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Prolamins are a group of storage proteins (zeins, kafirins, hordeins, secalins, gliadins, glutenins, and avenins) found in the endosperm of cereal grains and characterized by high glutamine and proline content. With the high proportion of nonpolar amino acids (40-80%) and peculiar solubility (alcohol (60-90%), acetic acid, and alkaline solutions), prolamins exhibit tunable self-assembly behaviors. In recent years, research practices of utilizing prolamins as green building materials of functional delivery vehicles to improve the health benefits of bioactive compounds have surged due to their attractive advantages (e.g. sustainability, biocompatibility, fabrication potential, and cost-competitiveness). This article covers the recent advances in self-assembly behaviors leading to the fabrication of nanoparticles, fibers, and films in the bulk water phase, at the air-liquid interface, and under the electrostatic field. Different fabrication methods, including antisolvent precipitation, evaporation induced self-assembly, thermal treatment, pH-modulation, electrospinning, and solvent casting for assembling nanoarchitectures as functional delivery vehicles are highlighted. Emerging industrial applications by mapping patents, including encapsulation and delivery of bioactive compounds and probiotics, active packaging, Pickering emulsions, and as functional additives to develop safer, healthier, and sustainable food products are discussed. A future perspective concerning the fabrication of prolamins as advanced materials to promote their commercial food applications is proposed.

Summary In grape, MYBA1 and MYBA2 at the colour locus are the major genetic determinants of grape skin colour, and the mutation of two functional genes (VvMYBA1 and VvMYBA2) from these loci leads to white skin colour. This study aimed to elucidate the regulation of grape berry coloration by isolating and characterizing VvMYBA2w and VvMYBA2r alleles. The overexpression of VvMYBA2r up‐regulated the expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and resulted in higher anthocyanin accumulation in transgenic tobacco than wild‐type (WT) plants, especially in flowers. However, the ectopic expression of VvMYBA2w inactivated the expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and could not cause obvious phenotypic modulation in transgenic tobacco. Unlike in VvMYBA2r, CA dinucleotide deletion shortened the C‐terminal transactivation region and disrupted the transcriptional activation activity of VvMYBA2w. The results indicated that VvMYBA2r positively regulated anthocyanin biosynthesis by forming the VvMYBA2r‐VvMYCA1‐VvWDR1 complex, and VvWDR1 enhanced anthocyanin accumulation by interacting with the VvMYBA2r‐VvMYCA1 complex; however, R44L substitution abolished the interaction of VvMYBA2w with VvMYCA1. Meanwhile, both R44L substitution and CA dinucleotide deletion seriously affected the efficacy of VvMYBA2w to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis, and the two non‐synonymous mutations were additive in their effects. Investigation of the colour density and MYB haplotypes of 213 grape germplasms revealed that dark‐skinned varieties tended to contain HapC‐N and HapE2, whereas red‐skinned varieties contained high frequencies of HapB and HapC‐Rs. Regarding ploidy, the higher the number of functional alleles present in a variety, the darker was the skin colour. In summary, this study provides insight into the roles of VvMYBA2r and VvMYBA2w alleles and lays the foundation for the molecular breeding of grape varieties with different skin colour.

Gels are functional materials with well-defined structures (three-dimensional networks) assembled from the dispersed colloids, and capable of containing a large amount of water, oil, or air (by replacing the liquid within the gel pores), known as a hydrogel, oleogel, and aerogel, respectively. An emulsion gel is a gelled matrix filled with emulsion dispersion in which at least one phase, either continuous phase or dispersed phase forms spatial networks leading to the formation of a semisolid texture. Recently, the interest in the application of gels as functional colloids has attracted great attention in the food industry due to their tunable morphology and microstructure, promising physicochemical, mechanical, and functional properties, and superior stability, as well as controlled release, features for the encapsulated bioactive compounds. This article covers recent research progress on functional colloids (emulsion gels), including their fabrication, classification (protein-, polysaccharide-, and mixed emulsion gels), and properties specifically those related to the gel-body interactions (texture perception, digestion, and absorption), and industrial applications. The emerging applications, including encapsulation and controlled release, texture design and modification, fat replacement, and probiotics delivery are summarized. A summary of future perspectives to promote emulsion gels' use as functional colloids and delivery systems for scouting potential new applications in the food industry is also proposed. Emulsion gels are promising colloids being used to tailor breakdown behavior and sensory perception of food, as well as for the processing, transportation, and targeted release of food additives, functional ingredients, and bioactive substances with flexibility in designing structural and functional parameters.

