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The examination of natural resources represents a promising avenue for discovering bioactive natural products. The genus Malcolmia (Brassicaceae) has received minimal phytochemical investigation, despite the recognized pharmacological potential of Brassicaceae members. Herein, Malcolmia grandiflora Kuntze was investigated through phytochemical and biological examination of its n -hexane and defatted extracts utilizing GC-MS, LC-HRMS, and in vitro assays. The n -hexane extract exhibited potent cytotoxicity against colorectal and breast cancer cell lines, whereas the defatted extract displayed selective COX-2 inhibition. Evaluation of the antioxidant efficacy revealed moderate activity of the defatted extract outperforming that of the n -hexane extract in the ABTS and FRAP assays, while both extracts displayed weak activity in the DPPH assay. GC-MS analysis revealed 20 metabolites, mainly fatty acid derivatives, esters, and long-chain alcohols. LC-HRMS analysis unveiled diversified metabolic content dominated by flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, and isothiocyanates. Molecular docking indicated moderate binding affinities of the n -hexane metabolites, the disparity noted between the n -hexane extract’s cytotoxicity results and its metabolites’ moderate binding affinities suggests the involvement of distinct mechanisms of action. In contrast, docking results underscore flavonoids as promising Cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) targeted anticancer leads.

In almost all dryland systems, biological soil crusts (biocrusts) coexist alongside herbaceous and woody vegetation, creating landscape mosaics of vegetated and biocrusted patches. Results from past studies on the interaction between biocrusts and vascular plants have been contradictory. In the Gurbantunggut desert, a large temperate desert in northwestern China, well-developed lichen-dominated crusts dominate the areas at the base and between the sand dunes. We examined the influence of these lichen-dominated biocrusts on the germination, growth, biomass accumulation, and elemental content of five common plants in this desert: two shrubs ( Haloxylon persicum , Ephedra distachya ) and three herbaceous plants ( Ceratocarpus arenarius , Malcolmia africana and Lappula semiglabra ) under greenhouse conditions. The influence of biocrusts on seed germination was species-specific. Biocrusts did not affect percent germination in plants with smooth seeds, but inhibited germination of seeds with appendages that reduced or eliminated contact with the soil surface or prevented seeds from slipping into soil cracks. Once seeds had germinated, biocrusts had different influences on growth of shrub and herbaceous plants. The presence of biocrusts increased concentrations of nitrogen but did not affect phosphorus or potassium in tissue of all tested species, while the uptake of the other tested nutrients was species-specific. Our study showed that biocrusts can serve as a biological filter during seed germination and also can influence growth and elemental uptake. Therefore, they may be an important trigger for determining desert plant diversity and community composition in deserts.

NOABSTRACTMalcolmia aegyptiaca (locally known as El Harra) and Matthiola livida (locally known as Chegara) are medicinal plants traditionally used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Little is known about the flavonoid content or the analgesie and anti-inflammatory properties of these plants.The aim of the study was to explore the natural therapeutic potential of two xerophytic plants, M. aegyptiaca Spr. and Matthiola livida DC, for analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities using hot-plate, writhing and carrageenan-induced paw edema tests.Flavonoid content was quantified using the AICI3 as reagent. Analgesic activity was assessed using hot-plate (in concentrations of 30 to 80 mg/kg) and writhing tests (20 and 40 mg/kg) in the rats treated. Anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated using the carrageenan-induced paw edema model in rats treated with two doses (25 and 50 mg/kg) of the two plant extracts.M. livida extract had a higher flavonoid concentration compared to M. aegyptiaca extract. Both the M. aegyptiaca and M. livida extracts exhibited dose-dependent analgesic effects in the hot-plate test, with higher doses inducing a stronger and more sustained analgesia. M. aegyptiaca extract displayed weaker dose-dependent anti-nociceptive effects in the writhing test compared to the standard NSAID indomethacin. The anti-nociceptive effects of the M. livida extract were mainly observed at the higher dose in the writhing test. Both extracts demonstrated dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity in the carrageenan-induced paw edema model, with higher doses exhibiting greater inhibition at later time points.The M. aegyptiaca and M. livida methanolic extracts possess analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, supporting their traditional use for the pain and inflammation management. Further research is needed to elucidate the active components and mechanisms of action responsible for these activities.

