Chloroplast Genomes and Phylogenetic Analysis of Three Carthamus (Asteraceae) Species.

The genus Carthamus Linnaeus, which belongs to the tribe Cardueae in the Asteraceae family, originated in the Mediterranean region and consists of approximately 20 species worldwide. Understanding the phylogeny of the Carthamus is crucial for the cultivation of C. tinctorius. Although chloroplast genomes are widely used for species identification and evolutionary studies, there have been limited investigations on the chloroplast genomes of Carthamus species. In this study, we assembled the chloroplast genomes of C. persicus, C. tinctorius × C. persicus, and C. lanatus and combined them with the five chloroplast genomes of C. tinctorius for comparative genomic analysis. The sizes of the chloroplast genomes of C. lanatus, C. persicus, and C. tinctorius × C. persicus were 152,602 bp, 153,177 bp, and 153,177 bp, respectively. Comparative analysis showed that the chloroplast genome structures of the four Carthamus species were highly conserved. Additionally, the phylogenomic analysis demonstrated that the plastid genome and angiosperms353 dataset significantly improved the phylogenetic support of Carthamus species. This analysis supported Carthamus as a monophyletic taxon and its internal division into the sect. Carthamus and sect. Atractylis. The Carthamus was closely related to Carduncellus, Femeniasia, Phonus, and Centaurea. In conclusion, this study not only expands our understanding of the cp genomes of Carthamus species but also provides support for more comprehensive phylogenetic studies of Carthamus.

Physiological, photochemical, and antioxidant responses of wild and cultivated Carthamus species exposed to nickel toxicity and evaluation of their usage potential in phytoremediation.

The impacts of Ni toxicity on growth behaviors, photochemical, and antioxidant enzymes activities of wild (Carthamus oxyacantha M. Bieb.) and cultivated (Carthamus tinctorius L.) safflower species were investigated in this study. Fourteen-day-old seedlings were treated with excessive Ni levels [control, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 mM NiCl2·6H2O] for 7 days. The results of chlorophyll a fluorescence indicated that toxic nickel exposure led to changes in specific, phenomenological energy fluxes and quantum yields in thylakoid membranes, and activities of donor and acceptor sides of photosystems. These changes resulted in a significant decrease in the photosynthetic activities by about 50% in both species, but these negative effects of Ni were not in a level to destroy the functionality of the photosystems. At the same time, toxic Ni affected membrane integrity and the amount of photosynthetic pigments in the antenna and active reaction centers. Additionally, the accumulation of Ni was higher in roots than in stem and leaves for both species. Depending on Ni accumulation, a significant reduction in dry biomass of root by approx. 64.8 and 45.7% and shoot by 41 and 24.7% were observed in wild and cultivated species, respectively. Two species could probably withstand deleterious Ni toxicity with better upregulating own protective defense systems such as antioxidant enzymes and phenolic compounds. Among of them, SOD and POD activities were increased with increasing Ni concentrations. The POD activities of both species were most prominent and consistently increased (approx. 2 folds in roots and 6 folds in leaves) in highly toxic Ni levels and may be protected them from damaging effect of H2O2. When all results are evaluated as a whole, Carthamus species produced similar responses to toxicity and also both species have bioconcentration (BCF) and bioaccumulation factor (BF) > 1 and translocation factor < 1 under Ni toxicity may be regarded a good indication of Ni tolerance. Furthermore, it is possible to use the Carthamus species as phytostabilizers of soils contaminated with nickel, because of their roots accumulating more nickel.

Changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes in radish (Raphanus sativus) seedlings in response to allelopathic effect of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)

Abstract ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) production is a usual plant reaction to environmental stresses such as allelopathy. Plants possess antioxidant enzymes to scavenge cells and resist against the ROS. This study was conducted to evaluate changes in antioxidant enzymes (CAT, GPX, APX) in radish seedlings in response to allelopathic effect of safflower root and shoot residues grown under normal irrigation and drought stress. Safflower allelopathic effect led to an increase in antioxidant enzymes activities. GPX activity increased more than CAT and APX. Radish seedlings exposed to safflower residue grown under drought stress showed more antioxidant enzymes activities. Root residues enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes greater than shoot. Seedlings exposed to root residues grown under drought stress had the highest level of antioxidant enzymes activities.

Chemical Variability and Antioxidant Activities of the Essential Oils of the Aerial Parts of Ammoides verticillata and the Roots of Carthamus caeruleus and their Synergistic Effect in Combination.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress is implicated in the development and progression of many diseases. Some of the appropriate actions that could taken to resolve the problem of these diseases are search for new antioxidant substances isolated from plants. The aims of this study were to research the intraspecies variations of A. verticillata and C. caeruleus essential oils from 8 locations using statistical analysis, the in vitro antioxidant properties of collective essential oils and in combinations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The intraspecies variations of the essential oil compositions were discussed using principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). The antioxidant properties were evaluated DPPH-radical scavenging activity and ß-carotene bleaching test. RESULTS: The main components of Ammoides verticillata collective essential oil (Coll EO) were thymol (30.5%), carvacrol (23.2%), p-cymene (13.1%), limonene (12.5%) and terpinene-4-ol (12.3%). While roots of Carthamus caeruleus essential oil were dominated by carline oxide (86.2%). The chemical variability allowed the discrimination of two main Groups for both Coll EOs. A direct correlation between the altitudes, climate and the chemical compositions was evidenced. Ammoides verticulata and Carthamus caeruleus Coll Eos showed good antioxidant activity. In binary mixture, the interaction between both Coll Eos and between oils rich of thymol and/or carvacrol with carlina oxide produced the best synergistic effects compared to individual essential oils and the synthetic antioxidant (BHT). CONCLUSION: Ammoides verticillata and Carthamus caeruleus essential oil blends can be used as a natural food preservative and alternative to chemical antioxidants.

Hemisyntheses and In-silico Study of New Analogues of Carlina Oxide from Carthamus Caeruleus Roots.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Nowadays, developing effective antibiotics for bacterial control has become difficult due to increased resistance to the available medicines in the market. Essential oils possess interesting biological properties as some of their components have very powerful antiviral and antibacterial properties. Carthamus caeruleus is a plant that has antibacterial and antioxidant activity due to the presence of an acetylenic compound, Carlina oxide. The aim of this work was to provide, for the first time, the chemical modifications to the structure of Carlina oxide and the insilico study of these analogues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The essential oil of Carthamus caeruleus was extracted by steam distillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus. Carlina oxide component was separated by column chromatography. Five new analogues were synthetized and identified by spectroscopic analyses (RMN, IR and SM). Molecular docking simulation study was performed using Molecular Operating Environment software (MOE) on three enzymes of bacterial origin (Streptococcus pyogenesis and Enterococcus faecalis). RESULTS: Five new compounds derived from Carlina oxide were synthesized (IM8-IM12), and their structures were characterized by infrared (IR), 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The new synthesized compounds were evaluated as mSpeB, DHFR from Enterococcus faecalis and DNA gyrase inhibitors by a docking analysis using MOE. These results show interesting ligand interactions with the three enzymes, and the best result was attributed to the complexes formed with IM9, which had the lowest score. CONCLUSION: In fact, these new compounds could lead to powerful approaches for the research and development of new antibiotics.

Analysis of deformable distortion in the architecture of leaf xylary vessel elements of Carthamus oxycantha caused by heavy metals stress using image registration.

Anatomical study of leaf xylary vessel elements of Carthamus oxycantha under various intensities of lead (Pb) and nickel (Ni) stress (200, 400, 600, and 800 mg Pb(NO3 )2 , NiCl2 ·6H2 O/kg of the soil) was conducted. The deformations caused due to metal stress were detected using point-based image registration technique. Initially, a set of corresponding feature points called landmarks was selected for warping of two-dimensional microscopic images of deformed/source vessel (stressed) to its normal/target (unstressed) counterpart. The results show that the target registration error is less than 3 mm using real plant image datasets. The stress caused alterations mainly in diameter, size, and shape of the cells. Average cell diameter and average wall diameter of vessels were measured with "Image J." The range of decrease in average cell diameter from 18.566 to 13.1 µm and the range of increase in average wall diameter was from 5.166 to 10.1 µm, with increase in stress factor through 200, 400, 600, and 800 mg Pb(NO3 )2 , NiCl2 ·6H2 O/kg of the soil. We noted large deformation in the form of shrinkage in cell size and diminution in its diameter. The diminution in diameter and the shrinkage in cell size of vessel cells may be due to the deposition of wall materials. It can be a possible strategy to limit the water flow to overcome the rapid mobility and transportation of the excess amount of metals to safeguard the cellular components from unpleasant consequences of metallic stress.

Dehydroabietylamine, A Diterpene from Carthamus tinctorious L. Showing Antibacterial and Anthelmintic Effects with Computational Evidence.

BACKGROUND: Plant-based drugs provide an outstanding contribution to modern therapeutics, and it is well known that the presence of different phytochemicals is responsible for such pharmacological effects. Carthamus tinctorius L. is one such medicinally important plant whose different solvent extracts have been reported with several pharmacological effects like antibacterial, hepatoprotective, and wound healing. The exploration of phytoconstituents from such a medicinally important plant for different pharmacological effects could produce new and effective drugs to treat human diseases. OBJECTIVE: The present study attempts to explore the antibacterial and anthelmintic properties of dehydroabietylamine, a diterpene isolated from Carthamus tinctorius L. followed by the in silico elucidation of its probable mode of action. METHODS: The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of dehydroabietylamine were assessed against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, using micro- broth dilution method. The anthelmintic activity of was determined to assess the time taken for paralysis and death of Pheretima Posthuma at different concentrations. Additionally, molecular docking study was conducted to understand the interaction between dehydroabietylamine with target proteins identified for both antibacterial and anthelmintic activity viz., glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase and ß-Tubulin, respectively. RESULTS: The dehydroabietylamine showed the significant MIC for S. aureus (12.5 µg/ml) and P. aeruginosa (6.25µg/ml), respectively. The result of anthelmintics effect of dehydroabietylamine was found to be dosedependent and compared to the standard drug, albendazole. CONCLUSION: The interactions of dehydroabietylamine with the two target proteins with high binding affinity indicated the probable inhibition of target proteins, which could be the cause for prominent antibacterial and antihelminthic effects.

