Caldimonas thermodepolymerans, a Gram-negative, moderately thermophilic bacterium, exhibits a remarkable biotechnological potential. Given the presence of genes in its genome dedicated to the ...metabolization of ferulic acid (FA), this study aimed to explore the bacterium's capability for biotransforming FA into high-value metabolites. The results unequivocally demonstrate the bacterium's proficiency in the efficient and rapid conversion of FA into vanillyl alcohol (VOH) and vanillic acid (VA). By manipulating key cultivation parameters, such as adjusting initial FA doses and varying cultivation periods, the product profile can be tailored. Higher initial doses and shorter cultivation periods favor the production of VOH, while lower FA doses and extended cultivation periods lead to the predominant formation of VA. Furthermore, the process can be operated in a repeated-batch scenario. This underscores the potential of C. thermodepolymerans for industrial biotransformation of FA, presenting a promising avenue for leveraging its capabilities in practical applications.
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•C. thermodepolymerans rapidly converts ferulic acid into valuable metabolites.•Conversion reaches high levels yielding mainly vanillyl alcohol and vanillic acid.•Manipulating cultivation parameters allows customization of product profile.•The process can be effectively operated in a beneficial repeated-batch scenario.
The formation of small droplets in emulsion systems promotes lipid oxidation, affecting their shelf life. In this study, ferulic acid was covalently grafted onto coconut protein (CPI) through ...alkaline treatment method. The structural characteristics, interfacial properties, emulsifying properties, and oxidative stability of emulsions prepared by coconut protein-ferulic acid covalent complexes (CPF) were investigated. The results showed that covalent grafting of ferulic acid could change the physicochemical properties of coconut protein, including altering protein secondary and tertiary structures, enhancing the absolute value of zeta potential and antioxidant activity 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) and 2, 2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS•+). Meanwhile, the interfacial behavior of CPI and CPF was characterized by dissipative quartz crystal microbalance and dilatational rheology analysis. Compared to CPI, CPF could diffuse to the oil-water interface quickly (from 0.084 ± 0.002 to 0.154 ± 0.003 mN/m/s1/2), and formed a thick interfacial layer dominated by elasticity, which enhanced the centrifugal stability of CPF-stabilized emulsions and effectively inhibited lipid oxidation within a 15-day storage period. Our results clearly demonstrated that coconut protein-ferulic acid conjugated complexes could improve emulsion stability and mitigate lipid oxidation, owing to the strong electrostatic repulsion interaction and high diffusion rate at interface. These findings may provide comprehensive insights for the further design and development of protein-polyphenol covalent complexes in the food industry.
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•The structure of coconut protein was modified after the conjugation of ferulic acid.•CPF covalent complexes could formed thicker interfacial layer than CPI.•Lipid oxidation was mitigated via ferulic acid conjugated to coconut protein.•The high Kdiff value of emulsifier to O/W interface enhanced emulsion stability.
Ferulic acid (FA), a ubiquitous natural phenolic phytochemical present in seeds, leaves, bothin its free form and covalently conjugated to the plant cell wall polysaccharides, ...glycoproteins,polyamines, lignin and hydroxy fatty acids. FA plays a vital role in providing the rigidity to the cell wall and formation of other important organic compounds like coniferyl alcohol, vanillin, sinapic, diferulic acid and curcumin. FA exhibits wide variety of biological activities such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antiallergic, hepatoprotective, anticarcinogenic, antithrombotic, increase sperm viability, antiviral and vasodilatory actions, metal chelation, modulation of enzyme activity, activation of transcriptional factors, gene expression and signal transduction.
The interactions between starch and ferulic acid can impact the properties of starchy foods. They form an inclusion complex in the shape of amylose helices, facilitated by the hydrophobic effect. The ...formation of this complex depends on the process conditions during food-production. Two extrusion conditions at different temperatures (50 and 70 °C) were used to evaluate the formation of a starch-ferulic acid complex. The thermal properties of the complex were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry, revealing that disorganizing the complex required more energy compared to control starch without ferulic acid. The high gelatinization level allowed the incorporation of ferulic acid into the amylose helix due to leached amylose during extrusion. X-ray and in vitro starch digestibility results demonstrated substantial changes, particularly in starch-ferulic acid under the conditions of high gelatinization level. These findings suggest the formation of type V inclusion complexes involving amylose-ferulic acid and their impact on digestibility properties based on the starch gelatinization level.
