Ganoderma lucidum is a mushroom widely used for its edible and medicinal properties. Primary bioactive constituents of G. lucidum are ganoderic triterpenoids (GTs), which exhibit important pharmacological activity. Abscisic acid (ABA), a plant hormone, is associated with plant growth, development, and stress responses. ABA can also affect the growth, metabolism, and physiological activities of different fungi and participates in the regulation of the tetracyclic triterpenes of some plants. Our findings indicated that ABA treatment promoted GT accumulation by regulating the gene expression levels (squalene synthase (sqs), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (hmgr), and lanosterol synthase (ls)), and also activated cytosolic Ca²⁺ channels. Furthermore, under ABA mediation, exogenous Ca²⁺ donors and inhibitors directly affected the cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentration and related gene expression in Ca²⁺ signaling. Our study also revealed that ABA-mediated cytosolic Ca²⁺ played a crucial regulatory role in GT biosynthesis, accompanied by antioxidant defense modulation with increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity, and the resistance ability of O₂^•- and glutathione (GSH) contents.
Reishi/metabolism* ; Triterpenes/metabolism* ; Abscisic Acid/metabolism* ; Antioxidants/metabolism*

Ergothioneine is a multifunctional physiological cytoprotector, with broad application in foods, beverage, medicine, cosmetics and so on. Biosynthesis is an increasingly favored method in the production of ergothioneine. This paper summarizes the new progress in the identification of key pathways, the mining of key enzymes, and the development of natural edible mushroom species and high-yield engineering strains for ergothioneine biosynthesis in recent years. Through this review, we aim to reveal the molecular mechanism of ergothioneine biosynthesis and then employ the methods of fermentation engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology to greatly increase the yield of ergothioneine.
Antioxidants ; Ergothioneine/metabolism* ; Fermentation ; Metabolic Engineering

Phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway is one of the most important secondary metabolic pathways in plants. It directly or indirectly plays an antioxidant role in plant resistance to heavy metal stress, and can improve the absorption and stress tolerance of plants to heavy metal ions. In this paper, the core reactions and key enzymes of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway were summarized, and the biosynthetic processes of key metabolites such as lignin, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins and relevant mechanisms were analyzed. Based on this, the mechanisms of key products of phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway in response to heavy metal stress were discussed. The perspectives on the involvement of phenylpropanoid metabolism in plant defense against heavy metal stress provides a theoretical basis for improving the phytoremediation efficiency of heavy metal polluted environment.
Plants/metabolism* ; Metals, Heavy/metabolism* ; Flavonoids/metabolism* ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Antioxidants

Alzheimer Disease ; metabolism ; Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Mice ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology

A field experiment was conducted to measure the physiological characteristics, yield, active ingredient content, and other indicators of Carthamus tinctorius leaves undergoing 13 sowing date treatments. The principal component analysis(PCA) and redundancy analysis were used to analyze the correlation between these indicators to explore the effect of sowing date on the yield and active ingredient content of C. tinctorius in Liupanshan of Ningxia. The results illustrated that the early sowing in autumn and spring had significant effects on leaf photosynthetic parameters, SPAD value, antioxidant enzyme activity, nitrogen metabolism enzyme activity, filament yield, grain yield, and hydroxy safflower yellow A(HYSA) of C. tinctorius. Sowing in mid-November and late March had the best effect. Leaf transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase increased by 44.9%, 52.4%, 15.9%, 60.8%, 10.3%, and 38.3%, respectively. The activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase decreased by 10.8%, 4.1%, and 20.9%, respectively. The improvement of photosynthetic physiological characteristics promoted the dry matter accumulation and reproductive growth of C. tinctorius. The yield of filaments and seeds increased by 15.5% and 11.7%, and the yield of HYSA and kaempferol increased by 17.9% and 20.0%. In short, the suitable sowing date can promote the growth and development of C. tinctorius in Liupanshan of Ningxia, and significantly improve the yield and quality, which is conducive to the high quality and efficient production of C. tinctorius.
Carthamus tinctorius ; Seeds ; Peroxidase/metabolism* ; Plant Leaves/metabolism* ; Antioxidants

No abstract available.
Antioxidants/*metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*blood

OBJECTIVEIn order to provide a scientific fertilizer application for the standardized cultivation, the effects of phosphate (P) fertilizer on the active ingredients and antioxidant activities of Chrysanthemum morifolium were studied.

METHODPot experiment was adopted to study the effects of P supply on the yield and the content of flavonoids, chlorogenic acid, soluble sugar, soluble amino acids and crude protein of C. morifolium flower. And effects of P supply on the hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of flower were researched too.

RESULTThe yield of C. morifolium dry flower increased 129. 94% when P fertilizer was applied. Appropriate application of P fertilizer could also significantly improve the content and accumulation of total flavonoids, chlorogenic acid and soluble sugar in C. morifolium. Thus, the inhibition rates of hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical and DPPH free radical of C. morifolium was increased. When the level of P supply exceeded 0.20 g P2O5 per plant, P had also negative influence on the yield and the content of active ingredients and the scavenging activity of hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical and DPPH free radical of C. morifolium. Furthermore, there were significant positive correlations between the content of total flavonoids and chlorogenic acid and the inhibition rate of hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion radical and DPPH free radical, respectively.

CONCLUSIONAppropriate application of P fertilizer could be beneficial to the increase the active components and antioxidant activity of C. morifolium. And recommended level of P fertilizer is 0.26-0.28 g x kg(-1).

Antioxidants ; analysis ; metabolism ; Chrysanthemum ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Fertilizers ; analysis ; Phosphates ; metabolism ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; metabolism

Plant can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in normal physiological activity. However, ROS can increase dramatically by environmental stress. The increase may break the ROS balance in the plant. To control ROS levels in plants, an antioxidant system is needed to protect the cell. This paper introduced the types and functions of antioxidant enzymes, and studied the effects of plant and environmental factors on the activities of antioxidant enzymes. At last, the paper discussed the research hot fields of the effect of environmental stress on antioxidant enzymes, and gave the research strategies to the problems which happened in the studies.
Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Ecosystem ; Oxidative Stress ; Plant Proteins ; metabolism ; Plants ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study responses of physiological ecology and quality evaluation of Rehmannia glutinosa in continuous cropping.

METHODThe potted plant R. glutinosa which consists of first cropping, 1 year continuous cropping and 2 year continuous cropping were used as experimental materials. The photosynthetic activity, descending axis vitality, the protective enzymes system and MDA content were measured, the quality was evaluated by FTIR and HPLC.

RESULTContinuous cropping reduced the content of chlorophyll in the non-first cropping R. glutinos, the photosynthetic activity and descending axis vitality were weakened. Because of the increase of the free radical in the R. glutinos due to the continuous cropping, the activity of protective enzymes including POD, SOD and CAT were enhanced and MDA content were increased, more importantly the medical potency declined . And along with the increasing years of the continuous cropping, this effect becomes even stronger.

CONCLUSIONContinuous cropping affects the descending axis ability of absorbing water and nutrition and photosynthesis are inhibited R. glutinosa, at the same time, it also causes the disorders of antioxidation systems in R. glutinos, resulting in continuous cropping obstacle and decline of the medicinal materials quality.

Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Ecology ; Photosynthesis ; physiology ; Rehmannia ; enzymology ; growth & development ; metabolism ; physiology ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; metabolism ; Melatonin ; metabolism ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats