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Thermal power plants (TPPs) are essential for meeting increasing energy demands, but they also pose significant environmental and health risks. The Yatağan TPP in Türkiye is located near agricultural and residential areas, raising concerns about its impact on olive trees ( Olea europaea L.), a key component of the Mediterranean diet. However, the effects of TPP proximity on olive composition and their potential cytotoxicity in human cells remain unknown. This study investigated the biochemical, elemental, and biological responses of olives grown at varying distances (close, middle, and distant) from the Yatağan TPP. Our findings showed that (1) phenolic and flavonoid profiles, as well as fundamental biochemical properties, varied significantly across locations, (2) essential nutrients (Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn) were reduced considerably in olives near the TPP, while toxic metals (As, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb) accumulated at concerning levels, (3) extracts from olives grown closest to the TPP exhibited cytotoxic effects on normal human cells derived from the breast, retina, vein, and bronchus, and (4) all olive extracts displayed the highest antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus , regardless of their distance from the TPP. These results indicate that industrial emissions disrupt mineral nutrient uptake and elevate toxic metal accumulation in olive trees, potentially affecting food safety and human health. This study highlights the need for continuous environmental monitoring and regulatory measures to mitigate heavy metal contamination and ensure the sustainability of olive cultivation in regions surrounding TPPs.

Curcuminoids are the active ingredients of Curcuma longa L. and are one of the most researched subjects owing to their biological activities. This study focuses on the structural analysis of curcuminoids isolated from turmeric roots using NMR spectroscopy. Turmeric rhizomes were extracted with methanol and hexane. Curcuminoids were isolated using column chromatography, and preparative HPLC-UV. The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized using FT-IR, UV-Vis, and GC-MS as well as NMR. Spectral and physicochemical data showed that isolated curcuminoids (ar-turmeron, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin) were obtained entirely from the turmeric rhizomes. When both isolation methods are compared, it was concluded that the prep-HPLC method is efficient and practical, while column chromatography is cheap and easy. In both methods, efficient and pure curcuminoids could be easily obtained by using the solvent mixtures specified in this study.

Microbial bioproduction using one-carbon (C1) feedstocks has the potential to decarbonize the manufacturing of materials, fuels, and chemicals. Formate is a promising C1 feedstock, and the realization of industrial, formatotrophic platform organisms is a key goal for C1-based bioproduction. So far, a major limitation for synthetic formatotrophy has been slow energy supply due to slow formate dehydrogenase activity. Here, we implement a fast, metal-dependent formate dehydrogenase complex in a synthetic formatotrophic Escherichia coli utilizing the reductive glycine pathway. After a short-term evolution, we demonstrate formatotrophic growth of E. coli with a doubling time of less than 4.5 h, comparable to the fastest natural formatotrophs. To further explore the potential of a formate-based bioeconomy, this strain is engineered to produce mevalonate, as well as the terpenoid and aviation fuel precursor isoprenol, using formate we generate directly from the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 . This work demonstrates an improvement in bioproduct titer from formate, achieving the production of 3.8 g/L of mevalonate. Additionally, the abundant and recalcitrant polymer lignin is chemically decomposed into a formate-rich mixture of small organic acids and subsequently bioconverted into mevalonate. Overall, the described fast-growing, formatotrophic bioproduction strain demonstrates that a sustainable formate bioeconomy is within reach. Low formate dehydrogenase (FDH) activity limits formate assimilation via the synthetic reductive glycine pathway. In this study, the authors introduce a faster FDH in synthetic formatotrophic E. coli , which boosts growth rates and bioproduction titers from formate as sole carbon source.

There is an urgent need to develop a more efficacious anti-tuberculosis vaccine as the current live-attenuated vaccine strain BCG fails to prevent pulmonary infection in adults. In this study, we leverage a synthetic biology approach to engineer BCG to produce more (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl pyrophosphate (HMBPP), an intermediate of bacterial—but not host—isoprenoid biosynthesis via the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. HMBPP strongly activates and expands Vγ9Vδ2 T cells, which are unique to higher-order primates and protect against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. BCG has been engineered to produce specific ligands and antigens to some success; in contrast, our strategy exploits a self-nonself recognition mechanism in the host via HMBPP sensing, which has not been attempted before. To inform the design of our recombinant strains, we performed synteny analyses of >63 mycobacterial species and found that isoprenoid biosynthetic genes are not operonic across all the 356 surveyed genomes, but some genes are frequently found in pairs. Thus, we generated synthetic loci with the goal of specifically overproducing HMBPP and tested the ability of these engineered strains to induce human Vγ9Vδ2 expansion in an in vitro stimulation assay. We found that BCG expressing a synthetic MEP locus significantly enhanced Vγ9Vδ2 T cell expansion over the wild-type vaccine strain, and overexpression of the HMBPP synthase GcpE alone potently induced Vγ9Vδ2 T cell expansion with no downregulation of other pathway genes. Together these engineered strains present two successful strategies to accumulate HMBPP and overcome feedback inhibition of the MEP pathway.