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•Ferulic acid-starch complex produced during the extrusion affected the physicochemical properties of starch.•The thermal properties of starch were affected by the ferulic acid addition.•XRD results show the possible formation of type V inclusion complex amylose-ferulic acid.•The addition of ferulic acid decreased the starch hydrolysis rate.
Summary
Grass lignocelluloses feature complex compositions and structures. In addition to the presence of conventional lignin units from monolignols, acylated monolignols and flavonoid tricin also ...incorporate into lignin polymer; moreover, hydroxycinnamates, particularly ferulate, cross‐link arabinoxylan chains with each other and/or with lignin polymers. These structural complexities make grass lignocellulosics difficult to optimize for effective agro‐industrial applications. In the present study, we assess the applications of two engineered monolignol 4‐O‐methyltransferases (MOMTs) in modifying rice lignocellulosic properties. Two MOMTs confer regiospecific para‐methylation of monolignols but with different catalytic preferences. The expression of MOMTs in rice resulted in differential but drastic suppression of lignin deposition, showing more than 50% decrease in guaiacyl lignin and up to an 90% reduction in syringyl lignin in transgenic lines. Moreover, the levels of arabinoxylan‐bound ferulate were reduced by up to 50%, and the levels of tricin in lignin fraction were also substantially reduced. Concomitantly, up to 11 μmol/g of the methanol‐extractable 4‐O‐methylated ferulic acid and 5–7 μmol/g 4‐O‐methylated sinapic acid were accumulated in MOMT transgenic lines. Both MOMTs in vitro displayed discernible substrate promiscuity towards a range of phenolics in addition to the dominant substrate monolignols, which partially explains their broad effects on grass phenolic biosynthesis. The cell wall structural and compositional changes resulted in up to 30% increase in saccharification yield of the de‐starched rice straw biomass after diluted acid‐pretreatment. These results demonstrate an effective strategy to tailor complex grass cell walls to generate improved cellulosic feedstocks for the fermentable sugar‐based production of biofuel and bio‐chemicals.
Ferulic acid (FA) is a natural antioxidant with antimicrobial activity and its application is restricted due to poor water solubility. To overcome this limitation, FA was entrapped into cyclodextrin ...nanosponges (CD-NSs). The antibacterial activity of FA was assessed using the microdilution method which showed a higher antibacterial activity after encapsulation. A controlled release of FA was observed in simulated gastrointestinal environment and food simulants. Furthermore, the application of FA-loaded nanosponges (FA-NS) was investigated in pomegranate juice (PJ). Anthocyanins are the main phenolic compounds of PJ that are sensitive to different environmental conditions. Copigmentation of anthocyanins with other phenolic acids can help to improve their stabilization. The antioxidant activity and phenolic content of all PJ samples (free PJ and PJ containing pure FA and FA-NS) were enhanced during storage while the anthocyanin content of all PJ samples was lessened during the storage. However, the samples containing FA-NS compared to the other samples could better preserve the anthocyanin content. Enhanced solubility of FA after incorporation into CD-NSs can induce higher interaction of FA with other components in PJ and improve their stability to preserve during the storage. These results may pave the way for the application of FA-NS as a copigment agent in juices containing anthocyanins to improve their stability during storage.
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Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (called Baizhu in China) is a medicinal plant that has long been used as a tonic agent in various ethno-medical systems in East Asia, especially in China, for the ...treatment of gastrointestinal dysfunction, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, and fetal irritability.
This review aims to provide a systematic summary on the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology of A. macrocephala to explore the future therapeutic potential and scientific potential of this plant.
A literature search was performed on A. macrocephala using scientific databases including Web of Science, Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, Springer, PubMed, SciFinder, and ScienceDirect. Information was also collected from classic books of Chinese herbal medicine, Ph.D. and M.Sc. dissertations, unpublished materials, and local conference papers on toxicology. Plant taxonomy was confirmed to the database “The Plant List” (www.theplantlist.org).
