No abstract

Endophytes are microorganisms that reside asymptomatically in the tissues of higher plants and are a promising source of novel organic natural metabolites exhibiting a variety of biological activities. The laboratory of Bioaromas (Unicamp, Brazil) develops research in biotransformation processes and functional evaluation of natural products. With the intent to provide subsidies for studies on endophytic microbes related to areas cited before, this paper focuses particularly on the role of endophytes on the production of anticancer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant compounds and includes examples that illustrate their potential for human use. It also describes biotransformation as an auspicious method to obtain novel bioactive compounds from microbes. Biotransformation allows the production of regio- and stereoselective compounds under mild conditions that can be labeled as “natural,” as discussed in this paper.

a b s t r a c tFlavor is one of the main attributes of foods and is given by a combination of volatile molecules present in the matrix. This paper reviews the general characteristics and uses and focuses on the volatile composition of selected Brazilian exotic fruits: Brazilian cherry (Eugenia uniflora), acerola (Malpighia glabra L., Malpighia punicifolia L., Malpighia emarginata DC.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) and fruits from the genera Annona (cherimoya, soursop, sugar apple etc.) and fruits from the genera Spondias (S. purpurea, S. mombin and S. tuberosa). This is information important for flavor industry, which use different aroma compounds for the formulation of fragrances and flavorings to be used in foods, cosmetics and perfumes.

This study evaluated the chemical composition of freeze-dried jaboticaba peel (FJP) and jaboticaba peel aqueous extract (JE) and their antioxidant capacity in vitro and in vivo in obesity model. Phenolic compounds, total anthocyanins, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS and ORAC assays) in FJP methanolic extract and JE were measured. Specific phenolics (ellagic and gallic acids) and anthocyanin (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside) were measured by LC-DAD-ESI/MS. In the biological assay thirty-six Wistar rats were divided in six groups: AIN-93 M normal control diet; HFF (obese control) feed a high-fat and fructose diet; Prevention FJP (P. FJP) and Treatment FJP (T. FJP) feed HFF diet with 2% of FJP powder, for 12 and 6 weeks respectively; Prevention JE (P. JE) and Treatment JE (T. JE) were feed with HFF diet and the water was substituted by JE, for 12 and 6 weeks, respectively. FRAP, TBARS, GSH and antioxidant enzymes (GPx, GR, CAT and SOD) were determined in the plasma and liver. The limit of significance was set at P b 0.05. The FJP methanolic extract showed higher levels of total phenolics and anthocyanins, ellagic acid and DPPH, FRAP and ORAC assay, but JE showed higher levels of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, gallic acid and ABTS assay. Antioxidant potential of the FJP and JE were confirmed by important markers in animals, such as TBARS and GSH levels and CAT activity, but not by FRAP assay, and SOD, GR and GPx enzymes. Thus, FJP and JE showed an important antioxidant effect in vitro and in vivo.

No abstract