Search Results (7,436)

Domestication may modify phenotypic plasticity by shifting plants from heterogeneous natural habitats to more uniform agricultural environments, potentially reducing environmental responsiveness. However, whether domestication consistently alters plasticity across traits, populations, and varieties remains unresolved. Here, we evaluated phenotypic plasticity to light availability in a crop–wild system of Capsicum annuum by comparing three wild populations and three domesticated accessions grown under full, moderate, and low light conditions (~1000, 565, and 160 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹, respectively). We quantified vegetative, physiological, and reproductive traits and assessed plasticity using hierarchical models, reaction norm slopes, and multivariate ordination. Light availability strongly influenced plant phenotype, but the effects of domestication were weak and not uniform across varieties and traits. Vegetative traits including leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf number, and leaf mass showed pronounced responses to light availability, whereas flowering-related traits were less consistently responsive. Low light induced the clearest multivariate phenotypic shift, characterized by larger and thinner leaves. However, these vegetative adjustments did not maintain reproductive performance. Fruit production remained relatively stable under medium light but declined sharply under severe shade. Together, our results show that domestication does not lead to a uniform reduction in phenotypic plasticity. Instead, plasticity in chili depends on the trait and on the population or variety evaluated and is expressed more strongly in vegetative than in reproductive components. These findings indicate that the biological consequences of plastic responses should be evaluated in relation to reproductive performance, not only vegetative adjustment. Full article

Plant-based foods have emerged as an important choice for many consumers. Although foods formulated from plant-derived raw materials and ingredients can contribute to more sustainable food systems, their broader consumer acceptance continues to be constrained by suboptimal flavour quality compared with products prepared using animal-derived ingredients. While considerable research has focused on improving the texture, nutritional value, and processing of plant-based foods, recreating the savoury depth characteristic of animal-derived foods remains a persistent challenge. Edible mushroom by-products have attracted increasing attention as sustainable sources of flavour-enhancing compounds; however, their functionality cannot be explained solely by the presence of glutamate or other individual constituents. Rather, their sensory effects arise from coordinated interactions among umami-active molecules, receptor-mediated taste mechanisms, food matrix properties, and human perception. This review examines the potential of edible mushroom by-products as natural flavour-enhancing ingredients for plant-based foods. It also reviews evidence on flavour-active composition, the molecular basis of umami perception, glutamate–5′-nucleotide synergism, formulation strategies, sensory evaluation, consumer acceptance, and industrial translation. Full article

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global health challenge, with insulin resistance (IR) and islet dysfunction as its core pathophysiology. Current glucose-lowering agents, including insulin secretagogues, insulin sensitizers, DPP–IV inhibitors, SGLT-2 inhibitors, and GLP-1 receptor agonists, effectively control blood glucose and may partly improve β-cell function indirectly, but they do not directly target the functional defects of pancreatic β cells. Developing drugs that precisely modulate islet function is therefore a key direction. Natural products, with their structural diversity, established glucose-lowering activity, and derivation from medicinal plants with long clinical use, have become an important source of lead compounds for drugs targeting these mechanisms. The main pathways through which natural products act include: (1) promoting insulin secretion through direct and indirect secretagogue mechanisms (modulating ion channels, metabolic enzymes, incretin signaling); (2) preserving β-cell function and mass by maintaining the differentiated phenotype, promoting regeneration, alleviating oxidative stress, inhibiting apoptosis and pyroptosis, attenuating inflammation, and suppressing hIAPP toxic aggregation and endoplasmic reticulum stress; and (3) other pathways with incompletely elucidated mechanisms that also contribute to islet protection. This article delineates these molecular mechanisms and highlights the limited ability of current agents to directly restore and protect β-cell function. It provides a theoretical basis for developing novel drugs that integrate glycemic control with islet restoration based on natural lead compounds, and offers a framework for further mechanistic studies. In addition, it encourages the exploration of unidentified active constituents and unique pathways, while also addressing challenges such as target identification and structure–activity relationships. Full article

