Advances in Phytochemical Profiling and Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal and Edible Plants and Their Cell and Tissue Cultures

A Special Issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747) belonging to the section "Plant Cell Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2026) | Viewed by 1111

Editors


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Department of Analytical Chemistry and Physical Chemistry, University of Food Technologies, 26 Maritza Blvd., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2. Laboratory of Cell Biosystems, Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 139 Ruski Blvd., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Interests: plant cell and tissue cultures; bioative plant secondary metabolites; bioprocess engineering of plant in vitro systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Cell Biosystems, Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 139 Ruski Blvd., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Interests: plant tissue culture; functional genomics; gene expression; phytochemicals; anti-aging; nutraceuticals; cosmeceuticals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Higher plants and their in vitro cultures are valuable sources of a diverse range of metabolites, many of which are used as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors, colors, biopesticides, food additives, and food supplements. At present, there is a huge interest in obtaining biologically active compounds from plant sources, which is matched by the remarkable progress being made in combinatorial chemistry and different biological disciplines (genetic engineering, synthetic biology, etc.). Contributing to this attention are the low and even absent toxicity, biodegradability, and renewable sources of formulations based on natural products. The great interest in biologically active substances of plant origin suggests the potential for the discovery of new structures with improved biological activity, which, in most cases, exist in plants and their in vitro cultures in low concentrations. This suggests the need for intensive research in the field of the phytochemical profiling of plants and their in vitro cultures, the structural analysis of newly discovered structures, and the definition of their biological activities.

This Special Issue of Plants will highlight the medicinal and edible plants, and their in vitro cultures, that are sources of bioactive compounds and focus on the phytochemical profiling and bioactivity elucidation of plant secondary metabolities.

Prof. Dr. Atanas Pavlov
Dr. Vasil Georgiev
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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 and edible plants
  • plant cell and tissue cultures
  • plant secondary metabolites
  • phytochemical profiling and metabolomics
  • bioactivity

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 1099 KB  
Article
Immersion Frequency Optimisation and Species-Specific Metabolic Profiles of Colchicum autumnale and Colchicum bivonae in Temporary Immersion Systems
by Ivayla Dincheva, Ilian Badjakov, Vasil Georgiev, Radka Vrancheva, Ivan Ivanov, Liliya Georgieva and Atanas Pavlov
Plants 2026, 15(11), 1710; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15111710 - 31 May 2026
Viewed by 590
Abstract
Temporary immersion systems (TISs) are an advanced biotechnological platform for the large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants and the consistent production of high-value secondary metabolites. In this study, we evaluated three immersion regimes with stand-by periods of 4, 8, or 12 h, each paired [...] Read more.
Temporary immersion systems (TISs) are an advanced biotechnological platform for the large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants and the consistent production of high-value secondary metabolites. In this study, we evaluated three immersion regimes with stand-by periods of 4, 8, or 12 h, each paired with a 15-minute immersion period, to optimise shoot growth and colchicine accumulation in Colchicum autumnale L. and Colchicum bivonae Guss. The 4 h stand-by/15 min immersion regime yielded the highest growth index (C. autumnale: 0.75 ± 0.08; C. bivonae: 1.25 ± 0.03) and maximum colchicine content (C. autumnale: 0.19 ± 0.01 mg/g dry biomass; C. bivonae: 0.25 ± 0.02 mg/g dry biomass). Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), detailed metabolic profiling of cultures grown under this optimised regime was performed, resulting in the identification of 46 metabolites, including amino acids, organic acids, sugars, sugar alcohols, phenolic, and fatty acids. Volcano plot analysis revealed 11 upregulated and 5 downregulated metabolites in C. autumnale relative to C. bivonae. Significance analysis of metabolomics (SAM) identified 34 metabolites with statistically significant differences between two species. Hierarchical clustering and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) confirmed clear species separation, with Component 1 explaining 68.8% of the total metabolic variance. Glucose-6-phosphate (VIP = 2.01), citric acid (VIP = 1.85), asparagine (VIP = 1.67), and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA; VIP = 1.52) were the primary biomarkers differentiating the species. These findings confirm that TISs provide an optimised environment for biomass accumulation and stable alkaloid biosynthesis in the Colchicum genus, with C. bivonae emerging as a promising candidate for biotechnological exploitation. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop