Sarracenia alata (Alph.Wood) Alph.Wood Microcuttings as a Source of Volatiles Potentially Responsible for Insects' Respond.

Rare carnivorous plants representing the genus Sarracenia are perceived as very interesting to scientists involved in various fields of botany, ethnobotany, entomology, phytochemistry and others. Such high interest is caused mainly by the unique capacity of Sarracenia spp. to attract insects. Therefore, an attempt to develop a protocol for micropropagation of the Sarracenia alata (Alph.Wood) Alph.Wood, commonly named yellow trumpets, and to identify the specific chemical composition of volatile compounds of this plant in vitro and ex vivo was undertaken. Thus, the chemical volatile compounds excreted by the studied plant to attract insects were recognized with the application of the headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with the GC-MS technique. As the major volatile compounds (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol (16.48% ± 0.31), (E)-3-hexen-1-ol acetate (19.99% ± 0.01) and ß-caryophyllene (11.30% ± 0.27) were identified. Further, both the chemical assumed to be responsible for attracting insects, i.e., pyridine (3.10% ± 0.07), and whole plants were used in in vivo bioassays with two insect species, namely Drosophila hydei and Acyrthosiphon pisum. The obtained results bring a new perspective on the possibilities of cultivating rare carnivorous plants in vitro since they are regarded as a valuable source of bioactive volatile compounds, as including ones with repellent or attractant activity.

A Novel Approach for Microbial Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Whisky Lactones Based on Solid-State Fermentation.

In this study, solid-state fermentation (SSF) was proposed as an alternative approach to obtain optically pure forms of one of the most common aroma compounds, whisky lactone. Filamentous fungi were used for enantioselective hydrolysis of a racemate of trans and cis whisky lactones, utilizing rapeseed cake as a growth medium. Among the tested fungi, Fusarium oxysporum AM13 and Papularia rosea AM17 were chosen for further studies. Various process parameters, including temperature, moisture content of solid media, and substrate concentration were optimized to maximize the efficiency of the kinetic resolution process. After optimization of the culture conditions (33 °C temperature, 60% moisture content, and substrate concentration of 3 mg/g oilseed cake), F. oxysporum AM13 resolved a mixture of trans-(+)-(4S,5R) and cis-(+)-(4R,5R) whisky lactones with enantiomeric excess (ee), ee > 99% and ee = 98%, respectively. This study presents an inexpensive and environmentally friendly method for the production of enantiomerically pure aroma lactones via the solid-state fermentation of oilseed cake. The results revealed that SSF is an effective method for acquiring highly valued and industrially demanded compounds with negligible economic cost.