Dereplication of extracts from nutraceutical mushrooms Pleurotus using molecular network approach

Coffee husk valorization through choline chloride/lactic acid (1:10) green catalyst extraction for lignin monomers recovery

The processing of coffee consists on the separation of the grains from other parts of the fruit, then roasted and extracted to obtain the beverage that is so appreciated worldwide. Several studies have dedicated efforts to treat the residue from coffee processing, while recovering lignols of industrial interest. Given this scenario, the nutrients in the coffee husk can enhance microbial growth, providing optimal conditions for the microorganisms to produce metabolites that may have medicinal properties. Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are a class of solvents and/or catalysts designed on demand for specific uses, being used to enhance extraction processes of coffee husk. Our present study was successful establishing conditions where the coffee husk enhanced the growth of microorganisms from two Brazilian biomes, the endophytic fungus from Cerrado and the actinomycete, from Atlantic Rainforest in Boraceia, São Paulo. The DES composed by ChCl/LA (1:10) was selected as cosolvent for the extraction, while it also optimized microbial cultivation conditions. Coffee husk was an excellent supplement for culture media, once the fungus FE316 produced Fumiquinazoline A, Tripprostatin B and Pseurotin A, while the actinomycete AC154 produced Trichorozin-IV as metabolites only expressed when in addition to the coffee husk. UHPLC-MS/MS analysis enabled the annotation of lignin monomer compounds, such as alkaloids, phenylpropanoids and terpenoids present in the coffee husk, more specifically, caffeic acid, isochlorogenic acid B, chlorogenic acid and coniferyl aldehyde, underscoring the value of this biomass.

Integrative metabolomics and molecular networking reveal metabolic rewiring in Tartary buckwheat sprouts under moderate hydrostatic pressure

The effects of moderate hydrostatic pressure (MHP) pretreatment on bioactive metabolites in Tartary buckwheat sprouts remain insufficiently studied. In this work, a non-targeted metabolomics approach, combined with feature-based molecular networking (FBMN), identified 22 metabolites in sprouts treated with 0-30 MPa pressure, four of which were previously unreported, thus expanding the species' phytochemical diversity. MHP treatment activated phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), resulting in a 2.3-fold increase in total flavonoids, particularly glycosylated derivatives such as quercetin 3-rutinoside 7-glucoside (13.2-fold increase at 25 MPa). In contrast, condensed tannins, responsible for astringency, were reduced by 40-60 %. These findings suggest that MHP pretreatment may serve as a sustainable alternative to chemical elicitors, promoting biofortification and improving sensory attributes in sprout-based functional foods.

An integrated 3-M workflow for accelerated annotation of natural products: Flavonoids in Daemonorops draco as a case study

Efficient annotation and dereplication of metabolites, particularly those from resource-endangered plants lacking reference standards, is crucial for natural products development. Advanced techniques like high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) have significantly enhanced metabolite characterization. However, challenges such as redundant spectral data, limited reference databases, and inferior dereplication capacity hinder its broad applicability. In this study, we propose an integrated annotation strategy utilizing various computational tools, including mass defect filters (MDF), molecular fingerprints, and molecular networks (3-M strategy). We demonstrate this approach using Daemonorops draco (D. draco), a renowned yet resource-endangered natural product rich in functional flavonoids. By applying pre-defined flavonoids MDF windows, the MS1 peaks reduced by 85 % (from 10,043 to 1,585) in positive mode. Subsequent de novo molecular formula annotation and molecular fingerprint-based structure elucidation were automatically performed using the SIRIUS machine learning platform. Additionally, two complementary cluster tools were incorporated, including feature-based molecular network (FBMN) and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) molecular network, to efficiently dereplicate metabolites and discover novel flavonoids in D. draco. Totally, 108 flavonoids (containing flavones, flavanes, flavanones, chalcones, chalcanes, dihydrochalcones, anthocyanins, homoisoflavanes, homoisoflavanones, and isoflavones), 18 flavone derivatives, and 54 flavone oligomers were identified. Among them, 25 compounds were firstly reported in D. draco. This 3-M workflow shed light on the composition of D. draco and validate the effectiveness of our approach, which facilitated the rapid annotation and screening of subclass metabolites in complex natural products.

