Search Results (11)

The genus Pistacia from the Anacardiaceae family contains species of wild flowering plants. The only species that produces edible nuts large enough for commercial sale is P. vera L. (pistachio). Other species, such as P. terebinthus L., P. atlantica L., and P. khinjuk, are used as pistachio rootstocks. Pistacia species include phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids, essential oils, and tannins, which are responsible for a number of pharmacological properties. The species most commonly investigated for their anticancer and/or cytotoxic activities against cancer cells in experimental studies include P. lentiscus, P. atlantica subspecies, and P. chinensis subsp. integerrima. However, no review exists that evaluates the phenolic compounds of three other Pistacia species (P. vera L., P. terebinthus L., and P. khinjuk) and their anticancer and cytotoxic effects. Thus, this review aims to thoroughly assess the phenolic compounds that were isolated from these species and investigate any potential anticancer or cytotoxic effects on cancer cells. The findings show that pistacia species and their isolated phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and essential oils) from different plant parts have anticancer activity against lung, cervical, prostate, gastric, colon, liver, renal, skin, and breast cancer cells. Additionally, certain phenolic compounds from pistacia species have cytotoxic activity; however, the degree of toxicity may vary based on the dosage and duration of use. Further experiments are required to fully understand the possible mechanisms underlying the anticancer and cytotoxic effects of pistacia species and their phenolic compounds on cancer cells. Full article

Pistacia terebinthus L., commonly known as the turpentine tree, is a wild-growing species with a well-documented history of use in traditional medicine and ethnobotany. Various parts of the plant—fruits, seeds, resin, leaves, and galls—have demonstrated significant bioactive potential, particularly antioxidant, antimicrobial, and functional properties. Despite these promising attributes, the industrial application of P. terebinthus L. in contemporary food and nutraceutical systems remains limited and underexplored. Recent advances have employed a range of technological strategies—including encapsulation, active food packaging, emulsion stabilization, probiotic immobilization, and fermentation—to improve the stability, bioavailability, and functional performance of P. terebinthus L.-derived extracts within food matrices. These approaches have shown potential in enhancing aroma retention, extending shelf life, and supporting probiotic viability, thereby positioning P. terebinthus L. as a promising candidate for use in functional formulations and natural food preservation. Nevertheless, further investigation is required to optimize processing parameters, assess the long-term stability of bioactive compounds, and establish standardized regulatory frameworks. Addressing these challenges will be essential for facilitating the broader integration of P. terebinthus L. into the functional food, nutraceutical, and food preservation industries. Full article

The present research aimed to incorporate terebinth seed protein into gluten-free cakes in order to increase their protein content and improve their technological properties. The terebinth protein replaced the rice flour–corn starch mixture used in control cakes at varying levels (3%, 6%, 9%, and 12%). The rheological properties of the cake batters were evaluated, along with the physicochemical attributes, textural properties, sensory attributes, and oxidative stability of the baked cakes. As the protein concentration increased, the consistency index of the cake batters also increased. All batters showed shear-thinning behavior, indicating pseudoplastic fluid behavior, and showed a viscoelastic nature reflected by the storage modulus (G′) exceeding the loss modulus (G″). Both G′ and G″ values increase with increasing protein content. The softest texture was observed in the control cake produced with wheat flour, followed by the cakes with 3% and 6% protein addition, while higher protein levels (9% and 12%) resulted in firmer cakes. Furthermore, oxidative stability improved with a higher level of protein. The addition of protein did not negatively affect sensory quality across all measured parameters. This study demonstrates the potential of terebinth protein to enhance the protein content and oxidative stability of gluten-free cakes that maintain their sensory attributes. Full article

In Spain, almost all pistachios are grown under water-stress conditions. Pistachio plants have sophisticated mechanisms to avoid or tolerate stress. It is known that the rootstock affects responses to water stress in the cultivar grafted onto it. The traditional belief is that Pistacia terebinthus L. is the rootstock best adapted to rainfed conditions. This study examined the effect of rootstock on stress traits, photosynthetic rate, transpiration, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll, polyphenol concentrations, and growth in plants of Pistacia vera L. cv. Kerman grafted onto P. terebinthus, P. atlantica, and UCB-1. These responses were classified into constituent traits and characteristics of the plant’s adaptation to water stress. The latter was induced by adding PEG 6000 to the nutrient solution. Plants grafted onto P. terebinthus showed more constituent traits, while plants grafted onto UCB-1 showed a greater number of drought-responsive traits. Plants grafted onto P. atlantica showed similar adaptative traits to those observed in UCB-1 but lower values of transpiration and net photosynthesis. Although it is likely that plants grafted onto P. terebinthus survive longer under extreme drought conditions, under moderate stress conditions, their yield is probably lower than that of plants grafted onto UCB-1 under the same moderate stress conditions. Full article

