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Expanding the Potential of Metabolomics for Under Investigated Organisms and in Drug Discovery

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2017) | Viewed by 23002

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Interests: nutraceuticals; metabolomics; natural products; quality control; drug discovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle, Germany
Interests: NMR; phytochemistry; structural elucidation; metabolomics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products (NPs) constitute an important part of our everyday diet; their components and nutritional/medicinal values have also been intensively studied for decades. The existence of NPs at minor levels in such a complex matrix, or being even labile, is expected, and isolation of such compounds still poses a challenge. The comparison of metabolite composition of biological systems (known as metabolomics) is now a mature field that has been increasingly applied to expedite natural products drug discovery. Metabolomics underlying emerging spectroscopic and informatics technologies has indeed demonstrated potential towards shorter drug discovery leading to a paradigm shift in NPs research. Metabolomics is rapidly evolving, with many novel techniques becoming available, i.e., MS imaging, HR-MAS NMR. The convergence of metabolomics and NPs discovery has also been demonstrated much more often from natural terrestrial origin mostly in planta, with much less evidence from other resources. It is expected that algae, fungi, sponges, sea corals, gut microbiota, etc., have an enormous potential to act as providers for novel bioactive metabolites. The integration of metabolomics towards facilitating the discovery and chemistry of plant derived NPs, is expected to be revealed from other organisms. In light of these urging topics, Molecules is introducing a new Special Issue on “Metabolomics” and its applications. This Special Issue shall include two general themes: The first is to focus on diverse range of metabolomics applications, many of which to be related to investigations in under investigated organisms. The second shall provide reports on novel experimental technologies in metabolomics or developments needed for the analysis of labile NP classes.

Prof. Mohamed A. Farag
Dr. Andrea Porzel
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • metabolomics
  • natural products
  • drug discovery
  • algae
  • gut microbes
  • fungi
  • pure shift NMR
  • HR-MAS NMR
  • hyperpolarization NMR
  • MS imaging
  • metabolites profiling
  • bioinformatics

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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2321 KiB  
Article
Effect of Oxylipins, Terpenoid Precursors and Wounding on Soft Corals’ Secondary Metabolism as Analyzed via UPLC/MS and Chemometrics
by Mohamed A. Farag, Hildegard Westphal, Tarek F. Eissa, Ludger A. Wessjohann and Achim Meyer
Molecules 2017, 22(12), 2195; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22122195 - 10 Dec 2017
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5871
Abstract
The effect of three oxylipin analogues, a terpenoid intermediate and wounding on the secondary metabolism of the soft corals Sarcophyton glaucum and Lobophyton pauciflorum was assessed. Examined oxylipins included prostaglandin (PG-E1), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and arachidonic acid (AA) in addition to the diterpene [...] Read more.
The effect of three oxylipin analogues, a terpenoid intermediate and wounding on the secondary metabolism of the soft corals Sarcophyton glaucum and Lobophyton pauciflorum was assessed. Examined oxylipins included prostaglandin (PG-E1), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and arachidonic acid (AA) in addition to the diterpene precursor geranylgeranylpyrophosphate (GGP). Post-elicitation, metabolites were extracted from coral heads and analyzed via UPLC-MS followed by multivariate data analyses. Both supervised and unsupervised data analyses were used for sample classification. Multivariate data analysis revealed clear segregation of PG-E1 and MeJA elicited S. glaucum at 24 and 48 h post elicitation from other elicitor samples and unelicited control group. PG-E1 was found more effective in upregulating S. glaucum terpene/sterol levels compared to MeJA. Metabolites showing upregulation in S. glaucum include campestene-triol and a cembranoid, detected at ca. 30- and 2-fold higher levels compared to unelicited corals. Such an elicitation effect was less notable in the other coral species L. pauciflorum, suggesting a differential oxylipin response in soft corals. Compared to MeJA and PG, no elicitation effect was observed for GGP, AA or wounding on the metabolism of either coral species. Full article
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6757 KiB  
Article
MALDI-MS Imaging of Urushiols in Poison Ivy Stem
by Mina Aziz, Drew Sturtevant, Jordan Winston, Eva Collakova, John G. Jelesko and Kent D. Chapman
Molecules 2017, 22(5), 711; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22050711 - 29 Apr 2017
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7343
Abstract
Urushiols are the allergenic components of Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy) as well as other Toxicodendron species. They are alk-(en)-yl catechol derivatives with a 15- or 17-carbon side chain having different degrees of unsaturation. Although several methods have been developed for analysis of urushiols [...] Read more.
Urushiols are the allergenic components of Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy) as well as other Toxicodendron species. They are alk-(en)-yl catechol derivatives with a 15- or 17-carbon side chain having different degrees of unsaturation. Although several methods have been developed for analysis of urushiols in plant tissues, the in situ localization of the different urushiol congeners has not been reported. Here, we report on the first analysis of urushiols in poison ivy stems by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI). Our results show that the urushiol congeners with 15-carbon side chains are mainly localized to the resin ducts, while those with 17-carbon side chains are widely distributed in cortex and vascular tissues. The presence of these urushiols in stem extracts of poison ivy seedlings was confirmed by GC-MS. These novel findings provide new insights into the spatial tissue distribution of urushiols that might be biosynthetically or functionally relevant. Full article
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Review

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6048 KiB  
Review
Insights into Penicillium brasilianum Secondary Metabolism and Its Biotechnological Potential
by Jaqueline Moraes Bazioli, Luciana Da Silva Amaral, Taícia Pacheco Fill and Edson Rodrigues-Filho
Molecules 2017, 22(6), 858; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22060858 - 20 Jun 2017
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 9050
Abstract
Over the past few years Penicillium brasilianum has been isolated from many different environmental sources as soil isolates, plant endophytes and onion pathogen. All investigated strains share a great ability to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. Different authors have investigated this great capability and [...] Read more.
Over the past few years Penicillium brasilianum has been isolated from many different environmental sources as soil isolates, plant endophytes and onion pathogen. All investigated strains share a great ability to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. Different authors have investigated this great capability and here we summarize the metabolic potential and the biological activities related to P. brasilianums metabolites with diverse structures. They include secondary metabolites of an alkaloid nature, i.e., 2,5-diketopiperazines, cyclodepsipeptides, meroterpenoids and polyketides. Penicillium brasilianum is also described as a great source of enzymes with biotechnological application potential, which is also highlighted in this review. Additionally, this review will focus on several aspects of Penicillium brasilianum and interesting genomic insights. Full article
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