BanLec-eGFP Chimera as a Tool for Evaluation of Lectin Binding to High-Mannose Glycans on Microorganisms.

Fluorescently labeled lectins are useful tools for in vivo and in vitro studies of the structure and function of tissues and various pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. For the evaluation of high-mannose glycans present on various glycoproteins, a three-dimensional (3D) model of the chimera was designed from the crystal structures of recombinant banana lectin (BanLec, Protein Data Bank entry (PDB): 5EXG) and an enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP, PDB 4EUL) by applying molecular modeling and molecular mechanics and expressed in Escherichia coli. BanLec-eGFP, produced as a soluble cytosolic protein of about 42 kDa, revealed ß-sheets (41%) as the predominant secondary structures, with the emission peak maximum detected at 509 nm (excitation wavelength 488 nm). More than 65% of the primary structure was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Competitive BanLec-eGFP binding to high mannose glycans of the influenza vaccine (Vaxigrip®) was shown in a fluorescence-linked lectin sorbent assay (FLLSA) with monosaccharides (mannose and glucose) and wild type BanLec and H84T BanLec mutant. BanLec-eGFP exhibited binding to mannose residues on different strains of Salmonella in flow cytometry, with especially pronounced binding to a Salmonella Typhi clinical isolate. BanLec-eGFP can be a useful tool for screening high-mannose glycosylation sites on different microorganisms.

Increased yield of enzymatic synthesis by chromatographic selection of different N-glycoforms of yeast invertase.

Invertases are glycosidases applied for synthesis of alkyl glycosides that are important and effective surfactants. Stability of invertases in the environment with increased content of organic solvent is crucial for increase of productivity of glycosidases. Their stability is significantly influenced by N-glycosylation. However, yeast N-glycosylation pathways may synthesize plethora of N-glycan structures. A total natural crude mixture of invertase glycoforms (EINV) extracted from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was subfractionated by anion-exchange chromatography on industrial monolithic supports to obtain different glycoforms (EINV1-EINV3). Separated glycoforms exhibited different stabilities in water-alcohol solutions that are in direct correlation with the amount of phosphate bound to N-glycans. Observed differences in stability of different invertase glycoforms were used to improve productivity of methyl ß-d-fructofuranoside (MF) synthesis. The efficiency and yield of MF synthesis were improved more than 50% when the most stabile glycoform bearing the lowest amount of phosphorylated N-glycans is selected and utilized. These data underline the importance of analysis of glycan structures attached to glycoproteins, demonstrate different impact of N-glycans on the surface charge and enzyme stability in regard to particular reaction environment, and provide a platform for improvement of yield of industrial enzymatic synthesis by chromatographic selection of glycoforms on monolithic supports.

Thienochromene derivatives inhibit pSTAT1 and pSTAT5 signaling induced by cytokines.

Furanocoumarins, particularly furo[3,2-c]coumarins, are found in many natural products. However, coumarins annulated to a thiophene ring have received scarce attention to date in the literature. Therefore, we synthesized 4-oxo-4H-thieno[3,2-c]chromene derivatives and tested in vitro their anti-inflammatory activity. Anti-inflammatory potential of the synthesized compounds (1, 2, 6-8, 9a-e and 10a-c) has been evaluated by measuring various pSTAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) inhibition within the JAK (Janus-activated family kinase)/STAT signaling pathway. Ethyl 7-hydroxy-4-oxo-4H-thieno[3,2-c]chromene-2-carboxylate (7) showed best inhibition properties on pSTAT5 in GM-CSF (Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor)-triggered PBMC assay, with IC50 value of 5.0 µM.

Proteomic analysis of pyridoxal oxime derivatives treated Listeria monocytogenes reveals down-regulation of the main virulence factor, Listeriolysin O.