Background The root-zone restriction cultivation technique is used to achieve superior fruit quality at the cost of limited vegetative and enhanced reproductive development of grapevines. Fungal interactions and diversity in grapevines are well established; however, our knowledge about fungal diversity under the root-zone restriction technique is still unexplored. To provide insights into the role of mycobiota in the regulation of growth and fruit quality of grapevine under root-zone restriction, DNA from rhizosphere and plant compartments, including white roots (new roots), leaves, flowers, and berries of root-zone restricted (treatment) and conventionally grown plants (control), was extracted at three growth stages (full bloom, veraison, and maturity). Results Diversity analysis based on the ITS1 region was performed using QIIME2. We observed that the root-zone restriction technique primarily affected the fungal communities of the soil and plant compartments at different growth stages. Interestingly, Fusarium, Ilyonectria, Cladosporium and Aspergillus spp observed in the rhizosphere overlapped with the phyllosphere at all phenological stages, having distinctive abundance in grapevine habitats. Peak richness and diversity were observed in the rhizosphere at the full bloom stage of control plants, white roots at the veraison stage of treatment, leaves at the maturity stage of treatment, flowers at the full bloom stage and berries at the veraison stage of control plants. Except for white roots, the diversity of soil and plant compartments of treated plants tended to increase until maturity. At the maturity stage of the treated and control plants, the abundance of Aspergillus spp. was 25.99 and 29.48%, respectively. Moreover, the total soluble sugar content of berries was 19.03 obrix and 16 obrix in treated and control plants, respectively, at the maturity stage. Conclusions This is the first elucidative study targeting the fungal diversity of conventional and root-restricted cultivation techniques in a single vineyard. Species richness and diversity are affected by stressful cultivation known as root zone restriction. There is an association between the abundance of Aspergillus spp. and fruit quality because despite causing stress to the grapevine, superior quality of fruit is retrieved in root-zone restricted plants.

Free- and bound-form volatiles in sun-dried raisins (SDRs) and air-dried raisins (ADRs) of ‘Thompson Seedless’ were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of storage. The compounds originating from glycosidically bound (GB) volatiles were significantly more abundant in bound-form than their free-form. A total of 89 and 88 free-form compounds were identified in ADRs and SDRs, respectively. Overall, higher concentration of unsaturated fatty-acid-oxidation (UFAO) and Maillard reaction (MR) compounds were observed in the SDRs. The plastic and woven bags have an insignificant effect on the volatiles in the raisins. The main characteristics of ADR aroma were floral and fruity, while fatty, roasted, and chemical aromas were prominent in SDRs. With the exception of chemical aroma, the aromatic series (fruity, floral, herbaceous and roasted) increased during the storage duration and become more compelling in 12 month. The packaging materials have similar effect on aromatic series, except fruity note, which was higher in woven bag. The main floral and fruity aroma contributors were decanal, β-ionone, ethyl hexanoate, β-damascenone, and 1-octen-3-ol. Herein we identified UFAO and MR compounds as the main contributors of raisin aromas.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a flammable, colorless and hazardous gas. Initially it was considered as an environment toxic gas; but, after its endogenous production discovery in plants, a wide variety of functions have been found associated with H2S. H2S plays an imperative role in the modulation of ripening and quality changes in various fruits and vegetables by regulating certain physiological aspects such as respiration, ethylene biosynthesis, color metabolism, enzymatic browning, softening, chilling injury and postharvest decay during storage. H2S also acts as a signaling molecule to combat against oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to up-regulation of antioxidative enzymes activities. Reduced membrane permeability, inhibited lipid peroxidation, up-regulation of antioxidant activities and inhibition of ROS production eventually leads to reduced senescence having conserved quality with extended shelf or cold storage life of H2S treated fruits and vegetables. Potential of H2S in delaying ripening and reducing senescence of fruits and vegetables is generally accepted. However, it may be worth considering the commercial H2S application as a strategy of conserving external color, retarding senescence and reducing various physiological storage disorders of fruits and vegetables with acceptable consumer quality in the future. This review summarizes the possible role and mechanism of H2S in prolonging storage life and conserving the quality attributes of fruit and vegetable crops during shelf or low temperature storage.

