Publications by authors named "Pascual Garcia-Perez"

Introduction: Nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) are involved in several biochemical processes in living organisms, and their limited bioavailability is a strong constraint for plant growth and yield. This work investigated the interplay between Fe and N nutritional pathways in tomato plants kept under N and Fe deficiency and then resupplied with Fe and N (as nitrate, ammonium, or urea) through a physiological, metabolomics and gene expression study.

Results: After 24 hours of Fe resupply, the Fe concentration in Fe-deficient roots was dependent on the applied N form (following the pattern: nitrate > urea > ammonium > Fe-deficient control), and whereas in leaves of urea treated plants the Fe concentration was lower in comparison to the other N forms.

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Article Synopsis
  • The research reveals that plant responses to combined abiotic stresses (like heat and salinity) are unique and cannot be predicted by studying just one type of stress.
  • The study focuses on ABA-deficient plants and shows that while applying exogenous ABA can induce some changes, it doesn't fully restore plant health.
  • Multi-omics analyses led to discovering specific stress markers that couldn’t be identified in single-omic studies, providing valuable insights for improving crop resilience amid climate change challenges.
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(SM) poses a serious environmental issue since it is a fast-expanding invasive species occupying key areas of the European shoreline, disrupting the autochthonous algae species, and disturbing the ecosystem. This problem has concerned the general population and the scientific community. Nevertheless, as macroalgae are recognized as a source of bioactive molecules, the abundance of SM presents an opportunity as a raw material.

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In recent years, the search for novel natural-based ingredients by food and related industries has sparked extensive research aimed at discovering new sources of functional molecules. , traditionally known as an ornamental plant, has gained attention due to its diverse array of bioactive compounds with potential industrial applications. Although flowers are edible, their phytochemical profile has not been thoroughly investigated.

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  • Protein hydrolysates (PH) biostimulants can boost crop growth and resilience, especially in plants facing nitrogen limitations.
  • Research focused on how different molecular fractions of PH affected lettuce plants under varying nitrogen levels, revealing increases in biomass and hormone production linked to auxin and cytokinin.
  • The study also highlighted that PH and its lighter fraction (PH3) promoted cell wall growth and enhanced antioxidant responses, indicating that lighter molecular fractions might offer greater bioactivity.
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Microgreens constitute natural-based foods with health-promoting properties mediated by the accumulation of glucosinolates (GLs) and phenolic compounds (PCs), although their bioaccessibility may limit their nutritional potential. This work subjected eight Brassicaceae microgreens to in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and large intestine fermentation before the metabolomics profiling of PCs and GLs. The application of multivariate statistics effectively discriminated among species and their interaction with in vitro digestion phases.

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Plant biostimulants are widely applied in agriculture for their ability to improve plant fitness. In the present work, the impact of Graminaceae-derived protein hydrolysate (P) and its lighter molecular fraction F3 (< 1 kDa) on lettuce plants, subjected to either no salt or high salt conditions, was investigated through the combination of metabolomics and transcriptomics. The results showed that both treatments significantly modulated the transcriptome and metabolome of plants under salinity stress, highlighting an induction of the hormonal response.

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Nitrogen (N) is the nutrient most applied in agriculture as fertilizer (as nitrate, Nit; ammonium, A; and/or urea, U, forms) and its availability strongly constrains the crop growth and yield. To investigate the early response (24 h) of N-deficient tomato plants to these three N forms, a physiological and molecular study was performed. In comparison to N-deficient plants, significant changes in the transcriptional, metabolomic and ionomic profiles were observed.

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The increasing trend regarding the use of plastics has arisen an exponential concern on the fate of their derived products to the environment. Among these derivatives, microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) have been featured for their associated environmental impact due to their low molecular size and high surface area, which has prompted their ubiquitous transference among all environmental interfaces. Due to the heterogenous chemical composition of MNPs, the study of these particles has focused a high number of studies, as a result of the myriad of associated physicochemical properties that contribute to the co-transference of a wide range of contaminants, thus becoming a major challenge for the scientific community.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates how factors like ripening, altimetric zone, and rind inclusion affect the chemical makeup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, employing an untargeted metabolomics approach combined with machine learning.
  • - Ripening was found to be a crucial determinant in the characteristics of Parmigiano Reggiano, with specific amino acids and lipid derivatives identified as key compounds.
  • - A random forest classifier showed strong predictive abilities for rind inclusion levels in grated cheeses and the impact of dairy production altitude, providing insights into quality and authenticity markers in cheese.
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This study aimed to determine how the addition of gellan, guar, locust bean, and xanthan gums affected the polyphenol profile of Aronia melanocarpa puree and the human gut microbiota after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and large intestine fermentation. The different gums distinctively affected the content and bioaccessibility of phenolics in Aronia puree, as outlined by untargeted metabolomics. The addition of locust bean gum increased the levels of low-molecular-weight phenolics and phenolic acids after digestion.

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Phytochemical-rich antioxidant extracts were obtained from Ascophyllum nodosum (AN) using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). Critical extraction factors such as time, pressure, and ethanol concentration were optimized by response surface methodology with a circumscribed central composite design. Under the optimal MAE conditions (3 min, 10.

