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Bioactive Compounds from Fruits and Vegetables

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2026 | Viewed by 525

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor

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Guest Editor
Department of Fruit and Vegetable Product Technology, Prof. Wacław Dąbrowski Institute of Agricultural and Food Biotechnology, Rakowiecka 36, 02-532 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: fruits; vegetables; emerging techniques; food processing and preservation; bioaccessibility and bioavailability; high-pressure processing; high-pressure homogenization; high-pressure carbon dioxide; ultrasounds; microwaves; food chemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit and veggie products are rich reservoirs of bioactive compounds, which have widely recognized benefits to human health. Consumers are increasingly convinced of their efficacy, and there is a renewed interest in food supplements and formulations based on mixtures of natural compounds as alternatives to synthetic and/or artificial compounds for their use in the chemical, phytochemical, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This Special Issue of Molecules is dedicated to original research and review articles that cover the latest findings about the quali-quantitative profiling of bioactive compounds in fruit and vegetable products, also covering their biological mechanisms of action, their in vitro and in vivo bioavailability and antioxidant efficacy, their actual and future biotechnological applications, and new green extraction and purification techniques. Studies aimed at in vitro and in vivo toxicological studies jointly associated with the chemical and biological characterizations of natural compounds are also welcome, in order to highlight advantages, drawbacks and opportunities of their use in diverse, feasible fields of application.

Dr. Simona Fabroni
Dr. Krystian Marszałek
Dr. Aldo Todaro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • fruit and veggie products
  • bioactive compounds
  • food supplements and formulations
  • natural compounds
  • in vitro and in vivo bioavailability
  • antioxidant efficacy
  • green extraction and purification

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 4567 KB  
Article
Comparative Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analyses Identify Candidate Genes Associated with Flavonoid Accumulation and Phenylpropanoid Metabolism in Large-Fruited Hawthorn (Malus doumeri (Bois) Chev.)
by Xiao-Hua Dai, Xiang-Ying Wei, Lu-Xia Ran, Jing Chen, Feng-Jin Zheng, Usman Rasheed and Gan-Lin Chen
Molecules 2026, 31(11), 1857; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31111857 - 28 May 2026
Viewed by 201
Abstract
Large-fruited hawthorn (Malus doumeri (Bois) Chev.) is valued for its health-promoting properties, largely attributed to its rich flavonoid content. However, little is known about the specific composition of flavonoids and the molecular mechanisms regulating their biosynthesis. The present study employed non-targeted metabolomic [...] Read more.
Large-fruited hawthorn (Malus doumeri (Bois) Chev.) is valued for its health-promoting properties, largely attributed to its rich flavonoid content. However, little is known about the specific composition of flavonoids and the molecular mechanisms regulating their biosynthesis. The present study employed non-targeted metabolomic and transcriptomic approaches to investigate two M. doumeri germplasms (G8 and G9) that exhibited significantly different total flavonoid contents. The results indicated that the major and differential metabolites primarily include flavonoids and isoflavonoids. Differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in phenylpropanoid and flavone and flavonol biosynthesis pathways. Integrated analysis identified several structural genes and transcription factors, including HCT (LOC114821133, LOC103403337, LOC103454980), WRKY (LOC103427630), and bHLH (LOC103422512), that were significantly upregulated in the high-flavonoid genotype (G9). qRT-PCR validation confirmed the RNA-Seq expression patterns, suggesting the potential involvement of these genes in the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid-related metabolites, such as [6]-gingerol. Applied experiments further demonstrated that freeze-drying preserved high metabolite contents and antioxidant activity. Collectively, these findings provide insights into the compositional characteristics of the major flavonoids in M. doumeri and the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid-derived metabolites. This study provides data support for future mechanistic validation and evaluation of processing technology applicability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactive Compounds from Fruits and Vegetables)
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