Developing high-throughput assays to screen marine extracts for bioactive compounds presents both conceptual and technical challenges. One major challenge is to develop assays that have well-grounded ecological and evolutionary rationales. In this review we propose that a specific group of ligand-activated transcription factors are particularly well-suited to act as sensors in such bioassays. M...

AIM This study was designed to investigate the bioactive compounds in Costus afer Ker Gawl, an indigenous African medicinal plant whose leaf and stem extracts are used in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, especially rheumatism and arthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The bioactive compounds present in the n-butanol fractions of C. afer leaf and stem were identified using qualitative...

BACKGROUND The perishability of Brassica chinensis poses a major challenge to distribution and marketing. The aim of this work was to select a suitable modified atmosphere packaging to retain the overall quality and bioactive compounds during storage. RESULTS Four types of biorientated polypropylene packaging (BOPP)--BOPP03, BOPP04, BOPP05 and BOPP06--with different perforations were evaluate...

Oceans have borne most of the biological activities on our planet. A number of biologically active compounds with varying degrees of action, such as anti-tumor, anti-cancer, anti-microtubule, anti-proliferative, cytotoxic, photo protective, as well as antibiotic and antifouling properties, have been isolated to date from marine sources. The marine environment also represents a largely unexplore...

Marine bacteria and fungi are of considerable importance as new promising sources of a huge number of biologically active products. Some of these marine species live in a stressful habitat, under cold, lightless and high pressure conditions. Surprisingly, a large number of species with high diversity survive under such conditions and produce fascinating and structurally complex natural products...

We analyzed the effect of Cornelian cherry varieties differing in fruit color ('Yantaryi'-yellow fruits, 'Koralovyi'-coral fruits, 'Podolski'-red fruits) and the production method on the physicochemical and antioxidative properties of Cornelian cherry vinegars, and on their content of iridoids and polyphenols. Acetic fermentation was conducted by two methods: I) single-stage (spontaneous) aceti...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as reactive nitrogen species (RNS) play either harmful or beneficial role in biological systems. Beneficial effects of ROS include physiological roles in cellular responses against infectious agents and in several cellular signalling pathways. Harmful effects are due to high concentrations of ROS, which can damage biomolecules, including lipids, proteins a...

Discarded dried button, dried oyster, and fresh button mushroom beds were examined for their bioactive compounds and industrial enzymes. Levels of reducing sugars and total sugars were high in all mushroom beds. Carboxymethyl cellulase activity was higher (920 μg/mL) in the dried oyster mushroom bed extract. Schizophyllum commune, Fomitopsis feei, Trametes gibbosa, and Trametes elegans were gro...

In the context of polypharmacology, compound promiscuity is rationalized as the ability of small molecules to specifically interact with multiple targets. To study promiscuity progression of bioactive compounds in detail, nearly 1 million compounds and more than 5.2 million activity records were analyzed. Compound sets were assembled by applying different data confidence criteria and selecting ...

Nineteen domestic legume varieties, including 6 soybeans, 7 black soybeans, 4 azuki beans, and 2 mung beans, were evaluated for contents of dietary fiber, total phenolics, and flavonoids. Nine varieties of legumes (black soybean TN6, TN3, BM, and WY; soybean KS1, KS2, and KS8; azuki bean AKS5 and AKS6) were good sources of bioactive compounds and were selected for germination tests. After short...