The global modified starch market was valued at USD 11.8 billion in 2021 and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% from 2022 to 2030 (www.grandviewresearch.com). The demand for modified starch for various food and non-food products is driven by a growing world population. As a result, it is already becoming increasingly important to adapt the properties of starch within the plant to the corresponding needs through targeted genetic manipulations to safe energy, costs and the environment. To date, phosphoesterification is the only known naturally occurring covalent starch modification mediated by the α-glucan, water dikinase (GWD) and phosphoglucan, water dikinase (PWD). The phosphate groups introduced at the OH-C6 or OH-C3 position in the double helical structures of amylopectin have a significant impact on the physico-chemical properties of starch So far, up to triple phosphorylated chains have been detected (Ritte et al 2002; Hejazi et al 2009)., but it is unclear whether there is a specific pattern that is universal for all starch-related dikinases, mutants and starch sources. We established a workflow to address this issue in detail using ³³P-β-[ATP] radioactive labelling assays and MS, MS/MS analyses as well (Compart et al 2023; 2024). Furthermore, the question arises how a large protein as GWD (155kDa) binds to double helices with a length a little more than 6 nm (DP18). Therefore, we used alphafold2 to predict the action of the GWD on the starch granule surface.

Skin disorders are common and impact quality of life. Medical plants are often used for mild cases due to their lower side effects compared to conventional drugs. Even in Europe, homemade treatments for skin conditions remain popular. However, ethnobotanical research on skin diseases in diseases in the urban ecosystem of Niš city (South-Eastern Serbia) is limited. The use of medicinal plants in urban ecosystems is of significant importance, as it highlights the interaction between urban environments and the surrounding flora.

A semi-structured, anonymous ethnobotanical interview was conducted with 49 participants (35 women and 14 men) to collect ethnopharmacological knowledge from the Niš community regarding skin diseases.

The most commonly treated skin conditions were skin wounds (11 reports, 22%), burns (9 reports, 18%) and fungal infections and facial care (4 reports each, 8%). Among plant parts, the flower (20 reports, 36.36%) and leaf (14 reports, 25.45%) are the most commonly used, while the most prevalent preparation forms are oil (12 reports, 21.81%), poultices (9 reports, 16.36%), and fresh (8 reports, 14.54%). Among the plants mentioned, Hypericum perforatum (10 reports, 20%), Plantago lanceolata (9 reports, 18%), and Achillea millefolium as well as Calendula officinalis (5 reports, 9.09%) were the most commonly used. The study also found that place of residence and gender influenced the choice of plant species. Although the Committee for Herbal Medicinal Products of Euroean Medicine Agency recognizes the traditional use of these herbs for minor skin inflammations and as an aid in healing minor wounds, it is important to consider contraindications and special warnings and precautions for their use.

Despite advances in modern medicine, there is a growing trend in the use of medicinal plants to treat skin diseases. This trend reflects an increasing recognition of the importance of conducting ethnobotanical studies to document plant-based remedies, which continue to complement conventional medical approaches.

Acknowledgments: this research was supported by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (Grant No. 451-03-65/2024-03/200113, 451-03-66/2024-03/200113, 451-03-65/2024-03/200178, 451-03-66/2024-03/200027

Plant-based beverages are gaining traction as sustainable and health-conscious dairy alternatives, catering to diverse dietary needs while offering nutritional benefits [1-2]. However, harmful contaminants such as acrylamide, glycidamide, and methylacrylamide pose potential health risks, requiring rigorous monitoring to ensure consumer safety [3]. This study introduces a novel miniaturized dispersive solid-phase extraction (µ-dSPE) method for simultaneously detecting these compounds in plant-based beverages using HPLC-UV.

Method optimization involved a two-stage experimental design. First, an asymmetrical 3⁴4¹ screening design evaluated parameters such as salt type, clean-up sorbent, acid type, sorbent amount, and clean-up time across 18 experiments. Next, a Doehlert response surface design refined sorbent composition, amount, and clean-up time through 15 experiments. The optimized µ-dSPE method was validated according to Food and Drug Administration guidelines, demonstrating excellent linearity, specificity, accuracy, and precision.

Sustainability was assessed using the AGREEprep tool [4], achieving a high score of 0.86 due to a reduced sample size, the elimination of organic solvents, minimal waste, and low energy consumption. This is the first study to quantify acrylamide, glycidamide, and methylacrylamide in food products. The findings provide valuable insights into food safety and underscore the importance of enhanced analytical strategies to monitor contaminants in plant-based beverages, supporting the industry’s commitment to sustainability and consumer well-being.

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Polish National Science Center within the project 2023/07/X/NZ9/01113 as part of the MINIATURA-7 program.

References:

[1] Fructuoso, Iet al. (2021). Nutrients, 13, 2650.