Proteomic analysis of foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes after treatment with three disinfectants based on ammonium salts of pyridoxal oxime (POD) reveal perturbation of cellular processes. These inhibitors caused disturbance in the synthesis of plasma membrane proteins and cell wall proteoglycans. Some of key proteins and proteoglycans from these two groups that are important for bacterial growth are down-regulated. Additionally, we demonstrated that the main bacterial toxin Listeriolysin O (LLO) is significantly down-regulated after treatment with each of three investigated inhibitors. These investigations confirm already postulated mechanism of action of POD-based inhibitors that results in disturbance of key cell surface proteins and proteoglycans in Gram-positive bacteria. Additionally, the use of some proteins such as LLO, as potential biomarker candidates of food poisoning with this bacterium is discussed.

Foodomics and Food Safety: Where We Are.

The power of foodomics as a discipline that is now broadly used for quality assurance of food products and adulteration identification, as well as for determining the safety of food, is presented. Concerning sample preparation and application, maintenance of highly sophisticated instruments for both high-performance and high-throughput techniques, and analysis and data interpretation, special attention has to be paid to the development of skilled analysts. The obtained data shall be integrated under a strong bioinformatics environment. Modern mass spectrometry is an extremely powerful analytical tool since it can provide direct qualitative and quantitative information about a molecule of interest from only a minute amount of sample. Quality of this information is influenced by the sample preparation procedure, the type of mass spectrometer used and the analyst's skills. Technical advances are bringing new instruments of increased sensitivity, resolution and speed to the market. Other methods presented here give additional information and can be used as complementary tools to mass spectrometry or for validation of obtained results. Genomics and transcriptomics, as well as affinity-based methods, still have a broad use in food analysis. Serious drawbacks of some of them, especially the affinity-based methods, are the cross-reactivity between similar molecules and the influence of complex food matrices. However, these techniques can be used for pre-screening in order to reduce the large number of samples. Great progress has been made in the application of bioinformatics in foodomics. These developments enabled processing of large amounts of generated data for both identification and quantification, and for corresponding modeling.

Data set of proteomic analysis of food borne pathogens after treatment with the disinfectants based on pyridoxal oxime derivatives.

Food borne pathogens, namely the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis and the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, were grown under the inhibition with four different disinfectants based on chloride and bromide salts of pyridinium oxime. Bacterial samples were subjected to the sequential extraction of proteins and the in-solution tryptic digestion of obtained extracts was performed prior to the identification of proteins with LC-ESI-MS/MS. Proteomic analysis identified up- and down-regulated proteins in these bacteria after treatment with each compound. The tables with differently expressed proteins are presented with this article.

Use of monolithic supports for high-throughput protein and peptide separation in proteomics.

The exclusive properties of monolithic supports enable fast mass transfer, high porosity, low back pressure, easy preparation process and miniaturisation, and the availability of different chemistries make them particularly suitable materials for high-throughput (HTP) protein and peptide separation. In this review recent advances in monolith-based chromatographic supports for HTP screening of protein and peptide samples are presented and their application in HTP sample preparation (separation, enrichment, depletion, proteolytic digestion) for HTP proteomics is discussed. Development and applications of different monolithic capillary columns in HTP MS-based bottom-up and top-down proteomics are overviewed. By discussing the chromatographic conditions and the mass spectrometric data acquisition conditions an attempt is made to present currently demonstrated capacities of monolithic capillary columns for HTP identification and quantification of proteins and peptides from complex biological samples by MS-based proteomics. Some recent advances in basic monolith technology of importance for proteomics are also discussed.

Proteomic analysis of food borne pathogens following the mode of action of the disinfectants based on pyridoxal oxime derivatives.

A comprehensive proteomic analysis of food borne pathogens after treatment with disinfectants based on ammonium salts of pyridinium oxime was performed. Changes in proteomes of the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis and the Gram-negative one, Escherichia coli, were evaluated. Up and down-regulated proteins in these bacteria after growth under the inhibition with four different disinfectants based on chloride and bromide salts of pyridinium oxime were identified and their cellular localizations and functions were determined by gene ontology searching. Proteome changes presented here demonstrate different mechanisms of action of these disinfectants. In the Gram-positive food pathogen Bacillus subtilis, the inhibitory substances seem to act mainly at the cell surface and cause significant alterations of membrane and cell surface proteins. On the other hand, intracellular proteins were more affected in the Gram-negative pathogen Escherichia coli. This research is a contribution to the investigation of the virulence and pathogenicity of food borne bacteria and their survival under stress conditions, and can also lead the way for further development of new inhibitors of microbial growth and studies of mechanism of their actions.