Ageing is driven by chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and stem cell exhaustion, posing a major global health challenge. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation is being investigated as a potential biotechnology to enhance the bioavailability and functionality of natural products, especially polyphenols and bioactive phytochemicals with anti-ageing potential. This review synthesizes recent advances in LAB-fermented natural products and their roles in modulating longevity pathways and stem cell regeneration. LAB fermentation can alter complex plant matrices by releasing or biotransforming substrate-bound phytochemicals and by generating metabolites such as organic acids, peptides, and, in some systems, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), cyclic dipeptides (CDPs), or bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs); the contribution of each component requires case-specific verification. In cellular and animal models, candidate mechanisms include modulation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and AMP-activated protein kinase–sirtuin 1 (AMPK–SIRT1) signaling, although causal active components are often unresolved. Some LAB-fermented preparations or LAB-derived components have been associated with stem-cell-related outcomes in skin, bone, and neural cell or animal models. CDPs and BEVs are candidate fermentation-associated mediators, but evidence for their independent effects on human ageing remains preliminary. Collectively, LAB-fermented natural products are a promising research area for functional foods and nutraceuticals, but their efficacy and safety for ageing-related outcomes require clinical validation. Future research should focus on standardizing fermentation conditions, identifying active metabolites, and validating their clinical efficacy in human studies. Full article

Natural oils and fats are multicomponent lipid matrices composed predominantly of triacylglycerols with source-specific fatty-acid profiles, together with variable amounts of phospholipids and minor lipophilic constituents. This narrative review discusses the nutritional, biological, and pharmaceutical relevance of oils from plant, terrestrial animal, and marine sources in ocular health and disease. Whole natural oils and fats are distinguished from isolated oil-associated constituents, multi-ingredient formulations, pharmaceutical oil phases or excipients, and engineered lipid-delivery systems. The discussion focuses on fatty acids, phospholipids, carotenoids, tocopherols, phytosterols, phenolic compounds, and other lipophilic constituents in relation to tear-film stability, epithelial homeostasis, inflammatory regulation, retinal function, and ophthalmic delivery. The available literature encompasses human studies, experimental models, cell-based research, and formulation studies. Human research is concentrated mainly on ocular-surface outcomes and product-specific interventions, whereas the literature concerning most intraocular and retinal conditions is derived predominantly from preclinical or mechanistic studies. The review also considers the influence of oil source, composition, extraction, refining, cooking, oxidation, formulation characteristics, administration route, and safety on the interpretation of oil-related ocular research. Full article

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important solanaceous crops due to its economic and nutritional relevance. It hosts a wide range of plant pathogens, including a recombinant strain of potato virus Y (PVY^C-to), which is considered one of the major threats in tomato cultivation. PVY^C-to, a single-stranded RNA plant virus (family Potyviridae), mainly causes symptoms of mosaic, chlorosis, and vein necrosis in the leaves of horticultural crops, resulting in significant production losses. The ongoing evolution of viral strains, combined with the absence of natural resistance genes in commercial germplasm, requires the exploration of alternative management strategies, such as grafting, and the identification of resistant genetic resources within local biodiversity. This study aims to evaluate the response of five local tomato ecotypes (LTEs) from the Campania region—Corbarino, Giallo determinato da serbo, Pizzutello, San Marzano, and Vesuviano—to PVY^C-to infection. The goal is to identify a naturally tolerant ecotype for use as a rootstock for commercial tomato varieties and expand the pool of resilient genetic resources against viral diseases. Visual symptom evaluation at 14 and 28 days post-inoculation (dpi), quantification of virus accumulation by qDot-blot, and thermal imaging analysis showed that all tested tomato ecotypes were susceptible to PVY^C-to infection, although at different levels among the tested ecotypes. More specifically, Corbarino showed no significant changes in canopy temperature values, fewer symptoms, and reduced virus accumulation upon PVY^C-to infection, compared to the other LTEs, and was therefore selected as a rootstock in subsequent experiments. The reduction in both symptom severity and viral RNA accumulation observed in grafted plants, combined with the mitigation of thermal stress in grafted scions, confirmed the efficacy of grafting as a viable management strategy and eco-friendly cornerstone for safeguarding regional agro-biodiversity against escalating viral pressures. Full article