Infiltration of Agrobacterium tumefaciens into Nicotiana benthamiana has become a foundational technique in plant biology, enabling efficient delivery of transgenes in planta with technical ease, robust signal, and relatively high throughput. Despite transient expression’s prevalence in disciplines such as synthetic biology, little work has been done to describe and address the variability inherent in this system, a concern for experiments that rely on highly quantitative readouts. In a comprehensive analysis of N. benthamiana agroinfiltration experiments, we model sources of variability that affect transient expression. Our findings emphasize the need to validate normalization methods under the specific conditions of each study, as distinct normalization schemes do not always reduce variation either within or between experiments. Using a dataset of 1915 plants collected over three years, we develop a model of variation in N. benthamiana transient expression, using power analysis to determine the number of individual plants required for a given effect size. Drawing on our longitudinal data, these findings inform practical guidelines for minimizing variability through strategic experimental design and power analysis, providing a foundation for more robust and reproducible use of N. benthamiana in quantitative plant biology and synthetic biology applications. Little work has been done to describe and address the variability inherent in the agroinfiltration and genetic engineering of Nicotiana benthamiana . Here, the authors identify and quantify the sources of virtually all variation and develop recommendations for minimizing variation.

The methanolic extracts from fruit, leaf, stem and roots of Paeonia daurica subsp. macrophylla ( P. daurica ) were investigated for inhibitory effect on replicative bacterial (PolC and DnaE2) and viral (MMLV-RT from Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus) DNA polymerases by primer extension assay. While all plant parts showed inhibition effect on bacterial and viral DNA polymerases, roots of the plant was focused to purify inhibitory compound(s). The chemical structures of compounds were completely elucidated using a combination of NMR, MS and FT-IR analyses. Five molecules with tree monoterpene glycosides, paeoniflorin ( PD-2 ), paeoniflorigenone ( PD-4 ), benzoyl paeoniflorin ( PD-5 ), and benzoic acid ( PD-3 ) with its derivate 2,4,6-trihydroxy-1-methyl benzoate ( PD-1 ) were purified and identified. Both DNAdependent and RNA-dependent polymerase activity of MMLV-RT was strongly inhibited by these five molecules. On the other hand, bacterial polymerases PolC and DnaE2 were strongly inhibited by only paeoniflorigenone ( PD-4 ). Molecular modeling result suggested that paeoniflorigenone ( PD-4 ) interacts with the important residues at active site (palm, fingers and thumb domains) of three polymerases which support our experimental result. Ethyl acetate fraction had smallest SC 50 value against DPPH and ABTS radicals. It showed also higher scavenging activity than quercetin, trolox and ascorbic acid since its quite high total phenolic content. We proposed that the parts of P. daurica might be used to find new antimicrobial agents and generate supplementary material for foods. Furthermore, the isolated molecules with inhibitory effect may be used as new scaffold for the further modification in order to develop novel inhibitors against DNA polymerization.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline cancer chemotherapeutic that exhibits cumulative dose-limiting cardiotoxicity and limits its clinical utility. DOX treatment results in the development of morbid cardiac hypertrophy that progresses to congestive heart failure and death. Recent evidence suggests that during the development of DOX mediated cardiac hypertrophy, mitochondrial energetics are severely compromised, thus priming the cardiomyocyte for failure. To mitigate cumulative dose (5 mg/kg, QIW x 4 weeks with 2 weeks recovery) dependent DOX, mediated cardiac hypertrophy, we applied an orally active selenium based compound termed phenylaminoethyl selenides (PAESe) (QIW 10 mg/kg x 5) to our animal model and observed that PAESe attenuates DOX-mediated cardiac hypertrophy in athymic mice, as observed by MRI analysis. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that DOX impedes the stability of the iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis protein Frataxin (FXN) (0.5 fold), resulting in enhanced mitochondrial free iron accumulation (2.5 fold) and reduced aconitase activity (0.4 fold). Our findings further indicate that PAESe prevented the reduction of FXN levels and the ensuing elevation of mitochondrial free iron levels. PAESe has been shown to have anti-oxidative properties in part, by regeneration of glutathione levels. Therefore, we observed that PAESe can mitigate DOX mediated cardiac hypertrophy by enhancing glutathione activity (0.4 fold) and inhibiting ROS formation (1.8 fold). Lastly, we observed that DOX significantly reduced cellular respiration (basal (5%) and uncoupled (10%)) in H9C2 cardiomyoblasts and that PAESe protects against the DOX-mediated attenuation of cellular respiration. In conclusion, the current study determined the protective mechanism of PAESe against DOX mediated myocardial damage and that FXN is implicitly involved in DOX-mediated cardiotoxicity.

