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- Author or Editor: S. Li x
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Edible black ant ( Polyrhachis vicina Roger) is a traditional edible insect species in China. It has long been used as an important ingredient of health foods. The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes of organic compounds following sun drying of edible black ant. The results showed that fresh and sun dried edible black ant samples have 28 organic components. Nine of them found in the present study have not been reported previously such as 8-heptadecene and (E,E)-6,10,14-trimethyl-5,9,13-pentadecatrien-2-one. Five constituents disappeared and 4 components formed while the ant was sun dried. The major organic compounds of fresh and sun dried edible black ant belong to fatty acids and hydrocarbons. Some compounds such as fatty acids, aldehyde and alkanes appeared during the procedure indicating that sun drying speeds up lipid oxidation and hydrolytic rancidity.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae MERIT.ferm was used as mono- and mixed-cultures with Williopsis saturnus var. mrakii NCYC500 in mango wine fermentation. A ratio of 1:1000 (Saccharomyces:Williopsis) was chosen for mixed-culture fermentation to enable longer persistence of the latter. The monoculture of S. cerevisiae and mixed-culture was able to ferment to dryness with 7.0% and 7.7% ethanol, respectively. The monoculture of W. mrakii produced 1.45% ethanol. The mango wines fermented by S. cerevisiae alone and the mixed-culture were more yeasty and winey, which reflected their higher amounts of fusel alcohols, ethyl esters and medium-chain fatty acids. The mango wine fermented by W. mrakii alone was much less alcoholic, but fruitier, sweeter, which corresponded to its higher levels of acetate esters.
The refinement of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) from Hippophae rhamnoides L. seed oil was carried out by molecular distillation (MD) using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite rotate design was used in order to optimize the experimental parameters: distilling temperature and feed flow. The optimal MD conditions were determined and the quadratic response surfaces were drawn from the mathematical models. The results suggested that the distilling temperature and feed flow significantly affected both the UFA content and oil yield in the two models. The optimum conditions for refining UFA were: distilling temperature 107.5 °C and feed flow 1 ml min−1. Optimal values predicted by RSM for the UFA content and oil yield were 82.38% and 62.59%, respectively. Close agreement between experimental and predicted values was obtained.
Abstract
Nattokinase (NK) is effective in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Cucumber is rich in nutrients with low sugar content and is safe for consumption. The aim of this study was to construct a therapeutic cucumber that can express NK, which can prevent and alleviate cardiovascular diseases by consumption. Because the Bitter fruit (Bt) gene contributes to bitter taste but has no obvious effect on the growth and development of cucumber, so the NK-producing cucumber was constructed by replacing the Bt gene with NK by using CRISPR/Cas9. The pZHY988-Cas9-sgRNA and pX6-LHA-U6-NK-T-RHA vectors were constructed and transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105, which was transformed into cucumber by floral dip method. The crude extract of NK-producing cucumber had significant thrombolytic activity in vitro. In addition, treatment with the crude extract significantly delayed thrombus tail appearance, and the thrombin time of mice was much longer than that of normal mice. The degrees of coagulation and blood viscosity as well as hemorheological properties improved significantly after crude extract treatment. These findings show that NK-producing cucumber can effectively alleviate thrombosis and improve blood biochemical parameters, providing a new direction for diet therapy against cardiovascular diseases.
Abstract
To determine the most effective preservation method for MiBa (a traditional Chinese rice product), MiBa treated with 75% alcohol, 75% alcohol + inhibitor, ozone treatment; untreated (control); and raw rice were subjected to 16S rRNA gene and ITS three-generation sequencing by High-throughput Sequencing Technology. According to the results the preservation effects of different treatment methods ranked as follows: ozone treatment >75% alcohol treatment >75% alcohol+inhibitor > control. Bacterial composition analysis showed that the bacterial community on the surface of MiBa treated with ozone was dominated by genera Leuconostoc and Serratia. The fungal community consisted mainly of Aspergillus and Alternaria. In summary, ozone treatment proved to be the most effective in inhibiting microbial contamination during the storage of MiBa, effectively extending its shelf life.