[2] Reyes-Jurado, F., et al. (2023). Food Reviews International, 39, 2320-2351.

[3] Sebastià, A., et al. (2023). TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 117267.

[4] Pena-Pereira, F., et al. Adv. Sample Prep., 3 (2022). 100025.

Plant–soil microbes play a vital role in carbon cycling, influencing the decomposition of organic matter. They contribute to the stabilization of organic carbon and its turnover in the soil. Despite the vivid contribution of soil microbes to the carbon cycle, the role of plant–soil microbe interactions in carbon dioxide emissions under different tillage practices is poorly understood, and information on this topic is still scanty. In the recent past, concerns have accrued about rising atmospheric carbon levels, making it imperative to review and understand the contribution of microbial activities to CO₂ emissions under different tillage practices. After collating different information, we found that soils under different tillage practices have involved emissions of organic carbon in the form of CO₂ into the atmosphere caused by microbial activities. Similarly, tillage practices have been found to profoundly affect the interactions and availability of fungi and rhizosphere microbes, which play a pivotal role in litter decomposition and carbon cycling. In addition, it is found that carbon cycling may be influenced by nutrient limitations, especially nitrogen limitations, and a close relationship exists between tillage practices, nitrogen availability, and carbon cycling. Considering the major impact of soil microbe interactions from a carbon cycle perspective, this review highlights their significance in CO₂ emissions, with a key focus on their role within the rhizosphere, as it is influenced by tillage practices. Therefore, future studies will lead to a better understanding of their potential role in meeting global climate targets and predictions of the global warming potential of agricultural operations.

The Wheat Breadmaking (TaWBM) gene, initially discovered through a screening for factors affecting flour quality, has been linked to the rising of bread dough due to its expression in seed endosperm. Notably, homologs of the Wbm gene are found not only in wheat but also in other cereal species, including oats, rye, and barley. Despite this, the WBM protein has yet to be experimentally characterized. In this study, we identified a group of WBM-like Seed Proteins (WSPNs) within the prolamin fraction of barley flour. We used several different genetic techniques to study the function of WSPN genes. A genomic analysis showed that WSPNs are encoded by three tightly clustered genes, located on chromosome 7H's long arm. The genes are expressed exclusively during the development of grain endosperm. The WSPNs share a consistent gene structure, featuring a single exon with open reading frames ranging from 253 to 313 base pairs. The first 80 base pairs code for a sorting peptide. Additionally, these genes contain a conserved motif (C–P-X-G-X4-C-X(4–8)-C-X-C), and our structural predictions suggested that this motif forms a microdomain of two antiparallel strands, with aligned cysteine residues. The presence of post-translationally modified proteins was confirmed by means of mass spectrometry.

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a globally important staple crop, but its cultivation is heavily dependent on the use of pesticides to manage pests and diseases. Wild Solanum species, however, exhibit strong resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses and hold potential for improving potato resilience. Traditional breeding efforts have had limited success in transferring resistance from wild relatives to cultivated potatoes. As an alternative, we propose utilizing de novo domestication, a process in which wild species are modified using modern breeding techniques to produce crops better suited for current agricultural needs. We focused on Solanum bulbocastanum, a wild, diploid tuber-bearing species known for its resistance to pests and diseases. This species was selected based on several criteria, including its tuberization under varying light conditions, glycoalkaloid content, starch digestibility, and performance in tissue culture. Our findings show that S. bulbocastanum produces large tubers even under long-day conditions and performs exceptionally well in tissue culture, positioning it as a promising candidate for domestication.
In addition, we demonstrate the successful application of gene-editing techniques to S. bulbocastanum using ribonucleoproteins (Cas9 and sgRNA)to target genes involved in nitrate and peptide transport. The efficiency of gene editing ranged from 8.5% to 12.4%, and we successfully regenerated gene-edited plants, some with targeted mutations. This work demonstrates that genome editing, optimized for Solanum tuberosum, can also be applied to wild Solanum species, advancing our ability to domesticate them.
The broader potential of de novo domestication is significant in increasing crop species diversity. While only a few species have been fully domesticated in prehistory, modern precision breeding techniques now allow us to re-evaluate neglected wild species' potential for domestication. This approach could diversify the crops available to modern agriculture, contributing to more resilient and sustainable food systems.