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Interactions between dietary fiber and phenolic compounds in foods can influence their gastrointestinal fate. This study aimed to examine the effect of four types of pectin on the polyphenols of cherry laurel puree and human gut microbiota during a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and large intestine fermentation. Results revealed that the combined addition of different pectins and pectinase to cherry laurel puree significantly affected the content and bioaccessibility of phenolics.

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cell cultures are a reliable biotechnological source of the anticancer drug paclitaxel. However, the interplay between taxane production and other metabolic pathways during elicitation remains poorly understood. In this study, we combined untargeted metabolomics and elicited cell cultures to investigate variations in taxane-associated metabolism under the influence of 1 µM coronatine (COR) and 150 µM salicylic acid (SA).

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Elicited cell cultures of spp. are successfully used as sustainable biotechnological production systems of the anticancer drug paclitaxel, but the effect of the induced metabolomic changes on the synthesis of other bioactive compounds by elicitation has been scarcely studied. In this work, a powerful combinatorial approach based on elicitation and untargeted metabolomics was applied to unravel and characterize the effects of the elicitors 1 µM of coronatine (COR) or 150 µM of salicylic acid (SA) on phenolic biosynthesis in cell suspensions.

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Metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) are becoming widespread environmental contaminants. They are currently added to several food preparations and cause a fast-growing concern for human health. The present work aims to assess the impact of zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO), and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) on the human gut metabolome and microbiome.

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Wheat flour is one of the most prevalent foodstuffs for human consumption, and novel strategies are underway to enhance its nutritional properties. This work evaluated wholegrain flours from bread wheat lines with different amylose/amylopectin ratios through in vitro starch digestion and large intestine fermentation. High-amylose flours presented a higher resistant starch content and lower starch hydrolysis index.

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A multi-omics approach was adopted to investigate the impact of lactic acid fermentation and seed germination on the composition and physicochemical properties of rye doughs. Doughs were prepared with either native or germinated rye flour and fermented with combined or not with a sourdough starter including , and LAB fermentation significantly increased total titrable acidity and dough rise regardless of the flour used. Targeted metagenomics revealed a strong impact of germination on the bacterial community profile of sprouted rye flour.

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Polyphenols are multifaceted bioactive compounds, but little is known about their real impact on human health after consumption. In this work, the phenolic profiling of quebracho, yellow maize, and violet rice extracts was comprehensively investigated, together with the impact of in vitro digestion and colonic fermentation on the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of these phytochemicals. The different matrices showed distinct profiles, potentially influencing in vitro starch digestion under cooking conditions.

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The current consumers' demand for food naturalness is urging the search for new functional foods of natural origin with enhanced health-promoting properties. In this sense, algae constitute an underexplored biological source of nutraceuticals that can be used to fortify food products. Both marine macroalgae (or seaweeds) and microalgae exhibit a myriad of chemical constituents with associated features as a result of their primary and secondary metabolism.

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The metabolic composition of thyme, one of the most used aromatic herbs, is influenced by environmental and post-harvest processing factors, presenting the possibility of exploiting thyme fingerprint to assess its authenticity. In this study, a comprehensive UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS fingerprinting approach was applied with a dual objective: (1) tracing thyme from three regions of production (Spain, Morocco, and Poland) and (2) evaluating the metabolic differences in response to processing, considering sterilized thyme samples. Multivariate statistics reveal 37 and 33 key origin and processing differentiation compounds, respectively.

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Thyme is one of Europe's most consumed aromatic herbs and represents a matrix susceptible to intentional mislabelling and food frauds. In this study, a phenolic profiling approach based on UHPLC-QTOF-HRMS untargeted metabolomics was used to trace its geographical origin, as well as to assess the effect of post-harvest processing by comparing sterilized vs non-sterilized thyme. Both unsupervised and supervised statistics led to reliable sample clustering, high-quality model parameters, as well as the identification of a total of 45 differential compounds (markers) for discrimination purposes.

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Wheat is a prevalent food worldwide, although its production arises several tonnes of industrial by-products that merit valorisation, owing to sustainable demands. In this work, an untargeted metabolomics approach was applied to shed light on the profile of free and bound phenolic compounds in white and wholegrain flours, as well as the major wheat by-products, namely wheat bran, wheat shorts and wheat middlings. By-products and wholegrain flours were found to be rich sources of ferulic acid derivatives, lignans, and alkylresorcinols, mostly bound to wheat fibre components, whereas different flavonoids were found in their free forms.

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Novel approaches to the characterization of medicinal plants as biofactories have lately increased in the field of biotechnology. In this work, a multifaceted approach based on plant tissue culture, metabolomics, and machine learning was applied to decipher and further characterize the biosynthesis of phenolic compounds by eliciting cell suspension cultures from medicinal plants belonging to the subgenus. The application of untargeted metabolomics provided a total of 460 phenolic compounds.

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In response to the increased popularity of medicinal plants, a number of conservation groups are recommending the investigation on poorly characterized and widely distributed species, as it is the case of camellias. In particular, L. is a widespread species found in Galicia (NW Spain), where it has been largely exploited with ornamental purposes.

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