Affinity chromatography on monolithic supports for simultaneous and high-throughput isolation of immunoglobulins from human serum.

Posttranslational modifications of immunoglobulins have been a topic of great interest and have been repeatedly reported as a major factor in disease pathology. Cost-effective, reproducible, and high-throughput (HTP) isolation of immunoglobulins from human serum is vital for studying the changes in protein structure and the following understanding of disease development. Although there are many methods for the isolation of specific immunoglobulin classes, only a few of them are applicable for isolation of all subtypes and variants. Here, we present the development of a scheme for fast and simultaneous affinity purification of α (A), γ (G), and µ (M) immunoglobulins from human serum through affinity monolith chromatography. Affinity-based monolithic columns with immobilized protein A, G, or L were used for antibody isolation. Monolithic stationary phases have a high surface accessibility of binding sites, large flow-through channels, and can be operated at high flow rates, making them the ideal supports for HTP isolation of biopolymers. The presented method can be used for HTP screening of human serum in order to simultaneously isolate all three above-mentioned immunoglobulins and determine their concentration and changes in their glycosylation pattern as potential prognostic and diagnostic disease biomarkers.

Synthesis, characterisation and in vitro investigation of photodynamic activity of 5-(4-octadecanamidophenyl)-10,15,20-tris(N-methylpyridinium-3-yl)porphyrin trichloride on HeLa cells using low light fluence rate.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment that aims to kill cancer cells by reactive oxygen species, mainly singlet oxygen, produced through light activation of a photosensitiser (PS). Amongst photosensitisers that attracted the most attention in the last decade are cationic and amphiphilic molecules based on porphyrin, chlorin and phthalocyanine structures. Our aim was to join this search for more optimal balance of the lipophilic and hydrophilic moieties in a PS. A new amphiphilic porphyrin, 5-(4-octadecanamidophenyl)-10,15,20-tris(N-methylpyridinium-3-yl)porphyrin trichloride (5) was synthesised and characterised by (1)H NMR, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, and by MALDI-TOF/TOF spectrometry. In vitro photodynamic activity of 5 was evaluated on HeLa cell lines and compared to the activity of the hydrophilic 5-(4-acetamidophenyl)-10,15,20-tris(N-methylpyridinium-3-yl)porphyrin trichloride (7). Low fluence rate (2mWcm(-2)) of red light (643nm) was used for the activation, and both porphyrins showed a drug dose-response as well as a light dose-response relationship, but the amphiphilic porphyrin was presented with significantly lower IC50 values. The obtained IC50 values for 5 were 1.4µM at 15min irradiation time and 0.7µM when the time of irradiation was 30min, while for 7 these values were 37 and 6 times higher, respectively. These results confirm the importance of the lipophilic component in a PS and show a potential for 5 to be used as a PS in PDT applications.

Foodborne pathogens and their toxins.

UNLABELLED: Foodborne pathogens, mostly bacteria and fungi, but also some viruses, prions and protozoa, contaminate food during production and processing, but also during storage and transport before consuming. During their growth these microorganisms can secrete different components, including toxins, into the extracellular environment. Other harmful substances can be also liberated and can contaminate food after disintegration of food pathogens. Some bacterial and fungal toxins can be resistant to inactivation, and can survive harsh treatment during food processing. Many of these molecules are involved in cellular processes and can indicate different mechanisms of pathogenesis of foodborne organisms. More knowledge about food contaminants can also help understand their inactivation. In the present review the use of proteomics, peptidomics and metabolomics, in addition to other foodomic methods for the detection of foodborne pathogenic fungi and bacteria, is overviewed. Furthermore, it is discussed how these techniques can be used for discovering biomarkers for pathogenicity of foodborne pathogens, determining the mechanisms by which they act, and studying their resistance upon inactivation in food of animal and plant origin. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Comprehensive and comparative view into the genome and proteome of foodborne pathogens of bacterial or fungal origin and foodomic, mostly proteomic, peptidomic and metabolomic investigation of their toxin production and their mechanism of action is necessary in order to get further information about their virulence, pathogenicity and survival under stress conditions. Furthermore, these data pave the way for identification of biomarkers to trace sources of contamination with food-borne microorganisms and their endo- and exotoxins in order to ensure food safety and prevent the outbreak of food-borne diseases. Therefore, detection of pathogens and their toxins during production, transport and before consume of food produce, as well as protection against food spoilage is a task of great social, economic and public health importance.

