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Health-Promoting Effects of Medicinal and Edible Plants and Their Molecular Mechanism

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 1188

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Baojun Xu

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Guest Editor

Food Science and Technology Program, Department of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, Zhuhai 519087, China
Interests: food science; phytochemicals; nutraceuticals; pharmaceuticals; functional foods; molecular nutrition; cell biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Matteo Bordiga

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, Largo Donegani 2, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: food chemistry; gas chromatography; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; polyphenols; volatile compounds; wine chemistry; extraction; fermentation; prebiotic compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many plants are medicinal food homologs that are widely distributed worldwide and have been widely consumed. Medicinal and edible plants are rich in primary metabolites such as protein, dietary fiber, and carbohydrates and contain various secondary metabolites, including polyphenols, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, etc. The phytochemicals of medicinal and edible plants have been reported to have a wide range of health-promoting effects, including anti-cancer, anti-obesity, anti-Alzheimer's disease, and more. However, previous studies have not fully identified specific bioactive compounds contributing to health-promoting effects or their underlying molecular mechanisms. In this situation, a Special Issue collecting the latest developments and focusing on medicinal and edible plants' health-promoting effects and their molecular mechanisms will be very attractive to readers.

This Special Issue will provide new insights into medicinal and edible plants' health-promoting effects and molecular mechanisms. We encourage authors to submit original articles based on in vitro, in vivo, clinical trials, and reviews related to this attractive topic.

Prof. Dr. Baojun Xu
Dr. Matteo Bordiga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

medicinal plants
edible plants
health-promoting effect
molecular mechanism
phytochemicals
diseases
curing targets
signaling pathway

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 10425 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Uncovering Key Genes Associated with the Short-Winged Trait in Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Through Re-Sequencing and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWASs)

by Haitian Yu, Chaoqin Hu, Xin Yang, Qiong Li, Yubao Wang, Zhengming Dai, Jie Cun, Aiqing Zheng, Yanhua Jiang, Qinfang Wang, Meiyuan Lv, Feng Yang and Yuhua He

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(6), 2733; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26062733 - 18 Mar 2025

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Abstract

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a globally significant legume valued for its applications in food, vegetables, and green manure, yet its high outcrossing rate (30–80%) poses challenges for production development. A rare short-winged trait identified in Yunnan, China, offers promise for developing low-outcrossing varieties, reducing outcrossing rates to below 5%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses revealed that the epidermal cells of normal wing petals are conical, while those of short-wing petals are tubular. This study examined 200 F₂ lines from crosses between ‘K0692’ (short-winged) and ‘Yundou 1183’, as well as ‘Yundoulvxin 1’ (short-winged) and ‘Yundou 1183’. The GWASs identified 10 SNP loci across chromosomes 2, 3, 4, and 5, with SNP_chr4::1013887633 explaining 22.20% of the wing trait variation. Key candidate genes were identified, such as VFH_III145120, which influences floral identity; and VFH_III149200, associated with epidermal differentiation. GO enrichment analysis demonstrated significant gene involvement in RNA localization, ribosome biogenesis, and preribosome metabolism, while KEGG analysis linked these genes to pathways in amino acid, nucleotide, and purine metabolism; ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis; and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. These findings lay a foundation for breeding low-outcrossing faba bean varieties and enhancing sustainable faba bean cultivation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health-Promoting Effects of Medicinal and Edible Plants and Their Molecular Mechanism)

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