This study aimed to investigate the chemical composition, using GC–MS, and anti-biofilm potential of black cardamom essential oil (BCEO) against biofilms of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium JSG 1748 through inhibition of bacterial quorum sensing. GC–MS quantification demonstrated that BCEO contains 1,8-cineole (44.24%), α-terpinyl acetate (12.25%), nerolidol (6.03%), and sabinene (5.96%) as the major bioactive compounds. Antioxidant assays for BCEO revealed the total phenolic and flavonoid mean values were 1325.03 ± 7.69 mg GAE 100/g and 168.25 ± 5.26 mg CE/g, respectively. In regards to antimicrobial potential, Candida albicans was the most sensitive species compared to Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, and Salmonella Typhimurium with the following zones of inhibition; 14.4 ± 0.52, 13.2 ± 0.42, 11.2 ± 0.28, 11.0 ± 0.52, 8.2 ± 0.24 and 6.6 ± 0.18 mm in diameter, respectively. Biofilm inhibition by BCEO was concentration-dependent, when various concentrations of 0.03, 0.06, 0.12, 0.25 and 0.5% were applied, 33.67, 34.14, 38.66, 46.65 and 50.17% of Salmonella Typhimurium biofilm was inhibited, while 47.31, 54.15, 76.57, 83.36 and 84.63% of Escherichia coli biofilm formation was prevented. Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12,472 and its product violacein, was used as a microbial indicator for enhancement or inhibition of quorum sensing. Our data showed that 0.5% of BCEO inhibited violacein production without influencing the growth of Chromobacterium violaceum, while 1% of BCEO, caused 100% inhibtion of violacein production together with 30% inhibition of growth. This study shows that BCEO possesses promising antioxidant and antimicrobial potential, and found anti-biofilm activities linked to the quenching of the quorum sensing system of E. coli and S. Typhimurium.

Root restriction cultivation (RRC) can influence plant root architecture, but its root phenotypic changes and molecular mechanisms are still unknown. In this study, phenotype observations of grapevine root under RRC and control cultivation (nRC) at 12 time points were conducted, and the root phenotype showed an increase of adventitious and lateral root numbers and root tip degeneration after RRC cultivation from 70 days after planting (DAP). The 70 and 125 DAP sampling of two different cultivations, named nR70, RR70, nR125, and RR125, were selected for small RNA sequencing. A total of 153 known miRNAs and 119 predicted novel miRNAs were obtained. Furthermore, BLAST was used to predict the novel miRNAs with miRBase databases using the default parameters, 96 of the 119 predicted novel miRNAs were similar to other species, and the remaining 23 grapevine-specific novel miRNAs were obtained. There were 26, 33, 26, and 32 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in different comparison groups (RR70 vs. nR70, RR125 vs. nR125, nR125 vs. nR70 and RR125 vs. RR70). Target genes prediction of differentially expressed miRNAs was annotated on a variety of biological processes, and 24 participated in root development. Moreover, multiple miRNAs were found to jointly regulate lateral root development under root restriction conditions. The miRNA expression pattern comparison between RRC and nRC may provide a framework for the future analysis of miRNAs associated with root development in grapevine.

Background: Root restriction cultivation not only promotes maturation and quality of fruit, but optimizes the architecture of root, especially in enhancing the occurrence of adventitious and lateral roots. While the molecular mechanism of this phenotype is still unknown. Results: In this study, the development of roots was observed at 12 different time points under Root restriction and normal cultivations (control). Root phenotype showed a significantly different feature start from the seventh sampling, mainly in the increasing of adventitious roots numbers, degeneration of root tip and subsequent mass of lateral roots development. The 7th and 12th sampling of two different cultivations, named nR7, nR12, RR7, and RR12, were selected for small RNA sequencing. 214,439,588 raw reads were obtained and 168,741,687 clean reads were remained after the quality control steps, and finally got a total of 153 known miRNAs, and 119 predicted novel miRNAs. The predicted novel miRNAs blasted with the miRVIT and miRBase databases simultaneously. 96 new family members of grapevine miRNA and 23 grapevine-specific novel miRNAs were obtained. Differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) analysis showed that 26 and 33 miRNAs were differentially expressed in two different cultivation models (RR7 vs nR7; RR12 vs nR12), while 26 and 32 DEMs were obtained in different root development stages (nR12 vs nR7; RR12 vs RR7). MiRNA expression levels analysis found that conserved miRNA s were in higher expression level than novel miRNAs. The predicted target genes of DEMs were annotated on a variety of biological processes, and 24 participated in root development. An analysis of vvi-miR160 family members revealed that vvi-miR160c was highly expressed in grapevine root, indicating the potential role of miR160c in root development, which in accordance with the previous report in Arabidopsis . Conclusions: Multiple miRNAs were jointly to regulate root development on Root restriction condition, mainly in lateral root development. And the specific expression of vvi-miR160c in the apex may be the main cause of apical degradation. Moreover, there were multiple miRNAs related to biotic or abiotic stresses, which indicated that multiple minor stresses exist in root development after Root restriction cultivation.

Air- and sun-dried raisins from Thompson Seedless (TS) grapes were analyzed under GC/MS to evaluate fatty acids (FAs) and their derived volatile compounds, coming from unsaturated fatty acids oxidation. A total of 16 FAs were identified in TS raisins, including 10 saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and 6 unsaturated fatty acids (USFAs). The contents of C18:0, C15:0, and C16:0 among SFAs and C18:3, C18:2 and C18:1 in USFAs were significantly higher. Furthermore, USFAs such as C16:1 and C20:1 were only identified in air-dried raisins. The principal component analysis showed the increased content of FAs and FA-derived compounds were in air-dried and sun-dried raisins, respectively. Among FA-derived compounds, 2-pentyl furan, 3-octen-2-one, 1-hexanol and heptanoic acid were more potent. This study shows that air-drying is more favorable for the production of fatty acids (SFAs and USFAs), whereas sun-drying is more advantageous in terms of fatty acid-derived volatiles.

The aroma profiles of volatile compounds (VOCs) were analyzed by GC/MS in pre-treated air-dried (PAD) and sun-dried (PSD) raisins during storage. Total 98, 94 and 81 VOCs were identified in Zixiang Seedless raisins (ZSRs), Centennial Seedless raisins (CSRs) and Thompson Seedless raisins (TSRs), respectively. During storage, the overall concentrations of VOCs of PSD raisins were higher in plastic bag (PB) compared to those in woven bag (WB). Regarding fruity and floral aromas, the effect of PAD and PB was significant throughout the storage periods (3, 6 and 9 months), however, fatty aroma was higher in PSD raisins due to the major contribution of 2,3-butanedione. The main fruity and floral aroma contributors were β-damascenone, limonene, rose oxide, geraniol and ethyl hexanoate. This study showed that compounds came from unsaturated fatty acid oxidation, glycosidically-derived and grape-derived source were contributed to fruity, floral or herbaceous aromas, but Maillard reaction-derived VOCs imparted fatty and roasted aromas.

This study aimed to investigate nine commercial cultivars of tomato, in order to identify the most suitable cultivar in terms of morphological (plant height, fruit size, fruit weight and total yield) and physico-biochemical (color, firmness, total soluble solid, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total sugar, reducing and non-reducing sugar, β-carotene and lycopene) attributes. Plants were cultured hydroponically in the greenhouse. Results revealed that the morphological attributes of Beefsteak Group (BG) of tomatoes was significantly better than that of Cherry Group (CG). In addition, CG has higher concentration of biochemical attributes, mainly β-carotene, sugars, total soluble solids (TSS) and ascorbic acid contents. Within CG, cv. Aria was found to be the best for higher sugar contents, β-carotene and ascorbic acid contents; while, TSS was higher in the cv. Claree. Similarly in BG, cv. Sahel had the highest value of lycopene, β-carotene, TSS; whereas, lowest sugar contents were found in cv. Dirk. As far as firmness is concerned, cv. Naram (BG) was found to be more firm, than cv. Aria (CG). The highest total yield was recorded for cv. Vernal; in BG and in cv. Claree for CG, depicting that BG had significantly higher total yield, compared with CG.