IgG and IgM glycosylation patterns in patients undergoing image-guided tumor ablation.

BACKGROUND: Image-guided tumor ablation is a technique whereby needle-like applicators are placed directly into solid tumors under guidance typically with computed tomography or ultrasound. Changes in IgG and IgM antibody glycosylation were studied during ablation-induced immune response to cancer, and the use of glycosylation as a biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and disease treatment was examined. METHODS: Plasma from 27 tumor patients was collected immediately before, after and for 6 months following ablation. IgG and IgM antibodies were isolated by use high-throughput chromatography, and analyzed by hydrophilic liquid chromatography. Thorough identification of glycan structures in each chromatography peak was performed by nano-liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Although antibody glycosylation was found to vary with cancer type, discernable patterns of change based on the successful treatment of tumors by ablation were not identified. One patient with renal clear cell carcinoma and poor disease outcome had unexpectedly high amount of oligomannose IgG glycans during the whole period of monitoring. In contrast, IgM antibodies did not follow the same pattern. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that glycosylation patterns are indicative of an immune system that is unable to prevent different types of cancer, rather than products of the immunostimulatory response to the ablation of tumor itself. Analyses of the outcome effect suggested that IgG glycosylation and IgM glycosylation are not associated with tumor ablation. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Present work opens a new way for parallel determination of glycosylation changes of both IgG and IgM antibodies by use of high-throughput methods, and their future use as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.

Kiwifruit cysteine protease actinidin compromises the intestinal barrier by disrupting tight junctions.

BACKGROUND: The intestinal epithelium forms a barrier that food allergens must cross in order to induce sensitization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the plant-derived food cysteine protease--actinidin (Act d1) on the integrity of intestinal epithelium tight junctions (TJs). METHODS: Effects of Act d1 on the intestinal epithelium were evaluated in Caco-2 monolayers and in a mouse model by measuring transepithelial resistance and in vivo permeability. Integrity of the tight junctions was analyzed by confocal microscopy. Proteolysis of TJ protein occludin was evaluated by mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Actinidin (1 mg/mL) reduced the transepithelial resistance of the cell monolayer by 18.1% (after 1 h) and 25.6% (after 4 h). This loss of barrier function was associated with Act d 1 disruption of the occludin and zonula occludens (ZO)-1 network. The effect on intestinal permeability in vivo was demonstrated by the significantly higher concentration of 40 kDa FITC-dextran (2.33 µg/mL) that passed from the intestine into the serum of Act d1 treated mice in comparison to the control group (0.5 µg/mL). Human occludin was fragmented, and putative Act d1 cleavage sites were identified in extracellular loops of human occludin. CONCLUSION: Act d1 caused protease-dependent disruption of tight junctions in confluent Caco-2 cells and increased intestinal permeability in mice. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: In line with the observed effects of food cysteine proteases in occupational allergy, these results suggest that disruption of tight junctions by food cysteine proteases may contribute to the process of sensitization in food allergy.

Fast profiling of protease specificity reveals similar substrate specificities for cathepsins K, L and S.

