Effect of drying temperature and air flow on the production and retention of secondary metabolites in saffron

Safranal is the compound most responsible for the aroma of saffron spice and is, together with the suite of crocin pigments, the major determinant of the product quality. The content of safranal and pigments in saffron is determined by the method of postharvest treatment of the Crocus stigmas. A range of drying treatments involving different temperatures, with or without air flow, was applied to stigmas from three harvest dates. Dual solvent extractions combined with quantitative measurement using GC and HPLC-UV-vis techniques were used to analyze the secondary metabolite contents of the products. It was demonstrated that these methods overcame the previously reported problems in measuring the concentration of both pigments and safranal in saffron caused by the very different polarities and thus solubilities of these compounds. The results showed that a brief (20 min) initial period at a relatively high temperature (between 80 and 92 degrees C) followed by continued drying at a lower temperature (43 degrees C) produced saffron with a safranal content up to 25 times that of saffron dried only at lower temperatures. Evidence was provided suggesting that drying with significant air flow reduced the safranal concentration. The results, moreover, indicated that high-temperature treatment had allowed greater retention of crocin pigments than in saffron dried at intermediate temperatures (46-58 degrees C). The biochemical implications of the various treatments are discussed in relation to the potential for optimizing color and fragrance quality in the product.     

Depletion of organic phosphorus from Oxisols in relation to phosphatase activities in the rhizosphere

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is a major limitation to agricultural production in many parts of the world. It is therefore desirable to identify plants with enhanced abilities to utilize P more efficiently. Exudation of phosphatase from roots may improve P availability, yet there is little direct evidence for this. Here we report the dynamics of organic P in the rhizosphere of plants that have enhanced rhizosphere phosphatase activity. Agroforestry species and transgenic subterranean clover (engineered to produce phytase) were compared with crop and wild‐type plant controls, respectively. Depletion of organic P was measured in pools defined by chemical extraction, solution ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, and microbial immobilization of radio‐isotopic P. Plants that had greater extracellular phosphatase activity depleted more organic P from P‐deficient Oxisols than control plants. Depleted organic P forms were primarily phosphate monoesters. Plants with enhanced extracellular phosphatase activity also had access to a pool of soil P that was less isotopically exchangeable. Transgenic subterranean clover that expresses a microbial phytase gene appeared to have greater access to recently immobilized P, whereas plants expressing endogenous phosphatases utilized the unlabelled portion of soil organic P to a greater extent. Collectively, these results indicate that the enhancement of phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere of plants is implicated in the depletion of organic P forms from soils, most notably orthophosphate monoesters, whilst also suggesting that there is some exclusivity to the pools of organic P utilized by plants and microorganisms.     

Analysis of manure and soil nitrogen mineralization during incubation

Understanding the N-cycling processes that ensue after manuring soil is essential in order to estimate the value of manure as an N fertilizer. A laboratory incubation of manured soil was carried out in order to study N mineralization, gas fluxes, denitrification, and microbial N immobilization after manure application. Four different manures were enclosed in mesh bags to allow for the separate analysis of manure and soil. The soils received 0.15 mg manure N g^–1 soil, and the microcosms were incubated aerobically and sampled throughout a 10-week period. Manure addition resulted in initial NH₄-N concentrations of 22.1 to 36.6 mg kg^–1 in the microcosms. All manured microcosms had net declines in soil mineral N. Denitrification resulted in the loss of 14.7 to 39.2% of the added manure N, and the largest N losses occurred in manures with high NH₄-N content. Increased soil microbial biomass N amounted to 6.0 to 8.6% of the added manure N. While the microcosms as a whole had negative N mineralization, all microcosms had positive net nitrification within the manure bags. Gas fluxes of N₂O and CO₂ increased in all manured soils relative to the controls. Our results show that measurement of microbial biomass N and denitrification is important to understand the fate of manure N upon soil application.     

Assessing Se cycling and toxicity in aquatic ecosystems

Toxic substances exert impacts on ecosystems at several levels: biogeochemical, toxicological, and populations/communities. Integrating exposure (biogeochemistry) and effects (toxicology) into an ecological context requires models as a necessary step to prediction and assessment of effects on populations and their interactions. To this end, research is being conducted to develop techniques for predicting the effects of Se on aquatic ecosystems. The objective is to develop mechanistic models to predict biogeochemical cycling, toxicological processes, and toxic effects on population and community dynamics. Earlier research demonstrated that different chemical forms of Se have different toxicological properties. Biogeochemical research culminated with a dynamic model of the Se cycle. In ongoing research, experiments are being conducted on microorganisms, phytoplankton, microzooplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish to measure uptake, biotransformation, and depuration kinetics of different chemical forms of Se, transfer through the food web, and effects on growth, reproduction, community interactions, and survival. This information will provide the basis for the ecosystem effects model.     