The primary aim of this investigation was to assess the impact of varying the ratio of gum arabic to maltodextrin and employing diverse encapsulation techniques on the properties of the powdered substance and the capacity to retain the aromatic attributes of terebinth fruit oil. Distinct ratios of gum arabic to maltodextrin (75:25, 50:50, and 25:75) were employed to fabricate oil-in-water emulsions. The utmost stability of the emulsion was realized at a gum arabic to maltodextrin ratio of 75:25, characterized by a minimal creaming index and an even and small-scale dispersion. The encapsulation techniques employed included spray drying (SD), spray freeze-drying (SFD), and freeze-drying (FD). These methodologies were compared based on encapsulation efficiency, desiccation yield, powder attributes, and the capacity to retain aroma. The encapsulation efficiencies were notably higher (>90%) in SD, particularly with the application of an ultrasonic nozzle and a two-fluidized nozzle (2FN), in contrast to those obtained through SFD and FD. Notably, SD employing an ultrasonic nozzle exhibited superior preservation of volatiles (73.19%) compared to FD (24.45%), SD-2FN (62.34%), and SFD (14.23%). Among the various components, α-pinene and linalool stood out with near-perfect retention rates, close to 100%. Full article

Allelopathy is a frequent interaction between species in Mediterranean ecosystems and it is also one of the proposed strategies to explain the colonisation of invasive species. To confirm the importance of allelopathic potential as a mechanism of invasion of non-native species in Mediterranean ecosystems, it would be advisable to compare the allelopathic effects of non-native plants with native plants on the same target species and thus avoid overestimating the role of phytotoxicity in the invasion process. The main objective of this work was to compare the allelopathic activity of native species typical of Mediterranean ecosystems, classified as allelopathic, with the allelopathic activity of non-native species that may have an invasive character in these ecosystems. To this end, we selected three native species (Cistus ladanifer, Pistacia lentiscus, and Pistacia terebithus) and three non-native species (Acacia dealbata, Acer negundo, and Salix babylonica), and we analysed their effect on the species Lactuca sativa and the native species Lavandula stoechas and Echium plantagineum. The tests on L. sativa showed that all species have allelopathic activity. The tests on L. stoechas and E. plantagineum revealed that P. terebinthus exerted the greatest effect, being the only species that maintained an inhibitory effect at extract concentrations of 50% and 25% in all the analysed parameters, except in germination and cotyledon emergence for E. plantagineum. There were no significant differences in the effect on germination between non-native and native species, although significant differences were found in the effect on root size in the three analysed concentrations, with the native species producing greater inhibition. In conclusion, these species exert a negative effect on the selected native target species, but the negative effect of the native species is greater than that of the non-native species. These results indicate that it is important to compare the allelopathic effects of invasive and native species to correctly estimate the phytotoxic effect of invasive species on their invasiveness Full article

Genetic diversity and relationships of 54 wild-grown terebinths (Pistacia terebinthus L.) were determined using 40 SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers (38 in silico polymorphic SSR markers and 2 SSR markers). In silico polymorphic SSR analysis, 430 alleles were identified. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 25 with a mean value of 11 alleles per locus. The values of polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.34 (CUPOhBa4344) to 0.91 (CUPSiBa4072) with a mean PIC value of 0.68. Genetic distances were estimated according to the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Average), the Structure, and Principal Coordinates (PCoA) based clustering. The structure analysis and UPGMA clustering of the genotypes depicted two major clusters. PCoA results supported cluster analysis results. The dendrogram revealed two major clusters. Forty-two samples were obtained from the Kazankaya canyon and 12 samples from the Karanlıkdere region. The two regions are 130 km apart from each other but in a dendrogram, we did not find geographical isolation. The results proved the efficiency of SSRs for genetic diversity analysis in the terebinth. Based on the results, SSRs can be applied as a trustworthy tool for the evaluation of genetic diversity in terebinth genotypes. Molecular analysis on the terebinth genotypes in this study will promote the germplasm collection and the selection of the populations in future studies on terebinths for genetic mapping, genetic diversity, germplasm characterization, and rootstock breeding. Full article

