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Otun S, Escrich A, Achilonu I, Rauwane M, Lerma-Escalera JA, Morones-Ramírez JR, Rios-Solis L. The future of cassava in the era of biotechnology in Southern Africa. Crit Rev Biotechnol 2022; 43:594-612. [PMID: 35369831 DOI: 10.1080/07388551.2022.2048791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a major staple food and the world's fourth source of calories. Biotechnological contributions to enhancing this crop, its advances, and present issues must be assessed regularly. Functional genomics, genomic-assisted breeding, molecular tools, and genome editing technologies, among other biotechnological approaches, have helped improve the potential of economically important crops like cassava by addressing some of its significant constraints, such as nutrient deficiency, toxicity, poor starch quality, disease susceptibility, low yield capacity, and postharvest deterioration. However, the development, improvement, and subsequent acceptance of the improved cultivars have been challenging and have required holistic approaches to solving them. This article provides an update of trends and gaps in cassava biotechnology, reviewing the relevant strategies used to improve cassava crops and highlighting the potential risk and acceptability of improved cultivars in Southern Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Otun
- School of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, Protein Structure-Function and Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Ainoa Escrich
- Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ikechukwu Achilonu
- School of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, Protein Structure-Function and Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Molemi Rauwane
- Department of Agriculture and Animal Health, Science Campus, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa
| | - Jordy Alexis Lerma-Escalera
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología y Nanotecnología, Parque de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Apodaca, Mexico.,Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
| | - José Rubén Morones-Ramírez
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología y Nanotecnología, Parque de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Apodaca, Mexico.,Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
| | - Leonardo Rios-Solis
- Institute for Bioengineering, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.,Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology (SynthSys), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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A Molecular Investigation of the Solvent Influence on Inter- and Intra-Molecular Hydrogen Bond Interaction of Linamarin. Processes (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/pr10020352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Linamarin has been reported to have anticancer activities; however, its extraction and isolation using different solvents yield a low amount. Therefore, understanding the physical properties, such as solvents’ solubility, membrane permeability and lipophilicity and how they are associated with different solvents, is a paramount topic for discussion, especially for its potential as a drug. Linamarin has a sugar moiety with many polar groups responsible for its physical properties. Following current trends, a molecular dynamics simulation is performed to investigate its physical properties and how different solvents, such as water, methanol (MeOH), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dichloromethane (DCM), affect such properties. In this work, we have investigated the influence of intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonding and the influence of polar and non-polar solvents on the physical properties of linamarin. Furthermore, solvation free-energy and electronic structure analysis are performed. The structural analysis results show that the polar groups of linamarin have strong interactions with all solvents except the etheric oxygen groups. A detailed analysis shows intermolecular hydrogen bonding between polar solvents (water, MeOH and DMSO) and the hydroxyl oxygens of linamarin. Water exhibits the strongest interaction with linamarin’s functional groups among the investigated solvents. The findings show that within the first solvation shell, the number of water molecules is greatest, while MeOH has the fewest. Centrally to the structural analysis, solvation free energy confirms DMSO to be the best solvent since it prefers to interact with linamarin over itself, while water prefers to interact with itself. While the solute–solvent interactions are strongest between linamarin and water, the solvent–solvent interactions are strongest in water. As a result, the solvation free-energy calculations reveal that linamarin solvation is most favourable in DMSO.
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