Medicinal plants are major sources of therapeutic natural products, yet the cell-type-specific organization that governs metabolite biosynthesis, transport, and storage remains imperfectly resolved by organ-level omics. This review synthesizes studies published up to June 2026 that used single-cell, single-nucleus, spatial, metabolomic, and epigenomic approaches to medicinal plant systems, following a PRISMA-guided literature search across PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and CNKI. Emerging evidence shows that specialized metabolism is organized through discrete and often rare cell populations, including idioblasts, laticifers, glandular trichomes, secretory epidermal cells, internal phloem-associated parenchyma, cork and periderm cells, mesophyll cells, and other biosynthetic niches. Single-cell RNA sequencing has defined these populations and reconstructed developmental trajectories, whereas single-cell metabolomics and mass spectrometry imaging reveal that metabolite accumulation frequently diverges from biosynthetic gene expression because of intercellular transport, storage capacity, and subcellular compartmentation. Single-cell ATAC-seq and multiome profiling further identify cell-type-specific regulatory regions, transcription factors, and candidate promoters controlling metabolic competence. Together, these technologies are reshaping medicinal plant biology from pathway-centric catalogs into spatially and developmentally resolved cellular maps. We highlight how artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted integration can accelerate cell annotation, regulatory network inference, metabolite assignment, and prioritization of biosynthetic genes, transporters, and engineering targets. Future progress will depend on comparative medicinal plant atlases, improved recovery of recalcitrant tissues, matched transcriptomic, metabolomic, and spatial designs, and functional validation of cell-type-specific mechanisms. Full article

Obesity has become a major global public health concern, with prevalence rates rising dramatically over the past several decades and affecting more than one billion people worldwide. The increasing burden of obesity has been largely driven by sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor diets, although its etiology is multifactorial, involving complex interactions among genetic, metabolic, endocrine, and environmental factors. Beyond excess adiposity, obesity is closely associated with numerous chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, cancer, and chronic inflammatory disorders. Emerging evidence indicates that oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of obesity and its related metabolic complications. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which are generated during normal cellular metabolism, serve important physiological functions in cell signaling and redox regulation. However, excessive production of these reactive species or impairment of endogenous antioxidant defense systems disrupts redox homeostasis, leading to oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Such alterations contribute to cellular dysfunction, chronic inflammation, and disease progression. In this context, dietary antioxidants have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to neutralize free radicals, inhibit lipid peroxidation, and restore redox balance. Natural antioxidants derived from fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods may act individually or synergistically to enhance cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. Furthermore, growing evidence suggests that antioxidant-rich dietary patterns may offer protective effects against obesity-associated metabolic disturbances and chronic diseases. However, clinical benefits of isolated antioxidant supplementation remain inconsistent and appear to depend on dose, bioavailability, baseline redox status, disease stage, and the preservation of physiological redox signaling. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying antioxidant-mediated regulation of redox homeostasis may facilitate the development of nutritional strategies for obesity prevention and management, while contributing to the reduction in oxidative stress and obesity-related disease burden and the promotion of long-term health. Full article

Plant-derived bioactives offer diverse pharmacological activities, but their development is often limited by poor aqueous solubility, instability, rapid metabolism, and low tissue exposure. This review examines delivery platforms used to address these constraints, including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, phytosomes, niosomes, polymeric and protein-based carriers, extracellular vesicles, and self-assembled polyphenol systems. The platforms are compared according to payload compatibility, loading and release behavior, biological barriers, manufacturing requirements, and formulation-specific safety risks. Though carriers of natural origin offer a sustainable and often less toxic alternative, their ability to induce immunogenicity, organ accumulation, and repeated-dose toxicity require product-specific assessment. The review also discusses sustainable extraction and formulation, emphasizing that green performance depends on the entire process rather than on the feedstock alone. Preclinical studies frequently report improved stability, exposure, or therapeutic activity, whereas human evidence remains limited and is concentrated in early-phase studies of curcumin and silybin formulations and a small number of plant-derived extracellular-vesicle preparations. Translation will require standardized characterization, defined critical quality attributes, scalable Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant production, batch consistency, comparative pharmacokinetic and toxicological studies, and appropriately powered clinical trials. These considerations support rational carrier selection based on the physicochemical properties of the bioactive, intended route and target, release requirements, and strength of the available evidence. Full article

Functional trait plasticity enables invasive plant species to establish and persist across diverse environmental conditions. Following the extensive habitat disturbance caused by the 2010 floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Verbesina encelioides rapidly spread into disturbed and natural habitats. This study evaluated the phenotypic plasticity and biomass allocation traits of Verbesina encelioides across five contrasting habitats (i.e., cropland, roadside, riverside, urban, and abandoned land). Habitat differences were assessed using analysis of variance with Tukey’s HSD post hoc test, while multivariate analysis was used to examine relationships among functional traits, environmental variables, and habitats. Log-transformed data were used for linear regression analyses to satisfy normality assumptions. Plant functional traits varied significantly among habitats, demonstrating substantial phenotypic plasticity. Riverside vegetation had high functional trait plasticity followed by abandoned habitats. In contrast, riverside populations had fewer branches (14.3 ± 1.4), leaves (184.7 ± 10), lower leaf area (5360 ± 77 cm²), and reduced inflorescence biomass (8.61 ± 2.1 g) than abandoned-land populations. Cropland plants were taller (106 ± 3 cm) with heavier seeds (0.30 ± 0.04 g; p < 0.05), whereas roadside plants had smaller leaves (6.1 ± 0.3 cm) but produced more flowers (38.4 ± 6.2; p < 0.001). Biomass allocation remained relatively stable across habitats (p > 0.05), with greater investment in aboveground than belowground structures. Soil texture, organic matter, temperature, and precipitation were the principal environmental variables associated with trait variation, indicating that local environmental conditions strongly influence plant performance (p < 0.05). PCA revealed that seed traits dominated the first axis and were associated with cropland and riversides. Redundancy analysis indicated that soil properties (sand, silt, pH, EC) and climatic factors (precipitation, temperature) significantly influenced trait distribution. Hierarchical cluster analysis shows that riverside was distinct from other clusters both in functional traits and environmental variables. Inter-trait correlation revealed a significant relationship between leaf and seed traits. Overall, these findings reveal that V. encelioides adjusts its growth and reproductive traits according to habitat conditions. Greater seed weight in croplands may enhance seedling establishment under competitive conditions, whereas increased flower production in disturbed roadside habitats may promote dispersal and reproductive success of the plant. The strong functional trait plasticity of V. encelioides across different habitats highlights its potential to persist under habitat disturbance and changing environmental conditions, therefore posing risk to native plant communities and ecosystem structure. These findings support the need for habitat-based monitoring, protection of native flora and restoration of disturbed areas as part of sustainable land and biodiversity management. Full article

Background/Objectives: The identification of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors from complex natural matrices remains challenging due to the limitations of conventional colorimetric assays. This study aimed to develop a fluorescence-based AChE inhibition assay (FAIA) suitable for screening plant extracts, while simultaneously characterizing the metabolite profile of Berberis julianae fruits, identifying bioactive alkaloid-enriched fractions, and evaluating their cytotoxicity in neuronal cell models. Methods: Methanolic extracts of B. julianae fruits were profiled by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS and fractionated using centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC). The developed FAIA, based on 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate as a fluorogenic substrate, was optimized and validated using berberine as a reference inhibitor. CPC fractions and selected protoberberine alkaloids were screened for AChE-inhibitory activity, while cytotoxicity was assessed in differentiated and undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells using the resazurin assay. Results: Twenty-five metabolites, including eight isoquinoline alkaloids, were tentatively identified in the fruit extract. The optimized FAIA enabled reliable evaluation of AChE inhibition without the limitations associated with chromogenic assays. Among the CPC fractions, fraction 7 exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity. LC-MS analysis revealed that this fraction was enriched in protoberberine alkaloids, including berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, magnocurarine, and demethyleneberberine. Cytotoxicity studies demonstrated concentration-dependent effects of both the isolated fractions and the individual alkaloids, with differentiated and undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells exhibiting distinct sensitivity profiles. At 200 µg/mL, cell viability ranged from approximately 20–40% in undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells and from approximately 25–45% in differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, depending on the CPC fraction. Among the tested protoberberine alkaloids, demethyleneberberine exhibited the lowest cytotoxic effect, maintaining the highest viability of differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, followed by jatrorrhizine and berberine. Conclusions: The proposed FAIA represents a sensitive and practical approach for screening AChE inhibitors in complex plant matrices. Combined with metabolomic profiling and CPC-based bioassay-guided fractionation, it enabled the identification of alkaloid-rich fractions of B. julianae with pronounced anti-AChE activity. These findings support the applicability of the developed workflow for natural-product-based drug discovery targeting neurodegenerative disorders. Full article