Proteases are important effectors of numerous physiological and pathological processes. Reliable determination of a protease's specificity is crucial to understand protease function and to develop activity-based probes and inhibitors. During the last decade, various proteomic approaches for profiling protease substrate specificities were reported. Although most of these approaches can identify up to thousands of substrate cleavage events in a single experiment, they are often time consuming and methodologically challenging as some of these approaches require rather complex sample preparation procedures. For such reasons their application is often limited to those labs that initially introduced them. Here, we report on a fast and simple approach for proteomic profiling of protease specificities (fast profiling of protease specificity (FPPS)), which can be applied to complex protein mixtures. FPPS is based on trideutero-acetylation of novel N-termini generated by the action of proteases and subsequent peptide fractionation on Stage Tips containing ion-exchange and reverse phase chromatographic resins. FPPS can be performed in 2 days and does not require extensive fractionation steps. Using this approach, we have determined the specificity profiles of the cysteine cathepsins K, L and S. We further validated our method by comparing the results with the specificity profiles obtained by the N-terminal combined fractional diagonal chromatography method. This comparison pointed to almost identical substrate specificities for all three cathepsins and confirmed the reliability of the FPPS approach. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifiers PXD001536 and PXD001553 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001536; http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD001553).

Efficient stabilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae external invertase by immobilisation on modified beidellite nanoclays.

The external invertase isoform 1 (EINV1) was immobilised on eight differently modified beidellite nanoclays. Modifications were composed of organo-modification with different amounts of surfactant - hexadecyl trimethylammonium cation (HDTMA), pillaring with Al/Fe containing polyhydroxy cations and acid modification of Na-enriched and pillared clays. The modified nanoclays were characterised by XRD, N2-physisorption, SEM and FT-IR spectroscopy. The amount of bound enzyme activity was significantly influenced by the modification of beidellite ranging from 50 to remarkable 2200U/g. Biochemical characterization was performed for five modified nanoclays showing the highest enzyme activity after invertase immobilisation. The investigation demonstrated that after immobilisation the structure and the catalytic properties of invertase were preserved, while Km values were slightly increased from 26 to 37mM. immobilisation significantly improved thermal and storage stability of EINV1. Results indicate that beidellite nanoclays obtained by low cost modifications can be applied as a suitable support for the immobilisation of invertase. The immobilizate can be efficiently engaged in sucrose hydrolysis in batch reactor.

Active actinidin retains function upon gastro-intestinal digestion and is more thermostable than the E-64-inhibited counterpart.

BACKGROUND: Actinidin is a cysteine protease and major allergen from kiwi fruit. When purified under specific native conditions, actinidin preparations from fresh kiwi fruit contain both an active and inactive form of this enzyme. In this study, biochemical and immunological properties upon simulated gastro-intestinal digestion, as well as thermal stability, were investigated for both active and E-64-inhibited actinidin. RESULTS: Active actinidin retained its primary structure and proteolytic activity after 2 h of simulated gastric digestion, followed by 2 h of intestinal digestion, as assessed by SDS-PAGE, zymography and mass spectroscopy. Immunological reactivity of active actinidin was also preserved, as tested by immunoelectrophoresis. The E-64 inhibited actinidin was fully degraded after 1 h of pepsin treatment. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that active actinidin has one transition maximum temperature (Tm ) at 73.9°C, whereas in the E-64-actinidin complex the two actinidin domains unfolded independently, with the first domain having a Tm value of only 61°C. CONCLUSION: Active actinidin is capable of reaching the intestinal mucosa in a proteolytically active and immunogenic state. Inhibitor binding induces changes in the actinidin molecule that go beyond inhibition of proteolytic activity, also influencing the digestion stability and Tm values of actinidin, features important in the characterisation of food allergens.

Isolation, biochemical characterization and anti-bacterial activity of BPIFA2 protein.

OBJECTIVE: Human BPIFA2 (parotid secretory protein) is a ubiquitous soluble salivary protein, which belongs to the PLUNC family of proteins. Having sequence similarity to bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, PLUNC proteins are probably involved in local antibacterial response at mucosal sites, such as oral cavity. The aim of the study was to isolate and characterize human BPIFA2. DESIGN: In this paper, we report one-step affinity chromatography method for BPIFA2 purification from whole human saliva. The isolated BPIFA2 was identified by trypsin mass fingerprinting and characterized by electrophoretic methods. Antibacterial activity of BPIFA2 against model microorganism Pseudomonas aeruginosa was shown in minimum inhibitory concentration and time kill study assays. RESULTS: The protein showed microheterogeneity, both in molecular weight and pI value. BPIFA2 inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa in microgram concentration range determined by minimum inhibitory concentration assay. In the time kill study, 32µg/mL BPIFA2 showed clear bactericidal activity and did not cause any aggregation of bacteria. CONCLUSION: Affinity chromatography is well suited for isolation of functional BPIFA2 with a potent bactericidal activity against P. aeruginosa.