Does Carpobrotus edulis have an impact on native plants? How do C. edulis' soil residual effects affect the maintenance of native populations? What is the extent of interspecific competition in its invasion process? In order to answer those questions, we established pure and mixed cultures of native species and C. edulis on soil collected from invaded and native areas of Mediterranean coastal dunes in the Iberian Peninsula. We examined the impact of the invader on the germination, growth and survival of seeds and adult plants of two native plant species (Malcolmia littorea (L.) R.Br, and Scabiosa atropurpurea L.) growing with ramets or seeds of C. edulis. Residual effects of C. edulis on soils affected the germination process and early growth of native plants in different ways, depending on plant species and density. Interspecific competition significantly reduced the germination and early growth of native plants but this result was soil, density, timing and plant species dependent. Also, at any density of adult individuals of C. edulis, established native adult plants were not competitive. Moreover, ramets of C. edulis had a lethal effect on native plants, which died in a short period of time. Even the presence of C. edulis seedlings prevents the recruitment of native species. In conclusion, C. edulis have strong negative impacts on the germination, growth and survival of the native species M. littorea and S. atropurpurea. These impacts were highly depended on the development stages of native and invasive plants. Our findings are crucial for new strategies of biodiversity conservation in coastal habitats.

The species Carpobrotus edulis, native to South Africa, is one of the major plant invaders of Mediterranean coastal ecosystems around the world. Invasion by C. edulis exerts a great impact on coastal habitats. The low number of native species in invaded communities points to the possible existence of mechanisms suppressing their germination. In this study we assessed whether soil factors, endozoochory, competition and allelopathic effects of the invader affect its own early establishment and that of the native species Malcolmia littorea. We used laboratory solutions representing different chemical composition and moisture of the soil, herbivore feeding assays to simulate seed scarification and rainwater solutions to account for the effect of differently aged C. edulis litter. The invasive species exhibits features that likely make it a better colonizer of sand dunes than the co-occurring native species. Allelopathic effects, ability to establish in drier microsites and efficient scarification by rabbits are among the mechanisms allowing C. edulis to invade. The results help to explain the failure of removal projects that have been carried out in order to restore dunes invaded by C. edulis, and the long-lasting effects of C. edulis litter need to be taken into account in future restoration projects.

This study aims to isolate and optimize the production of L‐asparaginase from fungal strains derived from Algerian Saharan plants, and evaluate the reduction of acrylamide formation in food products. L‐asparaginase has frequently been used to treat childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It catalyzes the hydrolysis of asparagine and glutamine into aspartic acid and ammonia. It is also used in the food industry to minimize acrylamide formation during high‐temperature frying of starchy food items. In this study, L‐asparaginase was identified in various microbial, animal, and plant species. Using Czapek‐Dox medium, different fungal species were first isolated from Saharan plants of southeast Algeria (including Zygophyllum cornutum Coss., Malcolmia aegyptiaca Spreng., Phoenix dactylifera L., and Cyperus rotundus L.) and tested for their ability to produce extracellular L‐asparaginase. Among 13 isolates, nine were positive in the preliminary test. The strain Fusarium sp.₃, isolated from M. aegyptiaca leaves, had the highest enzyme index (1.92 ± 0.35) with maximum enzyme production (63.68 units per milliliter). Critical factors such as temperature (30°C–50°C), pH (5.0–8.0), and substrate concentration (1–10 g/L) were optimized under liquid‐state fermentation to maximize enzyme production. Utilizing Minitab software, additional statistical methods were employed for the optimization process, including the Plackett–Burman design and response surface methodology. The Plackett–Burman design screened seven variables: temperature, pH, incubation time, substrate concentration, glucose concentration, nitrogen source, and agitation speed. The design identified asparagine concentration, incubation time, and pH as the most significant factors for asparaginase production. Response surface methodology was then used to optimize these factors, producing maximum asparaginase in a 50‐mL medium. Under optimized conditions, the application of L‐asparaginase to potato slices prior to frying resulted in a 68% reduction in acrylamide content (from 435.6 ± 12.4 μg/kg to 139.3 ± 8.7 μg/kg), demonstrating the enzyme's strong potential for improving food safety. This study focuses on the isolation of fungal endophytes from four specific Saharan plants, in an endeavor to explore novel sources of L‐asparaginase. Diverse fungal species were isolated from Saharan flora in southeast Algeria, and using Czapek‐Dox medium, the potential to produce extracellular L‐asparaginase was evaluated. Exhibited the highest enzyme productivity, with an enzyme index of 1.92 ± 0.35 and an output of 63.68 U/mL. To enhance enzyme yield, the optimization of various physical and nutritional parameters was conducted through liquid‐state fermentation.