Background Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but also has a negative impact on industrial processes aimed at obtaining monosaccharides from plant biomass. Engineering lignin offers a solution to this issue. For example, previous work showed that heterologous expression of a coliphage S -adenosylmethionine hydrolase (AdoMetase) was an effective approach to reduce lignin in the model plant Arabidopsis. The efficacy of this engineering strategy remains to be evaluated in bioenergy crops. Results We studied the impact of expressing AdoMetase on lignin synthesis in sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Lignin content, monomer composition, and size, as well as biomass saccharification efficiency were determined in transgenic sorghum lines. The transcriptome and metabolome were analyzed in stems at three developmental stages. Plant growth and biomass composition was further evaluated under field conditions. Results evidenced that lignin was reduced by 18% in the best transgenic line, presumably due to reduced activity of the S -adenosylmethionine-dependent O -methyltransferases involved in lignin synthesis. The modified sorghum features altered lignin monomer composition and increased lignin molecular weights. The degree of methylation of glucuronic acid on xylan was reduced. These changes enabled a ~20% increase in glucose yield after biomass pretreatment and saccharification compared to wild type. RNA-seq and untargeted metabolomic analyses evidenced some pleiotropic effects associated with AdoMetase expression. The transgenic sorghum showed developmental delay and reduced biomass yields at harvest, especially under field growing conditions. Conclusions The expression of AdoMetase represents an effective lignin engineering approach in sorghum. However, considering that this strategy potentially impacts multiple S -adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases, adequate promoters for fine-tuning AdoMetase expression will be needed to mitigate yield penalty.

Nanotechnology has been utilized in diverse domains, encompassing sustainable agriculture. However, the ecotoxicity and environmental safety of nanoparticles need to be evaluated before their large-scale use. This study synthesizes and characterizes magnesium (Mg) and zinc (Zn) co-doped aluminum (Al) oxide (MgZnAl 2 O 4 ) NPs and elucidates its potential growth-promoting or genotoxic performance on barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.). XRD, EDX, TEM, SEM, and XPS were used to characterize the MgZnAl 2 O 4 NPs. After characterization, the seedlings were grown in a hydroponic solution containing 0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg L −1 NPs for 3 weeks. The germination, growth indices, photosynthetic parameters, and nutrient absorption properties were determined. Confocal microscopy, TEM, and SEM were utilized to follow the path and reveal the structural and morphological effects of NPs. The potential genotoxic effect was evaluated using the RAPD-PCR method. Elemental composition analysis of plant parts confirmed that synthesized MgZnAl 2 O 4 NPs, sized at 21.8 nm, were up-taken by the plant roots, leading to increased Mg, Zn, and Al contents of leaves. In addition, compared with the untreated control, the abundance of Ca, K, B, Fe, Mn, and Cu were increased by the NPs treatment. In addition, physiological indices like germination rate (~ 11%), root and leaf growth (15–29%), chlorophyll, and carotenoids (~ 39%) pigments were significantly raised by the NPs inclusion. It can be concluded that low concentrations (< 200 mg L −1 ) of MgZnAl 2 O 4 NPs enhance growth parameters effectively and are safe for plant growth. On the other hand, a phytotoxic and genotoxic impact was observed at high concentrations (100–400 mg L −1 ). However, considerable amounts of NPs were found to be adsorbed on roots, disrupting root morphology and cell membrane integrity, thus nutrient trafficking and transport. Therefore, it is recommended that MgZnAl 2 O 4 NPs can be used in barley breeding programs at low concentrations. Adding micro- or macroelements required by plants to the NP composition is a promising way to compensate for plant nutrition. However, the negative effects of MgZnAl 2 O 4 NPs on the environment and other living beings due to their genotoxic effects at high doses must be carefully considered.

Althaea officinalis L. has been widely used traditionally as an herbal tea and for the treatment of cough, mucous membrane irritation, colds, and inflammation. Parts of the plant extracts were analyzed using HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS/MS. The total phenolic content, radical scavenging activities, and enzyme inhibitions (urease and xanthine oxidase) of the extracts were determined spectroscopically. The main molecules of this plant and their 3D structures were built using the LigPrep module of Schrödinger Maestro 11.5 with the OPLS3 force field. Additionally, these molecules were analyzed for various physical descriptors and pharmaceutically relevant properties for ADME prediction using the QikProp tool of the Schrodinger Suite. Through HPLC-DAD-MS analysis, abundant compounds such as hesperidin, epigallocatechin, myricetin, and apigenin-7-glucoside were detected in the extracts. Moreover, the methanol extracts from the flowers showed a higher inhibition effect on xanthine oxidase (XO). In silico results indicated that the thirteen molecules exhibited strong inhibitory activity toward XO. However, according to the ADME results, the overall compounds, except for rutin and hesperidin, displayed low values of violations of Lipinski's rule of five and predicted pharmacokinetic parameters. They also exhibited drug-likeness features with minimal violations. The HPLC-DAD-MS/MS analysis of the extracts from Althaea officinalis revealed a rich phenolic content in this plant. These therapeutic and preventive compounds may be worth considering for isolation and further exploration as natural remedies. Graphical abstract