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Current Perspectives and Future Prospects in the Use of Artemisia annua for Pharmacological and Agricultural Purposes
Published in Tariq Aftab, M. Naeem, M. Masroor, A. Khan, Artemisia annua, 2017
Considering that A. annua is presently the only viable source of artemisinin, there is understandably a great degree of interest in enhancing its production. And although effective, the agronomic platform as the main production strategy seems unlikely to solve the problem of global artemisinin availability due to the boom-and-bust cycle that its production has become associated with lately. As there are growing concerns that the current artemisinin supply chain will be unable to meet future requirements, it is obvious that there is need for an additional source of artemisinin, that provides a consistent, reliable, and inexpensive supply. Consequently, a multifaceted approach using several strategies including utilization of the advanced tec hniques emerging from modern plant biotechnology and classical molecular biology, such as increasing in planta production systems through a genetic approach as demonstrated previously (Debruner et al. 1996, Delabays 1994), must be adopted. The recent identification of the loci associated with artemisinin production in A. annua (Graham et al. 2010) is also a step in the right direction, which will greatly enhance molecular breeding of highly improved lines for cultivation. Some other biotechnological strategies that would enhance the production of artemisinin include industrial fermentation, where artemisinic acid can be produced in Nicotiana benthamiana (van Harpen et al. 2010) or production of artemisinin precursors in heterologous systems such as microorganisms (Paddon et al. 2013, Ro et al. 2006, Teoh et al. 2006), and the semisynthesis of artemisinin from two of its precursors, artemisinic acid and dihydroartemisinic acid, which are usually discarded in the extraction process (Brisibe et al. 2008a). Some of these strategies are highlighted in the next section.
Dry eye disease: an (in)convenient truth
Published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry, 2022
Azadeh Tavakoli, Judith Louise Flanagan
A practice that has fallen more out of favour but that is one of the most ancient processes and traditionally often the most important, is that of wood smoking. Both fermentation and smoking produce alkyl catechols that are important cofactors in counteracting oxidative stress.84 As ancient food preserving techniques, it suggests alkyl catechols were common in traditional diets.84 With modern food preservation, alkyl catechols have been lost from Western diets with the corollary of reduced protection against chronic disease associated with oxidative stress.84 With a palate no longer attuned to the flavours alkyl catechols or phenols, modern industrial fermentation often eliminates these ‘inconvenient’ microbes85,86 so in modern recapitulation of ancient fermented or smoked techniques, chances are that some of the most beneficial metabolites are lacking with the eradication of ‘inconvenient’ flavours.
Cancer Chemopreventive, Antiproliferative, and Superoxide Anion Scavenging Properties of Kluyveromyces marxianus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii Cell Wall Components
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2018
Olivier Fortin, Blanca Aguilar-Uscanga, Khanh Dang Vu, Stephane Salmieri, Monique Lacroix
Growth kinetics of yeasts was performed to collect yeast biomass in stationary phase in order to reflect spent yeast at the end of industrial fermentation processes. As presented in Fig. 1, the initial amounts of biomass from K. marxianus (0.8 g/l) and S. boulardii (1.0 g/l) were similar. Afterwards, dry biomass of both K. marxianus and S. boulardii was increased to 1.5 g/l after 8 h and 10 h, respectively, indicating that K. marxianus presented a shorter latency phase than S. boulardii. Despite the fact that K. marxianus produced more biomass than S. boulardii (6.3 and 3.2 g/l, respectively), both species biomass was collected in stationary phase after 24 h growth.