Raisin aroma is a vital sensory characteristic that determines consumers’ acceptance. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in fresh grapes, air-dried (AD), pre-treated air-dried (PAD), sun-dried (SD), and pre-treated sun-dried (PSD) raisins were analyzed, with 99 and 77 free- and bound-form compounds identified in centennial seedless grapes, respectively. The hexenal, (E)-2-hexenal, 1-hexanol, ethyl alcohol, and ethyl acetate in free-form while benzyl alcohol, β-damascenone, gerenic acid in bound-form were the leading compounds. Overall, the concentration of aldehydes, alcohols, esters, acids, terpenoids, ketones, benzene, and phenols were abundant in fresh grapes but pyrazine and furan were identified in raisin. Out of 99 VOCs, 30 compounds had an odour active value above 1. The intensity of green, floral, and fruity aromas were quite higher in fresh grapes followed by AD-raisins, PAD-raisins, SD-raisins, and PSD-raisins. The intense roasted aroma was found in SD-raisins due to 2,6-diethylpyrazine and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine. Among raisins, the concentration of unsaturated fatty acid oxidized and Maillard reaction volatiles were higher in SD-raisins and mainly contributed green, fruity and floral, and roasted aromas, respectively.

Plant factory offers a logical solution for sustainable food production. However, it provokes high energy and cost due to the use of artificial lighting. In this regard light quality strongly impairs growth and quality of plants due to inhibition of thylakoid multiprotein complex and photosynthetic metabolism under lighting environment. The molecular mechanism behind this phenomenon is still unclear. The objective of this research was to examine first comparative quantitative proteomic analysis of lettuce under light quality in the closed biological production system. We investigated response of lettuce proteome under three light treatments (R:B ratio of 1.2 and 2.2 provided by LEDs, and R:B ratio of 1.8 provided by the fluorescent lamp). The rapid identification and sensitive detection in protein expression in response to light quality were measured by mass spectrometry and bioinformatics followed by Mascot database used in this study. Our results demonstrated that light quality had significant effect on altering the proteomic level and expression pattern in lettuce leaves, in addition light quality had marked striking effect on functional, molecular and biological level among light treatments. The study successfully identified seventy-one proteins for lettuce plants treated with fluorescent lamps, fifty and forty-one for LEDs, respectively, which were involved in energy metabolism and regulation of morphogenesis. The results observed dramatically altered molecular mechanism of key enzymes in thylakoid complex proteins and photosynthetic metabolism among light treatments due to effect of spectral light quality difference. Importantly, the lettuce plants have lower expression of proteins diagnostic for LEDs light. In this regard our data will provide foundation for future detail study to unlock the advantages of this next generation lighting technology to strengthen the connection between light quality and multi complex protein (CB23_HORVU) of LHC family in highly energy-efficient horticulture.

The conditions of sample pretreatments and HS-SPME for extracting volatile compounds from raisins were optimized, and the method was validated in the study. Free and glycosidically bound volatile compounds in three different fragrance intensities raisins were analysed using this method. There were 91 compounds identified, and 72, 26 and 8 of these compounds came from fresh grapes, the auto-oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAO) and the Maillard reaction, respectively. The aroma profiles of Thompson Seedless raisins (TSRs) and Centennial Seedless raisins (CSRs) were similar, while the floral, fruity, green and roasted aromas of CSRs were higher than those of TSRs due to the contributions of benzeneacetaldehyde, 2-pentylfuran, (E)-2-nonenal and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethyl pyrazine. Decanal, rose oxide, geraniol, linalool and β-damascenone made the floral and fruity aromas of Zixiang Seedless raisins (ZSRs) greater than those in TSRs and CSRs, but the green and roasted aroma intensities of ZSRs were lower.