Abstract
Marine organisms have attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this study, peptides with osteogenic activity from Pinctada martensii were isolated and identified. Additionally, the effects of the hydrolysates on MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation and differentiation were evaluated using the MTT and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assays, respectively. First, trypsin, pancreatin, and neutral protease were used to hydrolyse the intact shellfish. The hydrolysates with the greatest effects on osteoblast proliferation and ALP activity were separated and purified. Second, fraction WP2 was isolated and purified using a Sephadex G-25 column. WP2, which had the highest osteogenic activity, increased cell growth by 48.57 ± 0.05% and ALP activity by 6.27 ± 0.07 mU. Finally, four novel peptides were identified in WP2 (FDNEGKGKLPEEY, IVLDSGDGVTH, IVLDSGDGVSH, and SSENSDLQRQ) by Orbitrap Fusion Lumos Tribrid orbital liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Our findings revealed that P. martensii contains peptides with potential osteogenic activity.
Influence of different maturity stages and treatments of ethephon, exogenous ABA, and fluridone on the ripening and hormone level of ‘Zhonghuashoutao’ peach during development and post-harvest storage were investigated. The accumulation of endogenous ABA appeared at the onset of ripening and peaked at two weeks before harvest. Fruit firmness decreased, while ethylene release and SSC/TA increased sharply after a maximum peak of ABA, which have triggered the initiation of the fruit ripening. The fruits, harvested at 170 d when fruits have ripened and stored at 20 °C, showed an ethylene climacteric peak, and the pulp started softening normally, and the SSC/TA value increased. Compared with them, the immature green fruits harvested at other dates, could not mature normally due to the lack of normal reciprocity between ABA and ethylene. The ethylene release was promoted by the treatment of exogenous ABA and ethephon during ripening until the endogenous ABA reached a maximum value. However, fluridone treatment showed an inhibitory effect. The above-mentioned changes occurred again in the peach fruits after harvest. The results indicated that both ABA and ethylene play important roles in peach ripening, and their action depended on the ripening stage of peach.
Abstract
This paper explores the prediction of the soluble solid content (SSC) in the visible and near-infrared (400–1,000 nm) regions of Baise mango. Hyperspectral images of Baise mangoes with wavelengths of 400–1,000 nm were obtained using a hyperspectral imaging system. Multiple scatter correction (MSC) was chosen to remove the effect of noise on the accuracy of the partial least squares (PLS) regression model. On this basis, the characteristic wavelengths of mango SSC were selected using the competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), genetic algorithm (GA), uninformative variable elimination (UVE), and combined CARS + GA-SPA, CARS + UVE-SPA, and GA + UVE-SPA characteristic wavelength methods. The results show that the combined MSC-CARS + GA-SPA-PLS algorithm can reduce redundant information and improve the computational efficiency, so it is an effective method to predict the SSC of mangoes.
Abstract
Soluble dietary fibre (SDF) is well recognised for its remarkable effectiveness in promoting human health. This study utilised response surface methodology to evaluate the optimal conditions required to extract SDF (U-SDF) from Lentinula edodes via the ultrasonic-assisted hot-water method, and evaluated the hypolipidemic effects and anti-inflammatory effects of U-SDF. The optimal extraction conditions for U-SDF were ultrasonic power of 182 W, extraction time of 2 h, extraction temperature of 81 °C, and solid-liquid ratio of 1:24 (g mL−1). Under these conditions, the extraction rate of U-SDF reached 8.08%. U-SDF treatment significantly improved liver and kidney indices in diabetic mice, markedly reduced the levels of plasma triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), and significantly increased the level of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in a dose-dependent manner. U-SDF also improved adipose tissue injury in diabetic mice, significantly decreased the levels of cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and alleviated inflammation of the abdominal aorta. In conclusion, U-SDF from L. edodes is an excellent source of dietary fibres, which exhibit good hypolipidemic and anti-inflammatory activities, suggesting potential applications as a functional additive in diverse food products.
