Screening of phytochemicals from Golden apple of discord, Cydonia oblonga against the pTen and HBx using in silico-based tools.

Background Phytochemicals derived from Cydonia oblonga have been investigated for their anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities in many cancer cells lines. The reported bioactive compounds are evaluated in-silico to develop a novel antagonist against pTEN and HBx to target hepatocellular carcinoma. Lower expression of pTEN or higher expression of HBx represents the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Objective This research is intended to identify the best candidate which interacts with our target proteins (pTEN and HBx) from the quince seeds by using computational methodologies. Materials and Methods The ternary structures of protein and phytochemicals reported in quince like derivatives of caffeoylquinic acid, kaempferol and quercetin, Chrysoeriol, Catechin and other compounds are retrieved from the online databanks. Druglikness analysis and ADMET profiling was done, followed by docking analysis. Lastly, molecular dynamics study was done to determine the complexes stability. Results Docking study revealed that CQA derivatives have the significant inhibitory potential of 3CQA and 5CQA with binding affinity of -7.53 and -7.49 against pTEN and -5.94 and -6.01 against HBx in comparison to the standard drug doxorubicin. The average RMSD and RMSF value for protein-ligand complexes were found quite stable comparative to the standard, while parameters like gyration and SASA supports the complexes having the significant binding and stability especially against pTEN. Conclusion The results obtained from the evaluation depict 3CQA and 5CQA shows best stability especially with the p10 protein target. Hence, these compounds have to be considered for detailed experimental studies to understand its biological function against HCC.

Assessment of the characteristics of the fresh quince (Cydonia oblonga Miller) from different geographical origin and year of harvesting

Quince fruits from different geographical origin and year of harvesting (2019 and 2020) were characterized from physicochemical and nutritional viewpoint. Quince fruits were collected at maturity (September) in Murcia (Spain). The pH, soluble solids, titratable acidity, colour, moisture, water activity, total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, vitamin C and flavonoids were measured for all samples. There were significant differences among quince fruits characteristics. The comparison of quinces from the different origins and the comparison of quinces from the same origin and harvested two different years indicate differences in both physicochemical and nutritional characteristics, being greater the variation in the nutritional characteristics. This is to be considered by the quince industry, since the reality is that quinces from different geographical origin are the raw material of the quince industry every season.

Evaluation of The Antioxidant, Antidiabetic and Immunomodulatory Activity of Cydonia oblonga Fruit Extract

Dietary natural antioxidant consumption can protect the human body from several diseases induced by free radicals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant, antidiabetic and immunomodulatory properties of Cydonia oblonga fruit. For this; hydroethanolic extract of Cydonia oblonga fruit (HECO) was examined for antioxidant activity using DPPH free radical sc avenging, ABTS cation radical decolorization, Cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), and Metal Chelating on ferrous ions activities. The inhibitory activity of the extract against α-glucosidase enzyme was also investigated. HECO was tested in vivo for the immunomodulatory activity on non-specific immunity by the carbon clearance test. The content of the nonenzymatic antioxidant reduced glutathione (GSH) in liver tissue of used mice was estimated. in vitro studies revealed that the HECO has an inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 249.26 ± 3.75μg/mL, 117.34 ± 1.41 μg/ml for DPPH and ABTS scavenging activity respectively. As well as the ability to reduce cupric (167.17 ± 1.15μg/mL) and iron (Fe) (417.98 ± 48.82μg/mL). The extract showed antidiabetic activity as evidenced by its capacity to inhibit the α-glucosidase enzyme (IC50: 326.48 ± 18.56 µg/mL) near the acarbose (IC50: 275.98 ± 1.57 µg/mL) used as a positive control. In addition, our results showed that HECO at the concentration of 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly increased the clearance rate of carbon from the bloodstream concomitant with increased liberation of GSH from liver cells. This study demonstrates that HECO is effective in scavenging free radicals and can serve as potent antioxidants that provide potential treatment and prevention for diabetes with benefits on the innate defense system. Keywords: Antidiabetic, Antioxidant, Cydonia oblonga, Hydroethanolic extract, Phagocytic activity

The UHPLC-QTOF-MS Phenolic Profiling and Activity of Cydonia oblonga Mill. Reveals a Promising Nutraceutical Potential