Salinity is an abiotic stress that limits both yield and the expansion of agricultural crops to new areas. In the last 20 years our basic understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant tolerance and adaptation to saline environments has greatly improved owing to active development of advanced tools in molecular, genomics, and bioinformatics analyses. However, the full potential of investigative power has not been fully exploited, because the use of halophytes as model systems in plant salt tolerance research is largely neglected. The recent introduction of halophytic Arabidopsis-Relative Model Species (ARMS) has begun to compare and relate several unique genetic resources to the well-developed Arabidopsis model. In a search for candidates to begin to understand, through genetic analyses, the biological bases of salt tolerance, 11 wild relatives of Arabidopsis thaliana were compared: Barbarea verna, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Hirschfeldia incana, Lepidium densiflorum, Malcolmia triloba, Lepidium virginicum, Descurainia pinnata, Sisymbrium officinale, Thellungiella parvula, Thellungiella salsuginea (previously T. halophila), and Thlaspi arvense. Among these species, highly salt-tolerant (L. densiflorum and L. virginicum) and moderately salt-tolerant (M. triloba and H. incana) species were identified. Only T. parvula revealed a true halophytic habitus, comparable to the better studied Thellungiella salsuginea. Major differences in growth, water transport properties, and ion accumulation are observed and discussed to describe the distinctive traits and physiological responses that can now be studied genetically in salt stress research.

The cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus are essential components of the processes and functioning of ecosystems. The functional capacity of the soil microbial community that drives these cycles varies among soils dominated by different plant species. This work aims to quantify changes in soil features of coastal ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula caused by the invasion of Carpobrotus edulis by analysing soil chemical properties and extracellular soil enzymes. We also analyse the influence of these changes on the germination and early development of native species Malcolmia littorea (L.) R.Br. and Scabiosa atropurpupea L. and the alien C. edulis . Our results reveal that when C. edulis invades a dune ecosystem, it causes significant changes to pH, enzymatic activities, nutrients, salinity and moisture content of the soil (the level of the change depends on the initial characteristics of the invaded ecosystem). These changes alter the germination process of native and invasive plants in different ways. The results of this work suggest mechanism whereby C. edulis competes with native species at an early stage and breaks the initial abiotic resistance of newly invaded landscapes. This study highlights the importance of studying the effects of invasive plant-soil interactions on the germination and emergence of different plant species in order to fully understand the effects of invasion and to consider options for restoration activities in areas invaded by C. edulis .

In the context of global climate change, changes in precipitation patterns will have profound effects on desert plants, particularly on shallow-rooted plants, such as ephemeral plants. Therefore, we conducted an experiment on artificial control of precipitation for four dominant ephemeral plants, Erodium oxyrhinchum, Alyssum linifolium, Malcolmia scorpioides, and Hyalea pulchella, in the southern edge of Gurbantunggut Desert. We measured the importance value and some growth parameters of the four species under increased or decreased precipitation and constructed trait correlation networks for each of the four species. We also compared the response of increased or decreased precipitation to vegetation coverage. The results show that drought significantly reduced the survival rate, seed production and weight, and aboveground biomass accumulation of ephemeral plants. The four ephemeral plants showed different tolerance and response strategies to precipitation changes. E. oxyrhinchum and M. scorpioides can avoid drought by accelerating life history, and E. oxyrhinchum, A. linifolium, and H. pulchella can alleviate the negative effects of drought by adjusting leaf traits. However, the response of different species to the wet treatment was not consistent. Based on the results of the trait correlation network, we consider A. linifolium belongs to the ruderal plant, E. oxyrhinchum and M. scorpioides belong to the competitive plants, and H. pulchella belongs to the stress-tolerant plant. The outstanding trait coordination ability of E. oxyrhinchum makes it show absolute dominance in the community. This indicate that ephemeral plants can adapt to precipitation changes to a certain extent, and that distinct competitive advantages in growth or reproduction enabled species coexistence in the same ecological niche. Nevertheless, drought significantly reduces their community cover and the ecological value of ephemeral plants. These findings established the basis to predict vegetation dynamics in arid areas under precipitation changes.

The establishment of large populations of yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis in coastal and urban areas can lead to strong changes in vegetation cover and composition through creating physical disturbance in the vegetation and impacting the soil quality through defecation. In this study, we evaluated the effects of breeding yellow-legged gull populations on tall and short vegetation cover and plant species composition in old (occupied for 13 years) and new (occupied for 3 years) colony sites in grey dunes of the Algarve, southern Portugal. In each site, sampling plots were used to measure the percentage of vegetation cover in areas with and without breeding gulls. In the old colony site, the cover by tall vegetation was substantially reduced and the cover by short vegetation substantially increased in the areas where gulls are breeding in comparison with the adjacent areas. In the new colony sites, there were only minor differences. The increase in cover of short vegetation in the breeding area of the old colony site was mostly by nitrophilous species (Paronychia argentea and Malcolmia littorea) and should be explained by the decrease in vegetation cover of tall plant species and by feces deposition. Tall and slow-growing species Suaeda maritima and Helichrysum italicum covers were negatively affected. Our results showed that yellow-legged gulls affected vegetation cover and composition of grey dunes after 3 years of consecutive breeding, and this should be considered in the management of these habitats where breeding yellow-legged gulls are increasing.