Genetic diversity and conservation of two endangered eggplant relatives (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum vespertilio</Emphasis> Aiton and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum lidii</Emphasis> Sunding) endemic to the Canary Islands

Solanum vespertilio Aiton and Solanum lidii Sunding are endemic, endangered wild species from the Canary Islands. These species are of potential value for eggplant (S. melongena) breeding, given that they are part of the secondary genepool of this crop. We study genetic diversity with amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) markers from 5 populations of S. vespertilio (47 samples) and 3 of S. lidii (26 samples). Five related African species (S. dasyphyllum Schumach. et Thonn., S. delagoense Dunal, S. campylacanthum Hochst., S. panduriforme E. Mey, S. aff. violaceum Ortega) were also included in the analysis. A total of 235 AFLP markers included 178 and 156 that were polymorphic in S. vespertilio and S. lidii, respectively. Analysis of genetic distance, phenograms, and principal component plots showed that these rare Canarian species are differentiated (G _ST = 0.412) from the continental materials and that Solanum vespertilio is more distinct to its African congeners than is S. lidii. There is a relatively high level of differentiation between the two species (G _ST = 0.373), that presumably reflects geographic restrictions (S. lidii to Gran Canaria; S. vespertilio essentially to Tenerife). However, both species have similar levels of total diversity. We speculate that the combination of the many unusual reproductive features (andromonoecy, zygomorphy, heteranthery and weak enantiostyly in S. vespertilio) help explain genetic diversity that is high for self compatible species. The high genetic diversity may also indicate populations were larger in the past. A decrease in population size could contribute to the relatively low genetic differentiation among the populations. The data presented herein provide the foundation for initiation of ex situ and in situ conservation programs for these wild relatives of eggplant. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Richard N. Lester, who made significant contributions to the taxonomy, biosystematics and conservation of genetic resources of African species of Solanum.     

Flavor encapsulation in yeasts: limonene used as a model system for characterization of the release mechanism

Empty yeast cells are used as a new delivery system for flavor encapsulation. The flavor release mechanism from yeast cells is characterized using a series of analytical techniques, and limonene is used as a model representing a hydrophobic flavor. Furthermore, the thermal stability of the capsules was assessed. The characterization of the cell wall structure gives rise to the development of an empirical model explaining water adsorption as well as the desorption singularities observed on drying. The study of the rate of flavor release as a function of temperature and water uptake in the cell wall clearly demonstrated a particular behavior of the yeast cell wall permeability. Below a water activity around 0.7, no flavor release is permitted whereas release occurs above it. Surface analysis on dry or wet cells using atomic force microscopy is discussed.     

The toxicity of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) to the freshwater green alga Selenastrum capricornutum

RDX was not acutely toxic to the green alga Selenastrum capricornutum when tested at the solubility limit of the compound in algal assay media. A maximum reduction of 38% in cell density occurred after a 96-h exposure to 36.7 mg L^?1; thus, an EC50 could not be determined. The lowest-observed-effect concentration (LOEC) and no-observed-effect concentration (NOEC) for the green alga were 4.8 and 0.5 mg L^?1 (reduction in cell density), respectively, when chronic end points were used to analyze the data. A comparison of the data in this study with RDX toxicity data from the literature for the diatom Navicula pelliculosa, and the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabeana flos-aquae shows that S. capricornutum is the most sensitive to RDX. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) numerical water quality criterion Final Plant Value based on the green alga data should protect the above algal groups.     

A fluoride-derived electrophilic late-stage fluorination reagent for PET imaging

The unnatural isotope fluorine-18 ((18)F) is used as a positron emitter in molecular imaging. Currently, many potentially useful (18)F-labeled probe molecules are inaccessible for imaging because no fluorination chemistry is available to make them. The 110-minute half-life of (18)F requires rapid syntheses for which [(18)F]fluoride is the preferred source of fluorine because of its practical access and suitable isotope enrichment. However, conventional [(18)F]fluoride chemistry has been limited to nucleophilic fluorination reactions. We report the development of a palladium-based electrophilic fluorination reagent derived from fluoride and its application to the synthesis of aromatic (18)F-labeled molecules via late-stage fluorination. Late-stage fluorination enables the synthesis of conventionally unavailable positron emission tomography (PET) tracers for anticipated applications in pharmaceutical development as well as preclinical and clinical PET imaging.