Allele mining through TILLING and EcoTILLING approaches in vegetable crops.

MAIN CONCLUSION: The present review illustrates a comprehensive overview of the allele mining for genetic improvement in vegetable crops, and allele exploration methods and their utilization in various applications related to pre-breeding of economically important traits in vegetable crops. Vegetable crops have numerous wild descendants, ancestors and terrestrial races that could be exploited to develop high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties resistant/tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses. To further boost the genetic potential of economic traits, the available genomic tools must be targeted and re-opened for exploitation of novel alleles from genetic stocks by the discovery of beneficial alleles from wild relatives and their introgression to cultivated types. This capability would be useful for giving plant breeders direct access to critical alleles that confer higher production, improve bioactive compounds, increase water and nutrient productivity as well as biotic and abiotic stress resilience. Allele mining is a new sophisticated technique for dissecting naturally occurring allelic variants in candidate genes that influence important traits which could be used for genetic improvement of vegetable crops. Target-induced local lesions in genomes (TILLINGs) is a sensitive mutation detection avenue in functional genomics, particularly wherein genome sequence information is limited or not available. Population exposure to chemical mutagens and the absence of selectivity lead to TILLING and EcoTILLING. EcoTILLING may lead to natural induction of SNPs and InDels. It is anticipated that as TILLING is used for vegetable crops improvement in the near future, indirect benefits will become apparent. Therefore, in this review we have highlighted the up-to-date information on allele mining for genetic enhancement in vegetable crops and methods of allele exploration and their use in pre-breeding for improvement of economic traits.

Aflatoxins in Cereals and Cereal-Based Products: Occurrence, Toxicity, Impact on Human Health, and Their Detoxification and Management Strategies.

Cereals and cereal-based products are primary sources of nutrition across the world. However, contamination of these foods with aflatoxins (AFs), secondary metabolites produced by several fungal species, has raised serious concerns. AF generation in innate substrates is influenced by several parameters, including the substrate type, fungus species, moisture content, minerals, humidity, temperature, and physical injury to the kernels. Consumption of AF-contaminated cereals and cereal-based products can lead to both acute and chronic health issues related to physical and mental maturity, reproduction, and the nervous system. Therefore, the precise detection methods, detoxification, and management strategies of AFs in cereal and cereal-based products are crucial for food safety as well as consumer health. Hence, this review provides a brief overview of the occurrence, chemical characteristics, biosynthetic processes, health hazards, and detection techniques of AFs, along with a focus on detoxification and management strategies that could be implemented for food safety and security.

Nivalenol Mycotoxin Concerns in Foods: An Overview on Occurrence, Impact on Human and Animal Health and Its Detection and Management Strategies.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that infect a wide range of foods worldwide. Nivalenol (NIV), a type B trichothecene produced by numerous Fusarium species, has the ability to infect a variety of foods both in the field and during post-harvest handling and management. NIV is frequently found in cereal and cereal-based goods, and its strong cytotoxicity poses major concerns for both human and animal health. To address these issues, this review briefly overviews the sources, occurrence, chemistry and biosynthesis of NIV. Additionally, a brief overview of several sophisticated detection and management techniques is included, along with the implications of processing and environmental factors on the formation of NIV. This review's main goal is to offer trustworthy and current information on NIV as a mycotoxin concern in foods, with potential mitigation measures to assure food safety and security.

Citrinin Mycotoxin Contamination in Food and Feed: Impact on Agriculture, Human Health, and Detection and Management Strategies.

Citrinin (CIT) is a mycotoxin produced by different species of Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Monascus. CIT can contaminate a wide range of foods and feeds at any time during the pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest stages. CIT can be usually found in beans, fruits, fruit and vegetable juices, herbs and spices, and dairy products, as well as red mold rice. CIT exerts nephrotoxic and genotoxic effects in both humans and animals, thereby raising concerns regarding the consumption of CIT-contaminated food and feed. Hence, to minimize the risk of CIT contamination in food and feed, understanding the incidence of CIT occurrence, its sources, and biosynthetic pathways could assist in the effective implementation of detection and mitigation measures. Therefore, this review aims to shed light on sources of CIT, its prevalence in food and feed, biosynthetic pathways, and genes involved, with a major focus on detection and management strategies to ensure the safety and security of food and feed.

Trichothecenes in food and feed: Occurrence, impact on human health and their detection and management strategies.

Trichothecenes (TCNs) are the mycotoxins produced by many fungal species such as Fusarium, Myrothecium, and Stachybotrys and pose a considerable health risk. Based on their characteristic functional moieties, they are divided into four categories: Type A (T-2, HT-2, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), harzianum A, neosolaniol (NEO) and trichodermin), Type B (deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), trichothecin and fusarenon X), Type C (crotocin) and Type D (satratoxin G & H, roridin A and verrucarin A) with types A and B being the most substantial. TCNs cause growth retardation in eukaryotes, suppress seedling growth or regeneration in plants and could be a reason for animal reproductive failure. Due to the increased frequency of occurrence and widespread distribution of TCNs in food and feed, knowledge of their sources of occurrence is essential to strategise their control and management. Hence, this review provides an overview of various types and sources of TCNs, the associated biosynthetic pathways and genes responsible for production in food and feed. Further, various processing and environmental effects on TCNs production, detection techniques and management strategies are also briefly outlined.

