Optimization of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) juice fermentation process and analysis of its metabolites during fermentation

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a nutritious fruit and vegetable. Fermentation can be used to enhance their nutritional value. In this study, the tomato juice was co-fermented with multistrains, optimized by uniform experimental design and response surface methodology. Superoxide dismutase activity reached 496.67 U/g and lycopene content reached 77.12μg/g when P. pentosaceus (53.79%), L. casei (13.17%), L. plantarum (19.87%), L. fermentum (13.17%). To gain insight into the dynamics of metabolites during the tomato fermentation juice process multivariate statistical analysis was performed using the UHPLC-QE-MS/MS method. The main metabolites are peptides, amino acids carbohydrates, organic acids, and phospholipids. Carbohydrates were fully retained at the end of fermentation.The content of galactitol increased from the initial 5.389 to 6.607 while the content of cytarabine decreased by 29% and uridine by 44%. Meanwhile, phospholipids (PS, PE, PC, PG, PI) were all retained by more than 70%. Terpenoids (16-deacetylgairin, (+)-Royleanone, artemisinin) were increased to varying degrees, which gives them good nutritional value and biological activity. Organic acids (malic and citric) were reduced and lactic acid content was increased, changing its original flavor and making it more palatable to the general population. The research results have demonstrated the benefits of lactic acid bacteria fermentation on tomato juice, providing a theoretical basis and reference for the fermentation metabolism process of tomato juice.

Optimization of Fermentation Conditions and Metabolite Profiling of Grape Juice Fermented with Lactic Acid Bacteria for Improved Flavor and Bioactivity

To enrich the flavor compounds and retain the content of polyphenolics in grape juice (GJ) under long-term storage, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lacticaseibacillus casei, and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, were screened and the optimal fermentation conditions were determined as fermentation temperature of 41.2 °C for 24 h with an initial LAB density of 8.5 × 10⁶ CFU/mL. Surprisingly, the retention rates of TPC still remained at 50% after storage for 45 days at 4 °C. Moreover, 251 different metabolites were identified, include 23 polyphenolics, 11 saccharides, and 9 organic acids. Most importantly, the total content of polyphenolics reserved was 92.65% at the end of fermentation. Among them, ephedrannin A content significantly decreased; however, 2',6'-Di-O-acetylononin gradually increased with the fermentation time, which resulted in FGJ maintaining excellent bioactivity. Meanwhile, organic acid content (palmitoylethanolamide, tetraacetylethylenediamine) increased with saccharides (linamarin) decreasing, which leads to FGJ having a unique taste. Furthermore, a total of 85 Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified, mainly including esters, aldehydes, and alcohols. Interestingly, key VOCs could be formed by carboxylic acids and derivatives, and fatty acyls via complex metabolic pathways.

Metabolomics-Based Analyses of Dynamic Changes in Flavonoid Profiles in the Black Mulberry Winemaking Process

To overcome the fruit's perishability, mulberry wine has been developed as a method of preservation. However, dynamic changes in metabolites during mulberry wine fermentation have not been reported yet. In the present investigation, UHPLC-QE-MS/MS coupled with multivariate statistical analyses was employed to scrutinize the metabolic profiles, particularly the flavonoid profiles, throughout the process of vinification. In general, the major differential metabolites encompassed organic heterocyclic compounds, amino acids, phenylpropanoids, aromatic compounds, and carbohydrates. The contents of total sugar and alcohol play a primary role that drove the composition of amino acids, polyphenol, aromatic compound, and organic acid metabolites based on the Mantel test. Importantly, among the flavonoids, abundant in mulberry fruit, luteolin, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, (-)-epiafzelechin, eriodictyol, kaempferol, and quercetin were identified as the differential metabolic markers during blackberry wine fermentation and ripening. Flavonoid, flavone and flavonol biosynthesis were also identified to be the major metabolic pathways of flavonoids in 96 metabolic pathways. These results will provide new information on the dynamic changes in flavonoid profiles during black mulberry winemaking.

Discovery of Taxus chinensis fruit wine as potentially functional food against Alzheimer's disease by UHPLC-QE-MS/MS, network pharmacology and molecular docking

Nowadays, there is no specific cure for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the progression of AD can be improved by preventive interventions. The wine of Taxus chinensis fruit (TCFW) has the effect of improving human immunity and anti-aging as a long history of health care wine in folk, especially popular in the longevity villages in China, which may be potentially effective dietary products to improve AD. However, the chemical constituents and molecular mechanisms of TCFW still remain unknown. In this study, chemical profiling with UHPLC-QE-MS/MS, network pharmacology and molecular docking were integrated to fastly explore the potential chemicals and mechanisms of TCFW against AD. A total of 31 chemical components in TCFW were detected and identified compared with the solvent wine of TCFW by UHPLC-QE-MS/MS. Then, 27 potential key targets and 14 chemical compounds of TCFW were uncovered for the improvement of AD by network pharmacology and molecular docking. These 14 compounds were reported to have diverse bioactivities such as neuroprotective activity, antifibrotic activity, anticancer activity, antiviral activity and effectiveness in the treatment of neuronal injury, Alzheimer's disease, etc. Among these 27 targets affected by TCFW predicted by our approach, AKT1, PTGS2, NOS3, NOS2, INS, ESR1, ESR2, BDNF, IL6, IL1B, DRD2 and ACHE were significantly altered in AD. The GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that TCFW mainly acted on oxidative response, inflammatory response, insulin secretion, amyloid fibril formation, neurodegenerative pathway-multiple diseases, Alzheimer's disease, longevity regulation pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, etc, which were the main pathogenesis of AD. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative neurological disorder characterized by cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. Nowadays, there is no specific cure for AD, but the progression of AD can be improved by preventive interventions. The wine of Taxus chinensis fruit (TCFW) has the effect of improving human immunity and anti-aging as a long history of health care wine in folk, especially popular in the longevity villages in China, which may be potentially effective dietary products to improve AD. This study proposed a fastly integrated method to explore the potential chemicals and mechanisms of TCFW against AD by UHPLC-QE-MS/MS, network pharmacology and molecular docking. Here, we found that TCFW may ameliorate AD by reversing many biological events, including oxidative stress, inflammatory response, neuronal apoptosis, insulin secretion, amyloid fibril formation, and T cell co-stimulation, which may provide some insights for the development and research of anti-AD drugs.