Allergenicity Risks Associated with Novel Proteins and Rapid Methods of Detection

AbstractBiotic stresses represent a serious threat to rice production to meet global food demand and thus pose a major challenge for scientists, who need to understand the intricate defense mechanisms. Proteomics and metabolomics studies have found global changes in proteins and metabolites during defense responses of rice exposed to biotic stressors, and also reported the production of specific secondary metabolites (SMs) in some cultivars that may vary depending on the type of biotic stress and the time at which the stress is imposed. The most common changes were seen in photosynthesis which is modified differently by rice plants to conserve energy, disrupt food supply for biotic stress agent, and initiate defense mechanisms or by biotic stressors to facilitate invasion and acquire nutrients, depending on their feeding style. Studies also provide evidence for the correlation between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and photorespiration and photosynthesis which can broaden our understanding on the balance of ROS production and scavenging in rice-pathogen interaction. Variation in the generation of phytohormones is also a key response exploited by rice and pathogens for their own benefit. Proteomics and metabolomics studies in resistant and susceptible rice cultivars upon pathogen attack have helped to identify the proteins and metabolites related to specific defense mechanisms, where choosing of an appropriate method to identify characterized or novel proteins and metabolites is essential, considering the outcomes of host-pathogen interactions. Despites the limitation in identifying the whole repertoire of responsive metabolites, some studies have shed light on functions of resistant-specific SMs. Lastly, we illustrate the potent metabolites responsible for resistance to different biotic stressors to provide valuable targets for further investigation and application.

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Utilizing the Food–Pathogen Metabolome to Putatively Identify Biomarkers for the Detection of Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli (STEC) from Spinach

Metabolites ◽

10.3390/metabo11020067 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 67

Author(s):

Snehal R. Jadhav ◽

Rohan M. Shah ◽

Avinash V. Karpe ◽

Robert S. Barlow ◽

Kate E. McMillan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shiga Toxin ◽

Metabolic Profiling ◽

Biomarker Discovery ◽

Risk Groups ◽

Proof Of Concept ◽

Rapid Methods ◽

E Coli ◽

Leafy Greens ◽

Food Pathogen ◽

Genomic Similarity

Shiga toxigenic E. coli (STEC) are an important cause of foodborne disease globally with many outbreaks linked to the consumption of contaminated foods such as leafy greens. Existing methods for STEC detection and isolation are time-consuming. Rapid methods may assist in preventing contaminated products from reaching consumers. This proof-of-concept study aimed to determine if a metabolomics approach could be used to detect STEC contamination in spinach. Using untargeted metabolic profiling, the bacterial pellets and supernatants arising from bacterial and inoculated spinach enrichments were investigated for the presence of unique metabolites that enabled categorization of three E. coli risk groups. A total of 109 and 471 metabolite features were identified in bacterial and inoculated spinach enrichments, respectively. Supervised OPLS-DA analysis demonstrated clear discrimination between bacterial enrichments containing different risk groups. Further analysis of the spinach enrichments determined that pathogen risk groups 1 and 2 could be easily discriminated from the other groups, though some clustering of risk groups 1 and 2 was observed, likely representing their genomic similarity. Biomarker discovery identified metabolites that were significantly associated with risk groups and may be appropriate targets for potential biosensor development. This study has confirmed that metabolomics can be used to identify the presence of pathogenic E. coli likely to be implicated in human disease.

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Tackling Dysfunction of Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in the Brain

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22158325 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (15) ◽

pp. 8325

Author(s):

Paola Zanfardino ◽

Stefano Doccini ◽

Filippo M. Santorelli ◽

Vittoria Petruzzella

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Basic Function ◽

Mitochondrial Proteome ◽

Novel Proteins ◽

Mitochondrial Functions ◽

Organ Specific ◽

Oxphos System ◽

Mitochondrial Defects ◽

Energy Dependent ◽

The Brain

Oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) is the basic function of mitochondria, although the landscape of mitochondrial functions is continuously growing to include more aspects of cellular homeostasis. Thanks to the application of -omics technologies to the study of the OxPhos system, novel features emerge from the cataloging of novel proteins as mitochondrial thus adding details to the mitochondrial proteome and defining novel metabolic cellular interrelations, especially in the human brain. We focussed on the diversity of bioenergetics demand and different aspects of mitochondrial structure, functions, and dysfunction in the brain. Definition such as ‘mitoexome’, ‘mitoproteome’ and ‘mitointeractome’ have entered the field of ‘mitochondrial medicine’. In this context, we reviewed several genetic defects that hamper the last step of aerobic metabolism, mostly involving the nervous tissue as one of the most prominent energy-dependent tissues and, as consequence, as a primary target of mitochondrial dysfunction. The dual genetic origin of the OxPhos complexes is one of the reasons for the complexity of the genotype-phenotype correlation when facing human diseases associated with mitochondrial defects. Such complexity clinically manifests with extremely heterogeneous symptoms, ranging from organ-specific to multisystemic dysfunction with different clinical courses. Finally, we briefly discuss the future directions of the multi-omics study of human brain disorders.

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