Search Results (6)

Red yeast rice is a nutraceutical fermented product used worldwide for the symptomatic relief of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease. However, the fermentation-induced lipid transformation from rice to red yeast rice remains unclear. Herein, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry method was developed for the comprehensive lipid analysis during fermentation. A total of 246 lipids fall in 21 subclasses were annotated in rice and red yeast rice, including 37 lysophospholipids, 14 phospholipids, 29 diglycerides, 114 triglycerides and fatty acid (15 species), ceramide (12 species), hexosylceramide (3 species), sitosterol ester (2 species), monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (2 species), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (2 species), monogalactosylmonoacylglycerol (8 species), digalactosylmonoacylglycerol (5 species), coenzyme Q (1 species), acyl hexosyl campesterol ester (1 species), and acylcarnitine (1 species). Results showed that lipid profiles changed, and new lipid species emerged. Notably, 18 medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols and triacylglycerols with short-chains were tentatively identified. These triacylglycerols also show the effects of body fat accumulation reduction, and hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic activities. Furthermore, lipid species that were profoundly changed were quantified, and the dynamic changes were investigated. This study clarified the molecular species and compositional changes in fermented rice from lipid aspect. Full article

With rapid growth and high lipid contents, microalgae have become promising environmentally friendly candidates for renewable biodiesel and health supplements in our era of global warming and energy depletion. Various pathways have been explored to enhance algal lipid production, especially gene editing. Previously, we found that the functional loss of PhoD-type alkaline phosphatase (AP), a phosphorus-stress indicator in phytoplankton, could lead to increased lipid contents in the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, but how the AP mutation may change lipid composition remains unexplored. This study addresses the gap in the research and investigates the effects of PhoD-type AP mutation on the lipid composition and metabolic regulation in P. tricornutum using transcriptomic and lipidomic analyses. We observed significantly modified lipid composition and elevated production of fatty acids, lysophosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylethanolamine, ceramide, phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate, and monogalactosylmonoacylglycerol after PhoD_45757 mutation. Meanwhile, genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis were upregulated in mutant cells. Moreover, the mutant exhibited increased contents of ω-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA)-bound phospholipids, indicating that PhoD_45757 mutation could improve the potential bioavailability of PUFAs. Our findings indicate that AP mutation could influence cellular lipid synthesis and probably redirect carbon toward lipid production and further demonstrate that AP mutation is a promising approach for the development of high-value microalgal strains for biomedical and other applications. Full article

Breast cancer (BC) remains the leading cause of mortality in women, despite significant advancements in diagnosis. Thus, the identification of new compounds for its treatment is critical. Phytochemicals are known to exhibit anti-cancer properties. Here, we investigated the anti-proliferation potential of extracts from carrot, Calendula officinalis flower, and Aloe vera on breast cancer vs. epithelial cell lines. Various extraction methods were used, and the proliferative effect of the resulting extracts was assessed by proliferation assay on breast cancer and epithelial cell lines. Carrot, Aloe leaf, and Calendula flower extracts were extracted by hexane and methanol methods, and their semi-purified extracts were able to specifically inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cell lines. The extract composition was investigated by colorimetric assays, UHPLC-HRMS, and MS/MS analysis. All the extracts contained monogalactosyl-monoacylglycerol (MGMG), while digalactosyl-monoacylglycerol (DGMG) and aloe-emodin were found in Aloe, and glycerophosphocholine (GPC) derivatives were identified in Calendula, except for the isomer 2 detected in carrot, suggesting that their observed different anti-proliferative properties may be associated with the different lipid compounds. Interestingly, Calendula extract was able to strongly inhibit the triple negative breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line proliferation (about 20% cell survival), supporting MGMG and GPC derivatives as potential drugs for this BC subtype treatment. Full article

Lipids are one of the primary metabolites of microalgae and cyanobacteria, which enrich their utility in the pharmaceutical, feed, cosmetic, and chemistry sectors. This work describes the isolation, structural elucidation, and the antibiotic and antibiofilm activities of diverse lipids produced by different microalgae and cyanobacteria strains from two European collections (ACOI and LEGE-CC). Three microalgae strains and one cyanobacteria strain were selected for their antibacterial and/or antibiofilm activity after the screening of about 600 strains carried out under the NoMorFilm European project. The total organic extracts were firstly fractionated using solid phase extraction methods, and the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimal biofilm inhibitory concentration against an array of human pathogens were determined. The isolation was carried out by bioassay-guided HPLC-DAD purification, and the structure of the isolated molecules responsible for the observed activities was determined by HPLC-HRESIMS and NMR methods. Sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, monogalactosylmonoacylglycerol, sulfoquinovosylmonoacylglycerol, α-linolenic acid, hexadeca-4,7,10,13-tetraenoic acid (HDTA), palmitoleic acid, and lysophosphatidylcholine were found among the different active sub-fractions selected. In conclusion, cyanobacteria and microalgae produce a great variety of lipids with antibiotic and antibiofilm activity against the most important pathogens causing severe infections in humans. The use of these lipids in clinical treatments alone or in combination with antibiotics may provide an alternative to the current treatments. Full article

In response to elevated temperatures, plants alter the activities of enzymes that affect lipid composition. While it has long been known that plant leaf membrane lipids become less unsaturated in response to heat, other changes, including polygalactosylation of galactolipids, head group acylation of galactolipids, increases in phosphatidic acid and triacylglycerols, and formation of sterol glucosides and acyl sterol glucosides, have been observed more recently. In this work, by measuring lipid levels with mass spectrometry, we confirm the previously observed changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf lipids under three heat stress regimens. Additionally, in response to heat, increased oxidation of the fatty acyl chains of leaf galactolipids, sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerols, and phosphatidylglycerols, and incorporation of oxidized acyl chains into acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols are shown. We also observed increased levels of digalactosylmonoacylglycerols and monogalactosylmonoacylglycerols. The hypothesis that a defect in sterol glycosylation would adversely affect regrowth of plants after a severe heat stress regimen was tested, but differences between wild-type and sterol glycosylation-defective plants were not detected. Full article

A new monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), a known monogalactosylmonoacylglycerol (MGMG) and a known polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl ester (PUFAME) were isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi. The planar structure of the glycolipids was elucidated using mass spectroscopy (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses and comparisons to the known glycolipid to confirm its structure. The MGDG was characterized as 3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-1-O-3,6,9,12,15-octadecapentaenoyl-2-O-tetradecanoylglycerol 1. The MGMG and PUFAME were characterized as (2S)-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-1-O-3,6,9,12,15-octadecapentaenoylglycerol 2 and Methyl (3Z,6Z,9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-3,6,9,12,15-pentaenoate 3, respectively. The isolation of the PUFAME strongly supports the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) fragment of these glycolipids. The relative configuration of the sugar was deduced by comparisons of ³J_HH values and proton chemical shifts with those of known glycolipids. All isolated compounds MGDG, MGMG and PUFAME 1-3 were evaluated for their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity. All compounds modulated macrophage responses, with compound 3 exhibiting the greatest anti-inflammatory activity. Full article