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The effect of temperature on the antioxidant activity of phenolic acids (gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, syringic, vanillic, ferulic, caffeic, and sinapic; 0.5 mmol/kg) was studied in pork lard, using an Oxipres apparatus, at a temperature range of 90 deg C to 150 deg C. The antioxidant activity of all studied compounds decreased with increasing working temperature, whereas a linear relationship (P less than 0.01) existed between temperature and the antioxidant activity in all cases. However, the relative rate of the antioxidant activity decrease with increasing temperature (i.e. in comparison with the activity at 90 deg C) was not the same for all studied phenolic acids. Easily oxidisable phenolic acids (i.e. gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic) showed a slower decrease in antioxidant activity with increasing temperature (in comparison with their activity at 90 deg C) than the less oxidisable ones (i.e. syringic, ferulic and sinapic acids, and especially vanillic acid). Consequently, only gallic, gentisic, protocatechuic, and caffeic acids showed a significant antioxidant activity at 150 deg C and vanillic acid was active only at 90 deg C.

Essential oils (EOs) are important aromatic components of herbs and spices and their biological activities have been known and utilised since ancient times in perfumery, food preservation, flavouring, and medicine. Some of their biological activities include antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects amongst others. EOs have received attention in recent years as potential 'natural' alternatives for replacing antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in animal diets due to their positive impact on growth performance, gut microbiota and welfare. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of our own published and unpublished data on the antibacterial, antifungal and insecticidal activity of thymol and cinnamaldehyde (TC blend), and to describe the effects of this specific EO blend on gut microbiota, growth performance and welfare, carcass characteristics and food safety. The possible modes of action of EOs are discussed and areas for future research are proposed.

We analyzed lignin content and composition in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) lines altered in the expression of the early phenylpropanoid biosynthetic enzymes L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H). The reduction of C4H activity by antisense expression or sense suppression resulted in reduced levels of Klason lignin, accompanied by a decreased syringyl/guaiacyl monomer ratio as determined by pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Similar reduction of lignin levels by down-regulation of L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, the enzyme preceding C4H in the central phenylpropanoid pathway, did not result in a decreased syringyl/guaiacyl ratio. Rather, analysis of lignin methoxyl content and pyrolysis suggested an increased syringyl/guaiacyl ratio. One possible explanation of those results is that monolignol biosynthesis from L-phenylalanine might occur by more than one route, even at the early stages of the core phenylpropanoid pathway, prior to the formation of specific monolignol precursors

Seven Czech hop varieties (dry hop cones) coming from the harvest of 2008 (Agnus, Bor, Harmonie, Premiant, Rubin, Sladek, and Saaz) were compared for their composition depending on their varietal differentiation. These cultivars were analysed for the contents of alpha- and beta-bitter acids analogues, essential oils, and polyphenols. Hop essential oil constituents significantly contribute to the individual hop varieties. The dichotomous key for the authentication of Czech hop varieties was established based on some characteristic varietal markers.

Salicylic acid (SA) is a natural inducer of disease resistance in some dicotyledonous plants. Rice seedlings (Oryza sativa L.) had the highest levels of SA among all plants tested for SA content (between 0.01 and 37.19 microgram/g fresh weight). The second leaf of rice seedlings had slightly lower SA levels than any younger leaves. To investigate the role of SA in rice disease resistance, we examined the levels of SA in rice (cv M-201) after inoculation with bacterial and fungal pathogens. SA levels did not increase after inoculation with either the avirulent pathogen Pseudomonas syringae D20 or with the rice pathogens Magnaporthe grisea, the causal agent of rice blast, and Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of sheath blight. However leaf SA levels in 28 rice varieties showed a correlation with generalized blast resistance, indicating that SA may play a role as a constitutive defense compound. Biosynthesis and metabolism of SA in rice was studied and compared to that of tobacco. Rice shoots converted [14C]cinnamic acid to SA and the lignin precursors p-coumaric and ferulic acids, whereas [14C]benzoic acid was readily converted to SA. The data suggest that in rice, as in tobacco, SA is synthesized from cinnamic acid via benzoic acid. In rice shoots, SA is largely present as a free acid; however, exogenously supplied SA was converted to beta-O-D-glucosylSA by an SA-inducible glucosyltransferase (SA-GTase). A 7-fold induction of SA-GTase activity was observed after 6 h of feeding 1 mM SA. Both rice roots and shoots showed similar patterns of SA-GTase induction by SA, with maximal induction after feeding with 1 mM SA.

The ability of phenolic acids (ferulic, gallic, protocatechuic, and sinapic; 600 mg/kg) to protect naturally present alpha-tocopherol was tested during the heating of sunflower oil on a hot plate set at 120, 150, 180, 210, or 240 deg C, and during the heating of rapeseed, olive and soybean oils on a hot plate set at 180 deg C. In all the studied conditions, alpha-tocopherol was significantly protected only by gallic acid. This phenolic acid prolonged the half-life of alpha-tocopherol (calculated as the time needed for the alpha-tocopherol content to decrease to 50% of the original value) typically two- to four-fold. Hence the ability of phenolic acids to protect alpha-tocopherol in bulk oils does not markedly depend on the experimental conditions as is seen in antioxidant activity, i.e. in the ability of antioxidants to protect fatty acids.

Cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) is the first Cyt P450-dependent monooxygenase of the phenylpropanoid pathway. To study the expression of this gene in Arabidopsis thaliana, a C4H cDNA clone from the Arabidopsis expressed sequence tag database was identified and used to isolate its corresponding genomic clone. The entire C4H coding sequence plus 2.9 kb of its promoter were isolated on a 5.4-kb HindIII fragment of this cosmid. Inspection of the promoter sequence revealed the presence of a number of putative regulatory motifs previously identified in the promoters of other phenylpropanoid pathway genes. The expression of C4H was analyzed by RNA blot hybridization analysis and in transgenic Arabidopsis carrying a C4H-beta-glucuronidase transcriptional fusion. C4H message accumulation was light-dependent, but was detectable even in dark-grown seedlings. Consistent with these data, C4H mRNA was accumulated to light-grown levels in etiolated det1-1 mutant seedlings. C4H is widely expressed in various Arabidopsis tissues, particularly in roots and cells undergoing lignification. The C4H-driven beta-glucuronidase expression accurately reflected the tissue-specificity and wound-inducibility of the C4H promoter indicated by RNA blot hybridization analysis. A modest increase in C4H expression was observed in the tt8 mutant of Arabidopsis

The effect of chitosan on the growth and morphology of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis (Foa), the causal agent of Bayoud disease, and its ability to elicit a defence reaction against this fungus in date palm roots were investigated. Chitosan at 1 mg mlE-1 reduced the growth of Foa on potato dextrose agar medium by an average of 75%, while mycelial growth was totally inhibited in a liquid medium. When added to a solid medium, chitosan caused morphological changes in Foa mycelium. In addition, when injected into roots at three concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg mlE-1), chitosan elicited peroxidase (PO) and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activity and, particularly at the concentration of 1 mg mlE-1, increased the level of phenolic compounds. Concerning phenolics, chitosan led to an accumulation of non-constitutive hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, known to be of great importance in date palm resistance to Bayoud. The accumulation of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives was greater in cv BSTN than in cv JHL. Chitosan could be used to protect date palm against this vascular disease [Sono stati studiati l´effetto del chitosano sulla crescita e la morfologia di Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis (Foa), agente causale della malattia del Bayoud, e la sua capacità di provocare una reazione di difesa contro questo fungo nella palma da datteri. Il chitosano a 1 mg mlE-1 ha ridotto la crescita di Foa su un substrato agar-patata-destrosio del 75% in media, mentre in substrato liquido la crescita del micelio era inibita completamente. Aggiunto a un substrato solido, il chitosano ha determinato cambiamenti morfologici nel micelio di Foa. Inoltre, quando veniva iniettato nelle radici a tre concentrazioni (0,1, 0,5 e 1 mg mlE-1), il chitosano stimolava l´attività della perossidasi (PO) e della polifenolossidasi (PPO) e, in particolare alla concentrazione di 1 mg mlE-1, determinava un aumento del livello di composti fenolici. Riguardo ai composti fenolici, il chitosano portava a un accumulo di derivati non costitutivi dell´acido idrossicinnamico, noti per la loro importanza notevole nella resistenza della palma da datteri al Bayoud. L´accumulo di derivati dell´acido idrossicinnamico è risultato maggiore nella cv BSTN rispetto alla cv JHL. Il chitosano potrebbe essere utilizzato nella difesa della palma da datteri da questa malattia vascolare.]

Structures and levels of anthocyanin-related compounds were analyzed during the development of marginal picotee petals in white-center and white-marginal cultivars of Petunia hybrida. In the white site of a white-center cultivar, higher concentrations of quercetin derivatives possessing 7-O-glucoside and/or 3'-O-glucoside occurred than in the colored site, suggesting that these two quercetin glycosylation steps are site-specifically regulated. The boundary areas of petal coloration were composed of cells showing various color densities, whose uniformity among adjacent cells varied between these cultivars. These results indicate diversity in spatiotemporal regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis and flavonol glycosylations between Petunia cultivars during marginal picotee formation.

4-Coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL, EC 6.2.1.12) was purified from differentiating xylem of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). The pine enzyme had an apparent molecular mass of 64 kD and was similar in size and kinetic properties to 4CL isolated from Norway spruce. The pine enzyme used 4-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and cinnamic acid as substrates but had no detectable activity using sinapic acid. 4CL was inhibited by naringenin and coniferin, products of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Although the lignin composition in compression wood is higher in p-hydroxyphenyl units than lignin from normal wood, there was no evidence for a different form of 4CL enzyme in differentiating xylem that was forming compression wood. cDNA clones for 4CL were obtained from a xylem expression library. The cDNA sequences matched pine xylem 4CL protein sequences and showed 60 to 66% DNA sequence identity with 4CL sequences from herbaceous angiosperms. There were two classes of cDNA obtained from pine xylem, and the genetic analysis showed that they were products of a single gene