Identification of p53 and its isoforms in human breast carcinoma cells.

In breast carcinoma, disruption of the p53 pathway is one of the most common genetic alterations. The observation that the p53 can express multiple protein isoforms adds a novel level of complexity to the outcome of p53 mutations. p53 expression was analysed by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies DO-7, Pab240, and polyclonal antiserum CM-1. The more frequently p53-positive nuclear staining has been found in the invasive breast tumors. One of the most intriguing findings is that mutant p53 appears as discrete dot-shaped regions within the nucleus of breast cancer cells. In many malignant cells, the nucleolar sequestration of p53 is evident. These observations support the view that the nucleolus is involved directly in the mediation of p53 function or indirectly by the control of the localization of p53 interplayers. p53 expressed in the nuclear fraction of breast cancer cells revealed a wide spectrum of isoforms. p53 isoforms ΔNp53 (47 kDa) and Δ133p53 ß (35 kDa), known as dominant-negative repressors of p53 function, were detected as the most predominant variants in nuclei of invasive breast carcinoma cells. The isoforms expressed also varied between individual tumors, indicating potential roles of these p53 variants in human breast cancer.

Molecular characterization of recombinant mus a 5 allergen from banana fruit.

Allergy to banana fruit appears to have become an important cause of fruit allergy in Europe. Among five allergens that have been found, beta-1,3-glucanase denoted as Mus a 5 was identified as a candidate allergen for the component-resolved allergy diagnosis of banana allergy. Because of the variations in protein levels in banana fruit, in this study Mus a 5 was produced as a fusion protein with glutathione-S-transferase in Escherichia coli. The recombinant Mus a 5 was purified under native conditions by a combination of affinity, ion-exchange, and reversed phase chromatography. N-terminal sequence was confirmed by Edman degradation and 55 % of the primary structure was identified by mass fingerprint, while the secondary structure was assessed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. IgG reactivity of recombinant protein was shown in 2-D immunoblot with anti-Mus a 5 antibodies, while IgG and IgE binding to natural Mus a 5 was inhibited with the recombinant Mus a 5 in immunoblot inhibition test. IgE reactivity of recombinant Mus a 5 was shown in ELISA within a group of ten persons sensitized to banana fruit. Recombinant Mus a 5 is a novel reagent suitable for the component-resolved allergy diagnosis of banana allergy.

Biochemical and immunological characterization of a recombinantly-produced antifungal cysteine proteinase inhibitor from green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa).

Plant proteinase inhibitors are considered important defense molecules against insect and pathogen attack. The cysteine proteinase inhibitor (CPI) from green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) belongs to the cystatin family and shows potent antifungal activity (in vitro and in vivo). However, the low abundance of this molecule in fruit (6µg/g of fresh fruit) seems to limit further investigations on the interaction between phytocystatin and photopathogenic fungi. In this paper the cDNA of the kiwi CPI was expressed in Escherichia coli. Fifteen N-terminal amino acids were identified by Edman degradation, and 77% of the rCPI primary structure was confirmed by mass fingerprint. The structural homology of recombinant CPI (rCPI) to its natural counterpart has been clearly demonstrated in immunological assays (immunoblot and ELISA inhibition). Biological activity of rCPI was demonstrated in inhibition assay with cysteine proteinase papain (EC50 2.78nM). In addition, rCPI reveals antifungal properties toward pathogenic fungi (Alternaria radicina and Botrytis cinerea), which designates it as an interesting model protein for the exploration of plant phytocystatins - pathogen interactions. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of natural plant resistance could lead to the development of ecologically safe fungicides for controlling post-harvest diseases and maintaining food quality.