Identification of Additives in Disposable Face Masks and Evaluation of Their Toxicity Using Marine Medaka (Oryzias melastigma)

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in huge amounts of face masks worldwide. However, there is a lack of awareness on the additives and their potential risk to aquatic ecosystems of face masks. To address this issue, the additives and their toxicity in 13 face masks (e.g., polypropylene, polyethylene, and polylactic acid) were determined using nontarget analysis and bioassays. A total of 826 organic additives including intermediates (14.8%), surfactants (9.3%), plasticizers (8.2%), and antioxidants (6.1%) were tentatively identified, with 213 compounds being assigned confidence levels of 1 and 2. Interestingly, polylactic acid masks contained more additives than most polypropylene or polyethylene masks. Among these additives, the concentration of tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate in masks was 9.4-978.2 ng/g with a 100% detection frequency. Furthermore, 13 metals such as zinc (up to 202.0 μg/g), copper (32.5 μg/g), and chromium (up to 5.7 μg/g) were detected in the face masks. The methanol extracts of the masks showed the developmental toxicity, swimming behavior, and/or endocrine disruption in embryos/larvae of Oryzias melastigma. The findings demonstrate that face masks contain various toxic additives to marine medaka, which deserves close attention to pollution by face masks.

Identification of a β-Carboline Alkaloid from Chemoselectively Derived Vanilla Bean Extract and Its Prevention of Lipid Droplet Accumulation in Human Hepatocytes (HepG2)

Targeting bioactive compounds to prevent lipid droplet accumulation in the liver, we explored an antioxidative extract from vanilla bean (Vainilla planifolia) after chemo-selective derivatization through heating and acid modification. The chemical analysis of vanilla bean extract through chemoselective derivatization resulted in the identification of sixteen compounds (34-50) using LC-MS/MS analysis. A β-carboline alkaloid with a piperidine C-ring and a vanillin moiety at C-1 (34) was identified by molecular networking and diagnostic fragmentation filtering approaches. β-carboline alkaloid 34 exhibited significant inhibitory activity of lipid droplet accumulation (LDAI) in oleic acid-loaded hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. The LDAI activity was associated with both activation of lipolysis and suppression of lipogenesis in the cells. The study indicates that crude plant extracts, following chemoselective derivatization, may contain bioactive compounds that could be beneficial in preventing hepatosteatosis and could serve as a source of lead compounds for drug development. This approach may be useful to investigate other mixtures of natural products and food resources.

A compounds annotation strategy using targeted molecular networking for offline two-dimensional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis: Yupingfeng as a case study

Component overlapping and long-time consumption hinder the data processing of offline two-dimensional liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (offline 2D-LC MS) system. Although molecular networking has been commonly employed in data processing of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS), its application in offline 2D-LC MS is challenged by voluminous and redundant data. In light of this, for the first time, a data deduplication and visualization strategy combining hand-in-hand alignment with targeted molecular networking (TMN) for compounds annotation of offline 2D-LC MS data was developed and applied to the chemical profile of Yupingfeng (YPF), a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, as a case study. Firstly, an offline 2D-LC MS system was constructed for the separation and data acquisition of YPF extract. Then the data of 12 fractions derived from YPF were deconvoluted and aligned as a whole data file by hand-in-hand alignment, resulting in a 49.2% reduction in component overlapping (from 17951 to 9112 ions) and an improvement in the MS² spectrum quality of precursor ions. Subsequently, the MS²-similarity adjacency matrix of focused parent ions was computed by a self-building Python script, which realized the construction of an innovative TMN. Interestingly, the TMN was found to be able to efficiently distinguish and visualize the co-elution, in-source fragmentations and multi-type adduct ions in a clustering network. Consequently, a total of 497 compounds were successfully identified depending on only seven TMN analysis guided by product ions filtering (PIF) and neutral loss filtering (NLF) for the targeted compounds in YPF. This integrated strategy improved the efficiency of targeted compound discovery in offline 2D-LC MS data, also shown a huge scalability in accurate compound annotation of complex samples. In conclusion, our study developed available concepts and tools while providing a research paradigm for efficient and rapid compound annotation in complex samples such as TCM prescriptions, with YPF as an example.

Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, Cytotoxicity and DNA Protective Properties of the Pink Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus djamor (Agaricomycetes)

In this study, pink oyster mushroom Pleurotus djamor was cultivated using wheat straw (WS), quinoa stalk (QS), and their mixtures (WS-QS (1:1)) as substrate and evaluated in terms of antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity, and DNA protective effects. Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogen bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Streptococcus mutans, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli), dermatophyte (Trichophyton sp.) and yeast (Candida tropicalis) were used in the study. It was found to be very active against all bacteria (except S. mutans and S. typhi), and dermatophyte when compared to the control groups (8.7-33.3 mm), but low against C. tropicalis. It was seen that the best total antioxidant assay (TAS) value was 2.05 mmol/L on WS-QS (1:1). Depend on, it was determined that the total oxidant assay (TOS) value (5.26 μmol/L) in the same compost was lower than the others, and also the scavenging effect of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) was higher on WS at 25 mg/mL (84.20%). The methanol extract on WS at a concentration of 400 μg/mL, significantly reduced the percentage of viability in the human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell line (2.2%). The methanol extracts on WS and QS medium were found to inhibit DNA damage induced by UV radiation and H2O2 at a concentration of 25 mg/mL. These results showed that pink oyster mushroom has benefits such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, and DNA protective effects.

Determination of Nutritional and Biochemical Composition of Selected Pleurotus spps

The global demand for good quality food is going to be increased gradually. Mushrooms are broadly used as healthy nutritious meals. The nutritional values of extracts from four distinct Pleurotus species-Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus sajor-caju, Pleurotus sapidus, and Pleurotus columbinus-were determined in the current study. Firstly, proximate analysis of selected Pleurotus species was performed followed by the Bradford assay to analyze the protein spectrophotometrically; high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed for sugar determination while GC-MS was done to determine fatty acids on organic extracts of selected mushrooms. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the percentages while significance was determined by SPSS statistics. The results depicted that fat, protein, ash, fiber, energy contents, and total carbohydrate were in the range of 0.64-2.02%, 16.07-25.15%, 2.1-9.14%, 6.21-54.12%, 342.20-394.30 kcal/100 g, and 65.66-82.47%, respectively. The protein's maximum concentration was observed in P. ostreatus followed by P. columbinus>P. sajor-caju>P. sapidus, sequentially. Various sugars may or may not be present in selected Pleurotus spps. Among the fatty acids, the prevalence of UFA was more than that of saturated fatty acids among all selected mushrooms. From this study, it is concluded that all four Pleurotus spps. have excellent nutritional composition and can be used as valuable food and a great source of biochemical compounds.

Effect of Partial Meat Replacement by Hibiscus sabdariffa By-Product and Pleurotus djamor Powder on the Quality of Beef Patties

The effects of Hibiscus sabdariffa (roselle; Hs) by-product (2-5%) and Pleurotus djamor (pink oyster; Pd) powder (5-7.5%) as meat replacers on the physicochemical and sensorial properties of beef patties were analyzed. The addition of these non-meat ingredients significantly decreased moisture and increased fiber content, and did not affect the protein level of the product. The antioxidant effect of the roselle by-product was limited, while Pleurotus djamor favored the oxidation processes. The samples supplemented with roselle by-product and mushroom powder presented significantly lower microbial counts (total viable counts, enterobacteria, and Pseudomonas) than control, but texture and sensorial parameters were significantly affected. The patties darkened due to the presence of the Hibiscus by-product, while the color of the samples containing 5% Pleurotus djamor was hardly modified. These samples, together with the control samples, were the most sensorially appreciated. The addition of these ingredients provoked a decrease in texture parameters, being less pronounced in the samples with only 2% of roselle by-product. In spite of the good antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Hibiscus by-products, its inclusion in meat should be moderate (2-2.5%) to avoid consumer rejection when Pleurotus djamor is also included in the formulation.

Green Biotechnology of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus L.): A Sustainable Strategy for Myco-Remediation and Bio-Fermentation

The field of biotechnology presents us with a great chance to use many organisms, such as mushrooms, to find suitable solutions for issues that include the accumulation of agro-wastes in the environment. The green biotechnology of mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus L.) includes the myco-remediation of polluted soil and water as well as bio-fermentation. The circular economy approach could be effectively achieved by using oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus L.), of which the substrate of their cultivation is considered as a vital source for producing biofertilizers, animal feeds, bioenergy, and bio-remediators. Spent mushroom substrate is also considered a crucial source for many applications, including the production of enzymes (e.g., manganese peroxidase, laccase, and lignin peroxidase) and bioethanol. The sustainable management of agro-industrial wastes (e.g., plant-based foods, animal-based foods, and non-food industries) could reduce, reuse and recycle using oyster mushrooms. This review aims to focus on the biotechnological applications of the oyster mushroom (P. ostreatus L.) concerning the field of the myco-remediation of pollutants and the bio-fermentation of agro-industrial wastes as a sustainable approach to environmental protection. This study can open new windows onto the green synthesis of metal-nanoparticles, such as nano-silver, nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO. More investigations are needed concerning the new biotechnological approaches.