In recent years, it has been suggested that a potential source of nitrogen for conifer trees growing in nitrogen-limited boreal forests could be nitrogen fixation by endophytic diazotrophic bacteria inhabiting coniferous needles. In fact, nitrogen-fixing bacteria have been isolated from needles of diverse conifer species, like white spruce, lodgepole pine, and western redcedar. For some conifer species, active nitrogen fixation has been reported. Our study assessed whether nitrogen-fixing bacteria are also present and active in the needles of Scots pine in control and inorganic nitrogen-fertilized plots within the Swedish boreal forest. Western blot was used to look at the presence of the nifH subunit of enzyme nitrogenase, which is responsible for nitrogen fixation, and acetylene-reduction assay was used to measure its activity. Interestingly, both the presence and activity of bacteria were similar between the control and inorganic nitrogen fertilized plots. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria were isolated using nitrogen-free media, and these bacteria belonged to Bacillus, Variovorax, Microbacterium, Sphingomonas, Novosphingobium, and Priestia genera. The nitrogen fixation ability of these bacteria was confirmed by in vitro measurements of acetylene reduction. Additionally, we assessed whether the isolated bacteria possess any other plant growth-promoting properties, such as phosphorus and zinc solubilization, siderophore, hydrogen cyanide, and indole-3-acetic acid production, using in vitro assays.

Given the threat of precipitation shortages and increasing droughts in many European countries due to global warming, the search for environmentally friendly approaches to increasing drought resistance in plants is becoming highly relevant. One of them is the treatment of plants with bioactive molecules involved in cell protection. Our preliminary results showed that the foliar application of the amino acids proline and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) increased plant resistance to water deficit. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exogenous amino acids on the chaperone system that protects cellular proteostasis. Arabidopsis thaliana (Col-0) plants at the rosette stage were sprayed with 0.1 mM proline, 0.1 mM GABA, and a mixture of the two, and then subjected to gradual soil drying up to deep wilting, following by rehydration. Changes in the expression of genes encoding heat-shock proteins (HSP) of different families and stress-inducible heat-shock transcription factors (HSF) regulating the development of the reaction, as well as the accumulation of proline in leaves, were assessed. It was determined that exogenous proline and GABA led to an increase in proline content. A real-time RT-PCR analysis revealed that both amino acids also have specific effects on the dynamics and expression levels of HSPs and HSFs. In addition, the combined application of amino acids showed a complex relationship between their metabolism and function. The obtained results demonstrated a significant influence of exogenous proline and GABA on the protein quality-control system under the conditions of water deficiency and characterised the features and interaction of their action. (EMBO SLG Grant 5437-2023)

One of the most significant challenges currently facing the planet is, undoubtedly, population growth, coupled with the necessity of developing an appropriate agri-food system capable of sustaining this growth. A promising unexpressed contribution to meeting the global population's need for food security through a sustainable approach is soilless agriculture. This approach has the potential to enhance production while conserving resources, particularly water and soil. One of the most used versions of these farming practices is the hydroponic system, which uses a mineral-based nutrient solution to grow vegetables. A more affordable and therefore more suitable alternative for Low-Income Countries (LICs), as well as an environmentally sustainable one, which, for this reason, should also be promoted in High-Income Countries (HICs), is the bioponic system, which employs organic waste that is mineralized by a bacterial filter to produce the nutrient solution.

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of a hydroponic system with that of a bioponic system based on the use of plant waste and poultry manure as organic sources for the cultivation of basil (Ocimum basilicum L., var. Italiano Classico), catalogna (Cichorium intybus L., var. foliosum), and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L., var. secalina). To evaluate the two production systems, the fresh and dry weight yields were assessed, as well as the macronutrient (N, P, K) content.

In terms of yields, the bioponic system was statistically inferior, while differences in macronutrients contents were less pronounced. Consequently, future studies should focus on improving system functionality and assessing the growth potential of different plants in the bioponic system. Nonetheless, the potential of the bioponic method in LICs remains evident. With proper structural organization, animal manure and agricultural residues could be easily collected and stored at low cost, unlike the minerals used in hydroponic solutions, which are either expensive or even unavailable.

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a staple food worldwide, but modern potato cultivation relies heavily on the use of pesticides to control pests and diseases. However, many wild Solanum species are highly resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses relevant to potato production. Several of these species have been used in potato breeding to confer resistance, which has only been moderately successful due to linkage drag and sexual incompatability. Instead, we propose an alternative approach to utilizing the potential of wild Solanum germplasms. Recently, de novo domestication has been suggested for creating more resilient crops: instead of introducing resistance genes into existing crops, domestication traits could be introduced into resistant wild crop relatives to create new crops. To select the right candidate for de novo domestication, we evaluated the 107 known wild tuber-bearing Solanum species for their resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses based on the existing scientific literature and characterized selected species experimentally. Based on this, the highly pest- and disease-resistant species, S. bulbocastanaum, was chosen. Our results showed that it produced relatively large tubers, even under long-day conditions, and performed exceptionally well in tissue culture. Successful genetic transformation is essential for introducing domestication traits and often constitutes the biggest hurdle to de novo domestication. We were able to produce genome-edited S. bulbocastanum plants via protoplast transformation. This opens the door for targeting domestication traits such as long-day tuberization, a low glycoalkaloid content in tubers, short stolons, etc.