- and inter-species connections, relationships with natural chemical compounds, secondary metabolites in microbiology, toxicology, immunology, nutritional sciences, health sciences, and clinical implications.

Dr. Brian Bor-Chun Weng
Dr. Chia-Wen Hsieh
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

medicinal food
functional food/health food
nutraceuticals
bioactive secondary metabolites from plant and microbe
nutritional immunology
immunotoxicology
one health - sustainable and agricultural waste recycles feed/food
probiotics for animal health

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3609 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Progressive Vertical and Horizontal Phytocompound Changes during Agarwood Formation in Aquilaria sinensis after Geotrichum candidum Injection

by Lih-Geeng Chen, Amalia Dyah Arumsari and Chishih Chu

Life 2023, 13(11), 2147; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13112147 - 31 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 696

Abstract

(1) Background: Agarwood is an aromatic resin produced by the host tree through an immunological response against biotic and abiotic stress. The aim was, first, to use the fungus Geotrichum candidum to stimulate compound changes in Aquilaria sinensis horizontally (color formation) and vertically (cutting layers) after injection with it. (2) Methods: Horizontal and vertical sections were collected and separated five months after injection with the fungal broth. Two grams of dry powder was mixed with 20 mL methanol for 3 h at room temperature, and the solution was vibrated in an ultrasonic cleaner bath at 40 °C for 1 h. After vacuum drying, a concentration of 10 mg/mL of the tested samples in methanol was prepared for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis. (3) Results: The horizontal changes in the compounds and their concentrations were associated with color. Compared to the normal (N) group, G. candidum injection stimulated more compounds at RT 27–42 in the white (W) group, brown (BR) group, and black (B) group. Furthermore, a significant increase in fatty acids was observed in the W group, implying an early plant response after G. candidum injection. In the BR group, the compounds were more similar to commercial agarwood (Out group). In the B group, alkaloids were the main compounds. Vertical changes in the main compounds were not observed, although the compound level varied. A TLC analysis determined the main compounds in the BR group at 254 nm and in the B group at 365 nm. Higher fatty acid levels were found in L6 and L5 and were correlated with higher terpenoid and sesquiterpene levels, suggesting that these compounds were possibly the first stage of agarwood formation. A GC/MS analysis demonstrated that the main compound groups were almost identical to the BR parts. (4) Conclusions: The injection of G. candidum led A. sinensis to synthesize different phytochemicals horizontally, not vertically, in the BR group. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Microbial or Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Their Secondary Metabolites)

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Review

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19 pages, 1049 KiB

Open AccessReview

Fermented Vegetables and Legumes vs. Lifestyle Diseases: Microbiota and More

by Eliza Knez, Kornelia Kadac-Czapska and Małgorzata Grembecka

Life 2023, 13(4), 1044; https://doi.org/10.3390/life13041044 - 19 Apr 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2600

Abstract

Silages may be preventive against lifestyle diseases, including obesity, diabetes mellitus, or metabolic syndrome. Fermented vegetables and legumes are characterized by pleiotropic health effects, such as probiotic or antioxidant potential. That is mainly due to the fermentation process. Despite the low viability of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract, their probiotic potential was confirmed. The modification of microbiota diversity caused by these food products has numerous implications. Most of them are connected to changes in the production of metabolites by bacteria, such as butyrate. Moreover, intake of fermented vegetables and legumes influences epigenetic changes, which lead to inhibition of lipogenesis and decreased appetite. Lifestyle diseases’ feature is increased inflammation; thus, foods with high antioxidant potential are recommended. Silages are characterized by having a higher bioavailable antioxidants content than fresh samples. That is due to fermentative microorganisms that produce the enzyme β-glucosidase, which releases these compounds from conjugated bonds with antinutrients. However, fermented vegetables and legumes are rich in salt or salt substitutes, such as potassium chloride. However, until today, silages intake has not been connected to the prevalence of hypertension or kidney failure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Microbial or Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds and Their Secondary Metabolites)

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