The quantification of climate–growth relationships is a fundamental step in tree-ring sciences. This allows the assessment of functional responses to climate warming, particularly in biodiversity and climate-change hotspots including the Mediterranean Basin. In this region, broadleaf tree and shrub species of pre-Mediterranean, subtropical origin, have to withstand increased aridification trends. However, they have not been widely studied to assess their long-term growth responses to climate and drought. Since these species evolved under less seasonal and wetter conditions than strictly Mediterranean species, we hypothesized that their growth would mainly respond to higher precipitation and water availability from spring to early summer. Here, we quantified climate–growth relationships in five of these broadleaf species showing different leaf phenology and wood type (Pistacia terebinthus L., Pistacia lentiscus L., Arbutus unedo L., Celtis australis L., and Laurus nobilis L.) by using dendrochronology. We calculated Pearson correlations between crossdated, indexed, mean ring width series of each species (chronologies) and monthly climate variables (mean temperature, total precipitation). We also calculated correlations between the species’ chronologies and a drought index on 7-day scales. Lastly, we compared the correlation analyses with “climwin” analyses based on an information-theoretic approach and subjected to cross-validation and randomization tests. As expected, the growth of all species was enhanced in response to wet and cool conditions during spring and early summer. In some species (P. lentiscus, A. unedo, C. australis,) high prior-winter precipitation also enhanced growth. Growth of most species strongly responded to 9-month droughts and the correlations peaked from May to July, except in L. nobilis which showed moderate responses. The “climwin” analyses refined the correlation analyses by (i) showing the higher explanatory power of precipitation (30%) vs. temperature (7%) models, (ii) selecting the most influential climate windows with June as the median month, and (iii) providing significant support to the precipitation model in the case of P. terebinthus confirming that the radial growth of this species is a robust proxy of hydroclimate variability. We argue that “climwin” and similar frameworks based on information-theoretic approaches should be applied by dendroecologists to critically assess and quantify climate–growth relationships in woody plants with dendrochronological potential. Full article

A natural resin retrieved from Pistacia terebinthus tree was evaluated as an immobilization carrier of Saccharomyces cerevisiae AXAZ-1 cells targeting successive fermentation batches of sugar synthetic mediums. Fermentation times below 54 h were recorded at temperatures 28–14 °C. In total, 147 compounds were detected using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, including alcohols, esters, ketones, aldehydes, acids, and terpenes. Principal component analysis indicated that the state of cells (free/immobilized) and the fermentation temperature primarily affected terpenes’ composition. Importantly, no spoilage of the fermented beverages was noted during 90 days of storage at room temperature, most likely due to the high content of extracted terpenoids and phenols (up to 579.01 mg L⁻¹ and 171.8 mg gallic acid equivalent L⁻¹, respectively). Likewise, the developed novel biocatalyst (yeast cells immobilized within Pistacia terebinthus resin) was suitable for the production of low alcohol beverages with an enhanced aromatic profile. The obtained results revealed that the proposed bioprocess shows great commercialization potential in the new fast-growing low-alcohol beverages sector. Full article

Principal component analysis (PCA) multivariate analysis was applied to study the cytotoxic activity of essential oils from various species of the Pistacia genus on human tumor cell lines. In particular, the cytotoxic activity of essential oils obtained from P. lentiscus, P. lentiscus var. chia (mastic gum), P. terebinthus, P. vera, and P. integerrima, was screened on three human adenocarcinoma cell lines: MCF-7 (breast), 2008 (ovarian), and LoVo (colon). The results indicate that all the Pistacia phytocomplexes, with the exception of mastic gum oil, induce cytotoxic effects on one or more of the three cell lines. PCA highlighted the presence of different cooperating clusters of bioactive molecules. Cluster variability among species, and even within the same species, could explain some of the differences seen among samples suggesting the presence of both common and species-specific mechanisms. Single molecules from one of the most significant clusters were tested, but only bornyl-acetate presented cytotoxic activity, although at much higher concentrations (IC₅₀ = 138.5 µg/mL) than those present in the essential oils, indicating that understanding of the full biological effect requires a holistic vision of the phytocomplexes with all its constituents. Full article

α-Tocopherol is the most effective lipid soluble natural antioxidant and free-radical scavenger. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of the extracts of Pistacia lentiscus, P. lentiscus var. chia and P. terebinthus leaves as additives on in vitro release of α-tocopherol. The α-tocopherol content of Pistacia extracts were determined and the release was investigated from w/o/w multiple emulsion, w/o and o/w simple emulsions through cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate membranes by using HPLC-UV method. As significant increase in the extent of α-tocopherol release was observed with the addition of Pistacia extracts in all emulsions. They could be suggested as suitable additives in α-tocopherol containing formulations. Full article