Patulin in food: A mycotoxin concern for human health and its management strategies.

The mycotoxin patulin is primarily produced as a secondary metabolite by numerous fungal species and predominantly by Aspergillus, Byssochlamys, and Penicillium species. It is generally associated with fungal infected food materials. Penicillium expansum is considered the only fungal species liable for patulin contamination in pome fruits, especially in apples and apple-based products. This toxin in food poses serious health concerns and economic threat, which has aroused the need to adopt effective detection and mitigation strategies. Understanding its origin sources and biosynthetic mechanism stands essential for efficiently designing a management strategy against this fungal contamination. This review aims to present an updated outline of the sources of patulin occurrence in different foods and their biosynthetic mechanisms. It further provides information regarding the detrimental effects of patulin on human and agriculture as well as its effective detection, management, and control strategies.

Occurrence, Impact on Agriculture, Human Health, and Management Strategies of Zearalenone in Food and Feed: A Review.

Mycotoxins represent an assorted range of secondary fungal metabolites that extensively occur in numerous food and feed ingredients at any stage during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin categorized as a xenoestrogen poses structural similarity with natural estrogens that enables its binding to the estrogen receptors leading to hormonal misbalance and numerous reproductive diseases. ZEN is mainly found in crops belonging to temperate regions, primarily in maize and other cereal crops that form an important part of various food and feed. Because of the significant adverse effects of ZEN on both human and animal, there is an alarming need for effective detection, mitigation, and management strategies to assure food and feed safety and security. The present review tends to provide an updated overview of the different sources, occurrence and biosynthetic mechanisms of ZEN in various food and feed. It also provides insight to its harmful effects on human health and agriculture along with its effective detection, management, and control strategies.

One-Pot Synthesis of Benzothiazole-Tethered Chromanones/Coumarins via Claisen Rearrangement Using the Solid State Melt Reaction.

A novel protocol has been successfully established for the efficient synthesis of benzothiazole-tethered chromanone/coumarin scaffolds via Claisen rearrangement using a solid state melt reaction in a one-pot manner. Benzothiazole formation and Claisen rearrangement involve the cleavage of S-S and C-O bonds and formation of C-S, C═N, and C-C bonds in a single operation without using a catalyst or solvent.

A multicomponent cascade reaction for the synthesis of novel chromenopyranpyrazole scaffolds.

A catalyst, solvent, work-up and column free synthesis of chromenopyranpyrazoles via multicomponent cascade reaction has been achieved with high stereoselectivity. This novel reaction creates two N-C, two C-C and one O-C bonds through a domino process for the construction of three new rings and three contiguous stereogenic centers.

Methyl (2Z)-2-bromo-meth-yl-3-(3-chloro-phen-yl)prop-2-enoate.

There are two independent mol-ecules (A and B) in the asymmetric unit of the title compound C11H10BrClO2, which represents the Z isomer. The methyl-acrylate moieties are essentially planar, within 0.084 (2) and 0.027 (5) Šin mol-ecules A and B, respectively. The benzene ring makes dihedral angles of 13.17 (7) and 27.89 (9)° with the methyl-acrylate moiety in mol-ecules A and B, respectively. The methyl-bromide moiety is almost orthogonal to the benzene ring, making dihedral angles of 81.46 (16)° in mol-ecule A and 79.61 (16)° in mol-ecule B. The methyl-acrylate moiety exhibits an extended trans conformation in both mol-ecules. In the crystal, pairs of C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds result in the formation of quasi-centrosymmetric R 2 (2)(14) AB dimers.

(Z)-Methyl 2-[(2-eth-oxy-6-formyl-phen-oxy)meth-yl]-3-(4-ethyl-phen-yl)acrylate.

The title compound, C(22)H(24)O(5), consists of two substituted benzene rings linked by an ethyl acrylate group. The dihedral angle between the two benzene rings is 58.39 (7)°. The crystal packing is governed by two C-H⋯O inter-actions, one of which forms centrosymmetric dimers with a graph-set descriptor of R(2) (2)(18).

(Z)-Methyl 3-(2,4-dichloro-phen-yl)-2-[(2-formyl-phen-oxy)meth-yl]acrylate.

In the title compound, C(18)H(14)Cl(2)O(4), the mean planes of the methyl acrylate unit and the phenyl ring of the benzaldehyde are approximately orthogonal to each other, making a dihedral angle of 83.31 (6)°. The O atom of the aldehyde group is displaced significantly from the phenyl ring plane by 0.226 (2) Å. The methyl acrylate group adopts an E conformation. In the crystal, inversion dimers linked by pairs of C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds generate R(2) (2)(24) loops.

3-[(Z)-Benzyl-idene]-2,3-dihydro-1,5-benzothia-zepin-4(5H)-one.

In the title compound, C(16)H(13)NOS, the seven-membered ring adopts a distorted half-chair conformation. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains running along the b axis. The crystal packing is further stabilized by C-H⋯O inter-actions.