More than 79 chemical compounds have been isolated from A. macrocephala, including sesquiterpenoids, triterpenoids, polyacetylenes, coumarins, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides, steroids, benzoquinones, and polysaccharides. Crude extracts and pure compounds of A. macrocephala are used to treat gastrointestinal hypofunction, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, splenic asthenia, abnormal fetal movement, Alzheimer disease, and obesity. These extracts have various pharmacological effects, including anti-tumor activity, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-aging activity, anti-oxidative activity, anti-osteoporotic activity, neuroprotective activity, and immunomodulatory activity, as well as improving gastrointestinal function and gonadal hormone regulation.
A. macrocephala is a valuable traditional Chinese medicinal herb with multiple pharmacological activities. Pharmacological investigations support the traditional use of A. macrocephala, and may validate the folk medicinal use of A. macrocephala to treat many chronic diseases. The available literature shows that much of the activity of A. macrocephala can be attributed to sesquiterpenoids, polysaccharides and polyacetylenes. However, there is a need to further understand the molecular mechanisms and the structure-function relationship of these constituents, as well as their potential synergistic and antagonistic effects. Further research on the comprehensive evaluation of medicinal quality, the understanding of multi-target network pharmacology of A. macrocephala, as well as its long-term in vivo toxicity and clinical efficacy is recommended.
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Ferulic (FA) and gallic (GA) acids stand as crucial antioxidants in the cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries, playing a key role in the prevention of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular ...diseases. The extraction of these antioxidants from by-products of the food industry, such as sweet corn residues, contributes to a more circular economy, reducing the environmental footprint associated with their extraction processes.
In this work, these phenolic compounds were successfully extracted in the Aqueous Two-Phase Systems (ATPSs) {Ethyl lactate (1) + Potassium Sodium Tartrate or Disodium Succinate (2) + Water (3)} at 298.2 K and 0.1 MPa. In general, the ATPSs achieved partition coefficients (K) larger than unity, indicating a preference towards the top phase (ethyl lactate-rich), hinting a successful extraction of the phenolic compounds. Moreover, larger tie-lines generally led to higher partition coefficients and extraction efficiencies (E), promoting solute migration to the top phase. The most promising results referred to the partition of ferulic acid in Potassium Sodium Tartrate, with K=12±3 and E=93.3±0.4% for the longest tie-line (TLL=70.73% in mass). Finally, tie-line compositions were effectively described using a generalised version of the electrolyte non-random two-liquid (eNRTL) model for double salts, presenting low standard deviations (σx) from experimental data while considering the non-randomness factor (αij) equal to 0.2 (σx<8.47·10−3) and 0.3 (σx<4.78·10−3).
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•The enzymatic extraction process for ferulic acid from wheat bran was optimised.•Phenols were recovered from wheat bran agroindustrial biomass.•Alcalase and Termamyl pre-treatment ...increased ferulic acid yield by up to 20-fold.•Feruloyl esterase and Pentopan specifically released ferulic acid from wheat bran.
Wheat bran could be utilised as feedstock for innovative and sustainable biorefinery processes. Here, an enzymatic hydrolysis process for ferulic acid (FA) extraction was optimised step by step for total wheat bran (Tritello) and then also applied to the outer bran layer (Bran 1). Proteins, reducing sugars, total phenols and FA were quantified. The highest FA yields (0.82–1.05 g/kg bran) were obtained either by rehydrating the bran by autoclaving (Tritello) or by steam explosion (Bran 1) using a bran/water ratio of 1:20, followed by enzymatic pre-treatment with Alcalase and Termamyl, to remove protein and sugars, and a final enzymatic hydrolysis with Pentopan and feruloyl esterase to solubilise phenol. FA was recovered from the final digestate via solid phase extraction. A 40-fold scale-up was also performed and the release of compounds along all the process steps and at increasing incubation times was monitored. Results showed that FA was initially present at a minimum level while it was specifically released during the enzymatic treatment. In the final optimized process, the FA extraction yield was higher than that obtained with NaOH control hydrolysis while, in comparison with other FA enzymatic extraction methods, fewer process steps were required and no buffers, strong acid/alkali nor toxic compounds were used. Furthermore, the proposed process may be easily scaled-up, confirming the feasibility of wheat bran valorisation by biorefinery processes to obtain valuable compounds having several areas of potential industrial exploitation.
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