[Nature-effect relationship research of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Carthami Flos based on nature combination].

Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Carthami Flos are commonly traditional Chinese medicines with invigorating blood circulation and eliminating blood stasis,but they are different in effects due to differences in five tastes and four properties. In this study,Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Carthami Flos are selected as research vectors to obtain the active ingredients and targets through TCMD,TCMSP database and Ch EMBL database. The protein interaction information of the target is used to obtain from STRING online database,then imported into Cytoscape software to plot the protein interaction network and perform GO enrichment analysis.The results show that the heart-liver protein interaction network,involving blood circulation and hepatic lipid metabolism,thereby exerting the effect of activating blood circulation. The cold-bitter protein interaction network involves the biological process of vasoconstriction,thereby exerting cooling blood and the efficacy of eliminating phlegm. The warm-pungent protein interaction network involves blood coagulation,lipid metabolism and other biological processes to play the role of phlegm pain. Through analysis,it is found that the relationship between pharmacological efficacy and medicinal properties has a certain degree of specificity,which facilitates the subsequent scientific and systematic study of medicinal properties on the basis of this study.

Extracts from the Mediterranean Food Plants Carthamus lanatus, Cichorium intybus, and Cichorium spinosum Enhanced GSH Levels and Increased Nrf2 Expression in Human Endothelial Cells.

The Mediterranean diet is considered to prevent several diseases. In the present study, the antioxidant properties of six extracts from Mediterranean plant foods were assessed. The extracts' chemical composition analysis showed that the total polyphenolic content ranged from 56 to 408 GAE mg/g dw of extract. The major polyphenols identified in the extracts were quercetin, luteolin, caftaric acid, caffeoylquinic acid isomers, and cichoric acid. The extracts showed in vitro high scavenging potency against ABTS•+ and O2 •- radicals and reducing power activity. Also, the extracts inhibited peroxyl radical-induced cleavage of DNA plasmids. The three most potent extracts, Cichorium intybus, Carthamus lanatus, and Cichorium spinosum, inhibited OH•-induced mutations in Salmonella typhimurium TA102 cells. Moreover, C. intybus, C. lanatus, and C. spinosum extracts increased the antioxidant molecule glutathione (GSH) by 33.4, 21.5, and 10.5% at 50 µg/ml, respectively, in human endothelial EA.hy926 cells. C. intybus extract was also shown to induce in endothelial cells the transcriptional expression of Nrf2 (the major transcription factor of antioxidant genes), as well as of antioxidant genes GCLC, GSR, NQO1, and HMOX1. In conclusion, the results suggested that extracts from edible plants may prevent diseases associated especially with endothelium damage.

Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry characterization, anti-inflammatory effect, wound-healing potential, and hair growth-promoting activity of Algerian Carthamus caeruleus L (Asteraceae).

OBJECTIVES: The roots of Carthamus caeruleus have been used by the population of Northern Algeria to treat several pathological conditions, including wound healing and hair growth. The present study was conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity, wound-healing potential, and hair growth-promoting activity attributed to C. caeruleus root. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we have investigated the anti-inflammatory effect using carrageenan-induced paw edema test, evaluated the wound-healing potential by linear incision wound model, and evaluated hair growth activity using in vivo hair growth-promoting test attributed to C. caeruleus root. Preliminary phytochemical screening and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) characterization were also performed. RESULTS: It was found that the methanolic extract of C. caeruleus was characterized by the presence of tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanins, sennosides, free quinones, saponins, glycosides, mucilage, and coumarins. The GC/MS analysis could identify 22 compounds and showed that the major chemical constituents were palmitic acid (12.88%), mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (12.75%), and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furancarboxaldehyde, (9.19%). The phytoextract strongly inhibited (P < 0.001) paw edema formation in mice. The roots of C. caeruleus also showed a significant (P < 0.05) wound-healing and hair growth-promoting effects. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the richness of the roots of the Algerian C. caeruleus in biomolecules. These molecules exhibit an excellent reducing inflammation activity, a wound-healing property, and an interesting hair-promoting growth activity. All in all, the findings promote the usage of the Algerian C. caeruleus as an effective and a safe potential skincare alternative remedy.