Potential Use of Colored LED Lights to Increase the Production of Bioactive Metabolites Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam

Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam is a wild herb that is used in traditional Indian, Chinese, and African medicine. Light-emitting diode (LED) technology is paving the way to enhance crop production and inducing targeted photomorphogenic, biochemical, or physiological responses in plants. This study examines the efficiency of H. corymbosa (L.) Lam production under blue 450 nm and red 660 nm LED lights for overall plant growth, photosynthetic characteristics, and the contents of metabolite compounds. Our research showed that blue LED lights provided a positive effect on enhancing plant growth and overall biomass. In addition, blue LED lights are more effective in controlling the production of sucrose, starch, total phenolic compounds, and total flavonoid compared to red LED lights. However, blue and red LED lights played essential but different roles in photosynthetic characteristics. Our results showed the potential of colored LED light applications in improving farming methods and increasing metabolite production in herbs. LED lights are safer alternatives than genetically modified organisms or genome editing.

Untargeted Metabolomics Combined with Solid Phase Fractionation for Systematic Characterization of Bioactive Compounds in Hemp with Methane Mitigation Potential

This study systematically evaluates the presence of methane mitigating metabolites in two hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) varieties, Futura 75 and Finola. Hemp metabolites were extracted with methanol and fractionated using Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). Extracts, fractions, and the remaining pulp were screened for their methane mitigating potential using an in vitro model of rumen fermentation. The bioactive metabolites were identified with Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). When incubated with a standard feed (maize silage), the extract of Futura 75 significantly reduced methane production compared to that of control (without added extract) and without negative effects on feed degradability and volatile fatty acid patterns. The compounds responsible for the methane mitigating effect were assigned to flavonoid glycosides. However, none of the fractions of Futura 75 or the pulp exhibited similar effect on methane emission. Butyric acid concentration in the fermentation inoculum was significantly increased, which could indicate why methane production was higher, when incubated with the fractions and the pulp. The extract of Finola did not show a similar significant effect, however, there was a numerical tendency towards lower methane production. The difference in methane mitigating properties between Cannabis sativa L. Futura 75 and Finola, could be related to the content of bioactive flavonoids.

Effect of Coix Seed Extracts on Growth and Metabolism of Limosilactobacillus reuteri

Coix seed (Coix lachryma-jobi L.) is an important nourishing food and traditional Chinese medicine. The role of their bioactive constituents in physiology and pharmacology has received considerable scientific attention. However, very little is known about the role of coix seed bioactive components in the growth of Limosilactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri). This study aimed to evaluate the effects of coix seed extract (CSE) on the growth, acidifying activity, and metabolism of L. reuteri. The results showed that CSE can increase the growth and acidifying activity of L. reuteri compared with the control group. During the stationary phase, the viable bacteria in the medium supplemented with coix seed oil (CSO, 13.72 Log10 CFU/mL), coix polysaccharide (CPO, 12.24 Log10 CFU/mL), and coix protein (CPR, 11.91 Log10 CFU/mL) were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the control group (MRS, 9.16 Log10 CFU/mL). CSE also enhanced the biosynthesis of lactic acid and acetic acid of L. reuteri. Untargeted metabolomics results indicated that the carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism activities of L. reuteri were increased after adding CSE. Furthermore, CSE increased the accumulation of bioactive metabolites, such as phenyl lactic acid, vitamins, and biotin. Overall, CSE may have prebiotic potential and can be used to culture L. reuteri with high viable bacteria.

Comparative Molecular Mechanisms of Biosynthesis of Naringenin and Related Chalcones in Actinobacteria and Plants: Relevance for the Obtention of Potent Bioactive Metabolites

Naringenin and its glycosylated derivative naringin are flavonoids that are synthesized by the phenylpropanoid pathway in plants. We found that naringenin is also formed by the actinobacterium Streptomyces clavuligerus, a well-known microorganism used to industrially produce clavulanic acid. The production of naringenin in S. clavuligerus involves a chalcone synthase that uses p-coumaric as a starter unit and a P450 monoxygenase, encoded by two adjacent genes (ncs-ncyP). The p-coumaric acid starter unit is formed by a tyrosine ammonia lyase encoded by an unlinked, tal, gene. Deletion and complementation studies demonstrate that these three genes are required for biosynthesis of naringenin in S. clavuligerus. Other actinobacteria chalcone synthases use caffeic acid, ferulic acid, sinapic acid or benzoic acid as starter units in the formation of different antibiotics and antitumor agents. The biosynthesis of naringenin is restricted to a few Streptomycess species and the encoding gene cluster is present also in some Saccharotrix and Kitasatospora species. Phylogenetic comparison of S. clavuligerus naringenin chalcone synthase with homologous proteins of other actinobacteria reveal that this protein is closely related to chalcone synthases that use malonyl-CoA as a starter unit for the formation of red-brown pigment. The function of the core enzymes in the pathway, such as the chalcone synthase and the tyrosine ammonia lyase, is conserved in plants and actinobacteria. However, S. clavuligerus use a P450 monooxygenase proposed to complete the cyclization step of the naringenin chalcone, whereas this reaction in plants is performed by a chalcone isomerase. Comparison of the plant and S. clavuligerus chalcone synthases indicates that they have not been transmitted between these organisms by a recent horizontal gene transfer phenomenon. We provide a comprehensive view of the molecular genetics and biochemistry of chalcone synthases and their impact on the development of antibacterial and antitumor compounds. These advances allow new bioactive compounds to be obtained using combinatorial strategies. In addition, processes of heterologous expression and bioconversion for the production of naringenin and naringenin-derived compounds in yeasts are described.

Extremophilic Fungi from Marine Environments: Underexplored Sources of Antitumor, Anti-Infective and Other Biologically Active Agents

Marine environments are underexplored terrains containing fungi that produce a diversity of natural products given unique environmental pressures and nutrients. While bacteria are commonly the most studied microorganism for natural products in the marine world, marine fungi are also abundant but remain an untapped source of bioactive metabolites. Given that their terrestrial counterparts have been a source of many blockbuster antitumor agents and anti-infectives, including camptothecin, the penicillins, and cyclosporin A, marine fungi also have the potential to produce new chemical scaffolds as leads to potential drugs. Fungi are more phylogenetically diverse than bacteria and have larger genomes that contain many silent biosynthetic gene clusters involved in making bioactive compounds. However, less than 5% of all known fungi have been cultivated under standard laboratory conditions. While the number of reported natural products from marine fungi is steadily increasing, their number is still significantly lower compared to those reported from their bacterial counterparts. Herein, we discuss many varied cytotoxic and anti-infective fungal metabolites isolated from extreme marine environments, including symbiotic associations as well as extreme pressures, temperatures, salinity, and light. We also discuss cultivation strategies that can be used to produce new bioactive metabolites or increase their production. This review presents a large number of reported structures though, at times, only a few of a large number of related structures are shown.

A Metabolomic Study of Epichloë Endophytes for Screening Antifungal Metabolites

Epichloë endophytes, fungal endosymbionts of Pooidae grasses, are commonly utilized in forage and turf industries because they produce beneficial metabolites that enhance resistance against environmental stressors such as insect feeding and disease caused by phytopathogen infection. In pastoral agriculture, phytopathogenic diseases impact both pasture quality and animal production. Recently, bioactive endophyte strains have been reported to secrete compounds that significantly inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi in vitro. A screen of previously described Epichloë-produced antifeedant and toxic alkaloids determined that the antifungal bioactivity observed is not due to the production of these known metabolites, and so there is a need for methods to identify new bioactive metabolites. The process described here is applicable more generally for the identification of antifungals in new endophytes. This study aims to characterize the fungicidal potential of novel, ‘animal friendly’ Epichloë endophyte strains NEA12 and NEA23 that exhibit strong antifungal activity using an in vitro assay. Bioassay-guided fractionation, followed by metabolite analysis, identified 61 metabolites that, either singly or in combination, are responsible for the observed bioactivity. Analysis of the perennial ryegrass-endophyte symbiota confirmed that NEA12 and NEA23 produce the prospective antifungal metabolites in symbiotic association and thus are candidates for compounds that promote disease resistance in planta. The “known unknown” suite of antifungal metabolites identified in this study are potential biomarkers for the selection of strains that enhance pasture and turf production through better disease control.

Chemical and Bioactive Metabolites of Humicola and Nigrospora Secondary Metabolites

Fungal kingdom contains many interesting genera that are available around us and can be isolated commonly from different sources. Humicola and Nigrospora belonging to class Sordariomycetes, are promising fungal genera that produce many important secondary metabolites. Hence, this review describes their morphology and ecology, highlights on secondary metabolites produced by them, and their pharmacological activities, as well as the biotechnological applications.