fruits are among the most economically important crops in the world. In the global market, the Citrus peel is often considered a byproduct but substitutes an important phenotypic characteristic of the fruit and a valuable source of essential oils, flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids with variable concentrations. The Mediterranean basin is a particularly dense area of autochthonous genotypes of that are known for being a source of healthy foods, which can be repertoires of valuable genes for molecular breeding with the focus on plant resistance and quality improvement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCitrus fruits are one of the most important fruits in the global food industry due to their unique taste and nutritional benefits. Herein, we characterize the physicochemical and bioactive attributes of twenty-nine Greek citrus accessions, including oranges, mandarins/clementines, lemons, bergamot, citrons and lime along with twenty-seven highly commercial international cultivars. The assessed genotypes differ in various quality traits including color, ripening, and textural attributes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDill ( L.) is an aromatic herb widely used in the food industry, with several commercial cultivars available with different qualitative characteristics. Commercial cultivars are usually preferred over landraces due to their higher yield and also the lack of improved landraces than can be commercialized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe traditionally edible aerial parts of rock samphire ( L.) could be a valuable functional food or feed ingredient due to their high antioxidant capacity, ascorbic acid content, and rich content in secondary metabolites such as phenolics and flavonoids. The first objective of this study was to evaluate eighteen genotypes derived from different regions of Greece regarding the phytochemical contents of their soluble extracts in total phenolics, total flavonoids, and individual polyphenols as determined by LC-MS analysis, as well as ascorbic acid content and their antioxidant capacity as determined by different assays, including ABTS (2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity), and FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntioxidants (Basel)
December 2021
Sustainability, circular economy and alternative production systems are urgent imperatives for humanity and animal husbandry. Unless wasted, agri-food by-products can offer a promising source of high value. We evaluated the effect of rice bran (RB), corncob (CC), potato peels (PP), solid biogas residues (BR), and olive-oil processing residuals (OR), as alternative substrates to wheat bran (WB as control), on the growth and nutritional value of during its breeding for animal feeds and/or human consumption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Natural products are not only positioned in the heart of traditional medicine but also in modern medicine as many current drugs are coming from natural sources. Apart from the field of medicine and therapeutics, natural products are broadly used in other industrial fields such as nutrition, skincare products and nanotechnology.
Methods And Results: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.
Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive types of skin cancer with an increasing incidence worldwide. Thus, the development of innovative therapeutic approaches is of great importance. (SF) is known for its anticancer properties and in this context, we aimed to investigate its potential anti-melanoma activity in an in vitro model of human malignant melanoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of exogenous melatonin (0. 5 mM) application through pre-harvest foliar spray and postharvest immersion, alone or in combination, on ripening parameters of sweet cherry (cv. Ferrovia) fruit and their relationship with bioactive compounds and gene expression at harvest as well after cold storage (0°C) for 12 days and subsequent room temperature (20°C) exposure for 8 h.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a persistent interest in innovative and multifunctional ingredients in biology research. With regards to this, natural sources have an important role due to their multiple benefits. Thus, this study aims to present the pleiotropic activity of Prunus avium L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
March 2021
L. subsp. (rockrose) is a shrub widespread in Greece and the Mediterranean basin and has been used in traditional medicine as herb tea for colds, for healing and digestive hitches, for the treatment of maladies, as perfumes, and for other purposes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe current study characterizes the physicochemical, sensory and bioactive compound traits of twenty-two sweet cherry accessions, namely breeding lines, landraces and modern cultivars, embodying the majority of Greek germplasm. The evaluated accessions differ in several quality traits including colour parameters and textural properties as well as sensory attributes, such as taste intensity and overall acceptance. Significant differences in primary metabolites, including fructose, glucose, sorbitol, malic acid were recorded among tested accessions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work provides the first system-wide datasets concerning metabolic changes in calcium-treated fruits, which reveal that exogenously applied calcium may specifically reprogram sweet cherry development and ripening physiognomy. Calcium modulates a wide range of plant developmental processes; however, the regulation of fruit ripening by calcium remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome profiling was used to document the responses of sweet cherry fruit to external calcium application (0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApple ( Borkh) is an important fruit crop cultivated in a broad range of environmental conditions. Apple fruit ripening is a physiological process, whose molecular regulatory network response to different environments is still not sufficiently investigated and this is particularly true of the peel tissue. In this study, the influence of environmental conditions associated with low (20 m) and high (750 m) altitude on peel tissue ripening was assessed by physiological measurements combined with metabolomic and proteomic analyses during apple fruit development and ripening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rain-induced fruit cracking is a major physiological problem in most sweet cherry cultivars. For an in vivo cracking assay, the 'Christensen method' (cracking evaluation following fruit immersion in water) is commonly used; however, this test does not adequately simulate environmental conditions. Herein, we have designed and evaluated a cracking protocol, named 'Waterfall method', in which fruits are continuously wetted under controlled conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the application of girdling technique for several centuries, its impact on the metabolic shifts that underly fruit biology remains fragmentary. To characterize the influence of girdling on sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) fruit development and ripening, second-year-old shoots of the cultivars 'Lapins' and 'Skeena' were girdled before full blossom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFL. seeds have been an important source of protein, oil, and dietary fiber for human and animals. Currently, there is a growing interest in the commercial products of these seeds, which are recognized as a legitimate source of medicaments, cosmeceuticals, and nutraceuticals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFΗeat and calcium treatments reprogram sweet cherry fruit metabolism during postharvest senescence as evidenced by changes in respiration, amino acid metabolism, sugars, and secondary metabolites shift. Heat and calcium treatments are used to improve postharvest fruit longevity; however, the exact mechanism remains poorly understood. To characterize the impact of these treatments on sweet cherries metabolism, 'Lapins' fruits were treated with heat or CaCl solutions and their combination and subsequently were exposed at room temperature, for up to 4 days, defined as senescence period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSea fennel is an herbaceous aromatic and edible halophyte, naturally occurring in coastal areas of the Mediterranean basin. Besides its scientific interest as a salt-tolerant species it exhibits considerable nutritional value and economical potential. As sea fennel is distributed in maritime areas, where natural iodine is available in high concentrations, the aim of this study was to evaluate whether sea fennel has the potential to accumulate elevated iodine concentrations under cultivation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypericum perforatum is known as an important medicinal plant, used for the treatment of several diseases, while its pharmacological properties are attributed to the presence of a wide range of secondary metabolites. Due to the great chemotypic variability of Hypericum species in the nature, and the demand for standardized herbal products, a detailed phytochemical investigation was carried out on different parts (herba, leaf, flowers) from wild collected and cultivated populations, using advanced chromatographic tools. Liquid Chromatographic analysis (LC-MS/MS MRM) revealed significant variability in the secondary metabolites content of the examined methanolic extracts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs a result of this work, we were able to characterize seven indigenous to Greece Salvia officinalis populations using genetic and metabolomic tools. These tools can be used to select the most promising genotypes, capable to design future breeding programs for high valuable varieties. An initial investigation was carried out to compare the genetic and metabolic diversity in S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of drought and salinity on Citrus aurantium L. plant physiological characteristics, total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid contents, and volatile organic compounds. C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe volatile constituents of the essential oils of the peel, flower (neroli) and leaves (petitgrain) of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium L.) growing in Greece were studied by GC-MS. The analytical procedures enabled the quantitative determination of 31 components.
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