Natural functional polysaccharides are biodegradable, safe, and bioactive macromolecules that contribute significantly to food security. This review provides a systematic overview of their classification, structural characteristics, and applications in agricultural pest control and grain storage, with emphasis on their mechanisms of action and preparation methods. Key representatives including chitosan, alginate, β-glucan, and pectin function through multiple pathways: direct pest inhibition, induction of plant resistance, bioactive encapsulation, and physical barrier formation. Recent advances in extraction, purification, and advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques—quantitative NMR (qNMR), diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), and pure shift methods—are summarized. Challenges including batch-to-batch variability, high production costs, and regulatory hurdles are discussed and future perspectives on green production, precision structural tailoring, and nano-encapsulation are proposed. This review aims to guide the application of polysaccharide-based materials in insect pest management and food protection. Full article

Allium ursinum L. (wild garlic) is a promising source of bioactive compounds for functional foods, nutraceuticals, and clean-label products. This review integrates current evidence on its phytochemical composition, biological activities, and food applications. The species contains sulfur compounds, polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, and pigments, whose levels vary with plant organ, developmental stage, environmental conditions, and processing. These constituents are associated mainly with antioxidant, antimicrobial, cardioprotective, and cytoprotective effects; however, evidence is derived predominantly from in vitro and animal studies, with limited clinical validation. In food systems, A. ursinum may enhance nutritional value, oxidative stability, sensory properties, and shelf life. Extraction, encapsulation, and stabilization technologies may support its use as a natural alternative to synthetic additives. Nevertheless, compositional variability, processing stability, bioavailability, authenticity, quality control, and raw-material supply remain major barriers to standardization and industrial application. Further research should combine phytochemical characterization with technological, safety, clinical, and sustainability assessments to enable reliable use of A. ursinum in food and nutraceutical products. Full article

Corn stunt is one of the most important diseases affecting maize (Zea mays L.) production in tropical regions of the Americas. The disease is caused by a complex of pathogens transmitted by the corn leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis), and its predominantly quantitative inheritance complicates the identification of tolerant genotypes under field conditions. In this context, we aimed to perform a comprehensive phenotypic stratification of corn stunt tolerance in a tropical public maize diversity panel and to identify contrasting inbred lines for breeding and genetic studies. A total of 360 inbred lines were evaluated under natural infection using three complementary disease-response traits: survivor plant health score (SPHS), proportion of survivor plants (PSP), and whole-plant health score (WPHS). Multi-trait mixed-model analyses revealed significant genotypic variation, moderate to high broad-sense heritability, and significant genotype × environment interactions for all evaluated traits. A multi-trait index (MSI), calculated from standardized best linear unbiased predictions (BLUPs), successfully integrated the three phenotypic components and enabled robust stratification of the diversity panel, identifying 60 highly tolerant and 60 highly susceptible inbred lines. Further, a genomic principal component analysis demonstrated that these phenotypic extremes were distributed across both tropical and subtropical germplasm, indicating that tolerance is not restricted to a single genetic background. The proposed phenotypic framework provides a robust and reproducible strategy for characterizing quantitative disease tolerance, identifying valuable parental germplasm, and establishing well-defined phenotypic extremes for future investigations of the genetic architecture of corn stunt tolerance. Full article

Historically, sweet violet (Viola odorata L.) was an important plant used in various ways, including folk medicine, rituals and festivals, as food, and as an ornamental plant in gardens. The use of this species has varied from ancient times to the present; it is most consistently praised as a medicinal plant, while its popularity as an ornamental and edible species has been intermittent. A review of the extensive scientific literature on its pharmacological and medicinal properties demonstrates its value and the immense diversity of its uses in these fields to this day. While providing a concise overview of its importance for medicinal applications, this paper focuses on the much smaller body of scientific literature concerning horticulture and botany. The aim is to present a comprehensive overview of research on sweet violet, with a primary focus on combining, connecting, and making more accessible notable and related works concerning its taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, and horticultural production. A review of published studies shows fragmented and too specific studies of anatomical structure that are difficult to compare, as well as data gaps in areas of cultivation, hybridisation, selection, and broader comparisons between different populations of this species. It also highlights the overall economic importance which, in combination with the lack of commercial production, results in potentially problematic practices regarding the exploitation of this species in its natural habitats. Full article