Different Roles of Seeds and Young Leaves in the Diet of Red Leaf Monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda): Comparisons of Availability, Nutritional Properties, and Associated Feeding Behavior

Numerous plants protect themselves from attackers using specialized metabolites. The biosynthesis of these deterrent, often toxic metabolites is costly, as their synthesis diverts energy and resources on account of growth and development. How plants diversify investments into growth and defense is explained by the optimal defense theory. The central prediction of the optimal defense theory is that plants maximize growth and defense by concentrating specialized metabolites in tissues that are decisive for fitness. To date, supporting physiological evidence merely relies on the correlation between plant metabolite distribution and animal feeding preference. Here, we use glucosinolates as a model to examine the effect of changes in chemical defense distribution on actual feeding behavior. Taking advantage of the uniform glucosinolate distribution in transporter mutants, we show that high glucosinolate accumulation in tissues important to fitness protects them by guiding larvae of a generalist herbivore to feed on other tissues. Moreover, we show that mature leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana supply young leaves with glucosinolates to optimize defense against herbivores. Our study provides physiological evidence for the central hypothesis of the optimal defense theory and sheds light on the importance of integrating glucosinolate biosynthesis and transport for optimizing plant defense.

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Moringa oleifera: bioactive compounds and nutritional potential

Revista de Nutrição ◽

10.1590/s1415-52732008000400007 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 431-437 ◽

Cited By ~ 87

Author(s):

Paulo Michel Pinheiro Ferreira ◽

Davi Felipe Farias ◽

José Tadeu de Abreu Oliveira ◽

Ana de Fátima Urano Carvalho

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Moringa Oleifera ◽

Unsaturated Fatty Acids ◽

Grain Legumes ◽

Antinutritional Factors ◽

Antioxidant Compounds ◽

Nutritional Properties ◽

High Quality Protein ◽

Young Leaves ◽

Dry Climates

This work aims to review the nutritional properties of the Moringa oleifera tree, emphasizing its main constituents and nutritional applications for humans and animals. Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae) is a cosmopolitan tree that grows in many tropical countries showing uncountable folk uses due to its various nutritional and pharmacological applications. The young leaves, flowers and pods are common vegetables in the Asian diet. All parts of this plant are renewable sources of tocopherols (γ and α), phenolic compounds, β-carotene, vitamin C and total proteins, including the essential sulfur amino acids, methionine and cysteine. The seed protein and fat contents are higher than those reported for important grain legumes and soybean varieties, respectively. Unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid, carbohydrates and minerals are present in the seed in reasonable amounts. In general, there are low concentrations of antinutritional factors in the plant, although the seeds possess glucosinolates (65.5µmol/g dry matter), phytates (41g/kg) and hemagglutination activity while the leaves have appreciable amounts of saponins (80g/kg), besides low quantity of phytates (21g/kg) and tannins (12g/kg). Taking into consideration the excellent nutritional properties, the low toxicity of the seeds and the excellent ability of the plant to adapt to poor soils and dry climates, Moringa oleifera can be an alternative to some leguminous seeds as a source of high-quality protein, oil and antioxidant compounds and a way to treat water in rural areas where appropriate water resources are not available.

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