Cydonia oblonga Mill., normally known as the quince fruit, has been widely used in agro-food industries mainly to produce jams and jellies. However, other parts of the plants are still underutilized and not completely assessed for their nutraceutical profile. Therefore, in this work, the polyphenolic profile of C. oblonga was investigated using an untargeted metabolomics approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry. Several compounds were identified in the different parts of the plants, including flavonoids (i.e., anthocyanins, flavones, flavan-3-ols, and flavonols), phenolic acids (both hydroxycinnamics and hydroxybenzoics), low-molecular-weight phenolics (tyrosol equivalents), lignans, and stilbenes. Overall, C. oblonga leaves showed the highest in vitro antioxidant potential, as revealed by 2,2-difenil-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) assays, being 189.5, 285.6, 158.9, and 348.8 mg Trolox Equivalent/g, respectively. The enzymes acetyl- and butyryl-cholinesterases were both inhibited by the different plant parts of C. oblonga, with stems showing the higher inhibitory potential. Interestingly, the fruit extracts were the only parts inhibiting the α-glucosidase, with a value of 1.36 mmol acarbose equivalents (ACAE)/g. On the other hand, strong tyrosinase inhibition was found for stems and leaves, being 72.11 and 68.32 mg Kojic acid Equivalent/g, respectively. Finally, a high number of significant (0.05 < p < 0.01) correlations were outlined between phenolics (mainly anthocyanins, flava-3-ols, and tyrosol equivalents) and the different biological assays. Taken together, our findings suggest a potential exploitation of C. oblonga leaves and stems for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

МОРФОМЕТРИЧНІ ПОКАЗНИКИ ПЛОДІВ СОРТІВ CYDONIA OBLONGA MILL. КОЛЕКЦІЇ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОГО БОТАНІЧНОГО САДУ ІМЕНІ М.М. ГРИШКА НАН УКРАЇНИ

Досліджено залежність морфометричних показ-ників (маси, висоти та діаметра) плодів 11 сортів Cydonia oblonga Mill. колекції Національ-ного ботанічного саду імені М.М. Гришка НАН України (НБС) від погодно-кліматичних умов у річному циклі розвитку рослин. Встановлено, що в 2018 р. морфометричні показники пло-дів усіх 11 сортів C. oblonga колекції НБС суттєво перевищили раніше відомі аналогічні дані. Майже удвічі збільшилася середня маса плоду сорту Грушоподібна Шумського, в 1,4–1,8 рази – сортів Марія, Оранжева, Студентка, Академічна та № 18 Кащенка, в 1,1–1,2 рази – сорту Дарунок онуку. Для маси плодів більшості сортів селекції НБС характерний середній ступінь мінливості із коефіцієнтом варіювання 13,8–19,6%. У двох сортів, Марія та Дарунок онуку, він був дещо вищим – 21,6–29,6%. У лісостеповій зоні України метеорологічні умови 2018 р. були сприятливими для росту й розвитку, в тому числі для формування плодів C. oblonga, як і інших плодових рослин. Отримані дані підтвердили залежність морфометри-чних показників плодів айви не тільки від генетичних особливостей сорту, але й від погодно-кліматичних умов регіону вирощування. Високий урожай сортів C. oblonga забезпечується поєднанням оптимального температурного режиму повітря з достатніми вологозабезпечені-стю та родючістю ґрунту.

De novo assembly and characterization of the first draft genome of quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.)

Quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the Rosacea family and closely related to the major pome fruits, apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) and pear (Pyrus communis L.). In the present work, whole genome shotgun paired-end sequencing was employed in order to assemble the first draft genome of quince. A genome assembly that spans 488.4 Mb of sequence corresponding to 71.2% of the estimated genome size (686 Mb) was produced in the study. Gene predictions via ab initio and homology-based sequence annotation strategies resulted in the identification of 25,428 and 30,684 unique putative protein coding genes, respectively. 97.4 and 95.6% of putative homologs of Arabidopsis and rice transcription factors were identified in the ab initio predicted genic sequences. Different machine learning algorithms were tested for classifying pre-miRNA (precursor microRNA) coding sequences, identifying Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the best performing classifier. SVM classification predicted 600 putative pre-miRNA coding loci. Repetitive DNA content of the assembly was also characterized. The first draft assembly of the quince genome produced in this work would constitute a foundation for functional genomic research in quince toward dissecting the genetic basis of important traits and performing genomics-assisted breeding.