Plant-Derived Natural Products: Omics Analysis and Functional Properties

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 611

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Center of Innovation in Mass Spectrometry, Laboratory of Protein Biochemistry, Federal University of State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro 22290-250, Brazil
Interests: proteomics and metabolomics; bioactive compounds; proteins; food biochemistry; cereal crops; mass spectrometry; biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center of Innovation in Mass Spectrometry, Laboratory of Protein Biochemistry, Federal University of State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro 22290-250, Brazil
Interests: plant metabolomics and foodomics; bioactive compounds; protein digestibility and in vitro digestion; cereal crops; mass spectrometry; chemometrics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant-derived natural products represent a vast reservoir of chemical diversity, playing central roles in plant development, defense, and adaptation. Many of these compounds, including polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenes, and alkaloids, are also valued for their nutritional, functional, and therapeutic properties, making them essential targets in food science, biotechnology, and health research.

The rapid progress of omics sciences, such as metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and integrated foodomics, has greatly expanded our capacity to explore the biosynthesis, regulation, and biological activity of these natural products. These approaches provide innovative strategies to identify key metabolites, elucidate molecular interactions, assess bioaccessibility and bioavailability, and connect chemical profiles with functional properties.

This Special Issue on Plant-Derived Natural Products: Omics Analysis and Functional Properties invites original research and review articles that apply omics technologies to investigate the chemistry and functions of plant metabolites. Topics may include biosynthetic pathways, functional evaluation, innovative analytical methods, mass spectrometry applications, chemometric strategies, and the valorization of crops and plant-based by-products.

Submitted manuscripts must not have been published previously or be under consideration elsewhere. We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Mariana Simões Larraz Ferreira
Dr. Carolina Thomaz Dos Santos D’almeida
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. 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

  • plant-derived metabolites
  • crop by-products
  • biosynthetic pathways
  • functional properties
  • bioactive compounds
  • mass spectrometry and chemometrics
  • bioaccessibility and bioavailability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 1891 KB  
Article
Phytochemical Profile and In Vivo Assessment of Toxicity and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Cenostigma pluviosum var. peltophoroides (Benth.) Gagnon & G.P. Lewis
by Natanael Teles Ramos de Lima, Gabriela Ribeiro de Sousa, Gustavo Gomes da Silva, Geovana Ferreira Guedes Silvestre, Alan Ferreira Alves, Ivana Maria Fechine, Maria de Fatima Agra, Alisson Macário de Oliveira, Josean Fechine Tavares, Marcelo Sobral da Silva and José Maria Barbosa Filho
Plants 2026, 15(10), 1508; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15101508 - 15 May 2026
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Abstract
Cenostigma pluviosum var. peltophoroides, known as “sibipiruna,” is a plant rich in polyphenols used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. The study aimed to investigate the chemical composition of the crude ethanolic extract of the stem bark (CEECP), evaluating its in vivo [...] Read more.
Cenostigma pluviosum var. peltophoroides, known as “sibipiruna,” is a plant rich in polyphenols used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. The study aimed to investigate the chemical composition of the crude ethanolic extract of the stem bark (CEECP), evaluating its in vivo toxicity, genotoxicity, mutagenicity and anti-inflammatory activity. The plant material was macerated in 95% ethanol for 72 h, and the solvent was removed by rotary evaporation to obtain CEECP. Chemical characterization was performed by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS in negative mode. In vivo approaches were performed using male/female Swiss albino mice. Acute toxicity was assessed at a single high dose of 2000 mg/kg. Mutagenicity was investigated by the micronucleus test and genotoxicity by the comet assay, both at a dose of 2000 mg/kg. Anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in carrageenan-induced paw edema and peritonitis models, at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg. HPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis showed the presence of hydrolyzable tannins, phenolic acid heterosides, and biflavonoids. The safety profile of the CEECP was demonstrated for the first time, with no evidence of acute toxicity, mortality, mutagenicity, or genotoxicity at the tested doses. The extract significantly reduced paw edema in a dose-dependent manner at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg, with inhibition rates of 65.78% and 73.12%, respectively, and also decreased leukocyte migration in the peritonitis model by 61.81% and 72.79% at the same doses. These findings indicate the CEECP as a source of pharmacologically relevant phytocompounds and, most notably, demonstrate its pronounced anti-inflammatory activity. Furthermore, the extract exhibited a favorable safety profile in the toxicological evaluations, highlighting the extract as a promising anti-inflammatory agent. Full article
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