Efficacy of Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil as a Bio-Fungicide in Inhibiting Citrus Green Mould.

The effectiveness of lemon myrtle (LM) (Backhousia citriodora) essential oil (EO) was investigated to combat Penicillium digitatum by in vitro agar diffusion and vapour assay and in artificially infected oranges. The main constituent of LM EO was revealed as citral when analysed in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Pure citral was also included in the experiment for comparison. The in vitro fungal growth was significantly inhibited by LM EO at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 µL per disc while complete growth inhibition by both the pure citral and LM EO occurred at 4 and 5 µL per disc. Inoculated fruits treated by dipping in 1000 µL L-1 LM EO solutions for 5, 10, 15, 30 and 120 s showed significantly lower fungal wounds compared to control. While longer dipping times led to some rind injuries, fruits with a 5 and 10 s dip were found free from any injury. The evaluation after dipping and storage confirmed that the fruits maintained the sensory attributes and were not compromised by the incorporation of the essential oil. The results of this study indicate that LM EO can be a promising alternative to synthetic fungicides for preserving the quality of citrus fruits during storage.

Characterisation of a High Fibre Flour Prepared from Soy Milk By-Product and Its Potential Use in White Wheat Bread.

The commercial production of soy milk renders a large quantity of wet soybean by-product (SMB), which is typically dumped, incinerated, or partially used as animal fodder. This wet SMB has a high moisture content that is rich in nutritional and biologically active compounds. This study aimed to characterise the composition and properties of a flour milled from SMB dried at 100 °C (SMB100) and assess its possible application as a fibre substitute in white bread. The results showed that SMB100 has high levels of dietary fibre (40.6%) and protein (26.5%). It also contains high levels of saponins (31.4 mg/g) and isoflavones (698.0 µg/g). SMB100 has a light-yellow colour with low moisture content and water activity (8.2% and 0.55, respectively). The results also indicated that replacement of wheat flour with SMB100 at 10 or 12.5% by flour weight negatively impacted the raising volume, density, and texture of white bread. Alternatively, substituting wheat flour with 5% of SMB100, did not significantly impact the physical properties of white bread, while significantly improving its dietary fibre content in comparison with the control, revealing that SMB100 is a potential substitute of wheat flour for improvement of dietary fibre in bread. Future studies are needed to optimise bread formulation and improve the processing condition which produces quality white bread with high dietary fibre using SMB100.

Effects of drying on physical properties, phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of Robusta wet coffee pulp (Coffea canephora).

Wet coffee pulp (WCP), produced as waste from coffee production, is a rich source of bioactive compounds, especially caffeine and chlorogenic acid. However, it contains high moisture content, thus it is challenging for further utilization due to degradation and microbial deterioration. Dehydration is, therefore, necessary to minimize degradation and ease storage and transportation. As a waste, the common drying methods should be prioritized to be feasible for industrial application. This study aimed to determine the impact of different drying conditions of the three common drying methods including low temperature and pressure, vacuum and hot air drying on physical, phytochemical and antioxidant properties of WCP to identify the most suitable drying conditions. Browning index, moisture content, total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoids (TFC), proanthocyanidins, and chlorogenic acid as well as the antioxidant properties of the dried coffee pulp were significantly influenced by different tested conditions. Vacuum drying was found to be more suitable for drying the wet coffee pulp as compared to low temperature and pressure and hot air drying methods. Vacuum drying at 110 °C retained the highest TPC (14.4 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight (DW)), proanthocyanidins (6.8 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g DW), TFC (13.2 CE/g DW), caffeine (2.9 mg/g DW) and antioxidant capacity. Chlorogenic acid (3.4 mg/g DW) was 13% lower, but energy consumption was 37% less than vacuum drying at 90 °C. Therefore, vacuum drying (3.75 mmHg) at 110 °C for 4h 05 min was suggested for dehydration of the wet coffee pulp for subsequent recovery and processing.

Using a Fragment-Based Approach to Identify Alternative Chemical Scaffolds Targeting Dihydrofolate Reductase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), a key enzyme involved in folate metabolism, is a widely explored target in the treatment of cancer, immune diseases, bacteria, and protozoa infections. Although several antifolates have proved successful in the treatment of infectious diseases, they have been underexplored to combat tuberculosis, despite the essentiality of M. tuberculosis DHFR (MtDHFR). Herein, we describe an integrated fragment-based drug discovery approach to target MtDHFR that has identified hits with scaffolds not yet explored in any previous drug design campaign for this enzyme. The application of a SAR by catalog strategy of an in house library for one of the identified fragments has led to a series of molecules that bind to MtDHFR with low micromolar affinities. Crystal structures of MtDHFR in complex with compounds of this series demonstrated a novel binding mode that considerably differs from other DHFR antifolates, thus opening perspectives for the development of relevant MtDHFR inhibitors.