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Cherries, and in particular sweet cherries, are a nutritionally dense food rich in anthocyanins, quercetin, hydroxycinnamates, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and melatonin. UV concentration, degree of ripeness, postharvest storage conditions, and processing, each can significantly alter the amounts of nutrients and bioactive components. These constituent nutrients and bioactive food components support the potential preventive health benefits of cherry intake in relation to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and Alzheimer's disease. Mechanistically, cherries exhibit relatively high antioxidant activity, low glycemic response, COX 1 and 2 enzyme inhibition, and other anti-carcinogenic effects in vitro and in animal experiments. Well-designed cherry feeding studies are needed to further substantiate any health benefits in humans.

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The glycerolipid composition of pea (Pisum sativum L.) root plastids and their capacity to synthesize glycerolipids from [UL-'4C]glycerol-3-phosphate were determined. Pea root plastids primarily consist of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, triacylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, and diacylglycerol. Maximum rates of total glycerolipid biosynthesis were obtained in the presence of 2.4 mM glycerol-3-phosphate, 15 mM KHCO,, 0.2 mM sodium-acetate, 0.5 mM each of NADH and NADPH, 0.05 mM coenzyme A, 2 mM MgCI,, 1 mM ATP, 0.1 M Bis-Tris propane (pH 7.5), and 0.31 M sorbitol. Clycerolipid biosynthesis was completely dependent on exogenously supplied ATP, coenzyme A, and a divalent cation, whereas the remaining cofactors improved their activity from 1.3-to 2.4-fold. Radioactivity from glycerol-3-phosphate was recovered predominantly in phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylglycerol, diacylglycerol, and triacylglycerol with lesser amounts in phosphatidylcholine and monoacylglycerol. The proportions of the various radiolabeled lipids that accumulated were dependent on the pH and the concentration of ATP and glycerol-3-phosphate. The data presented indicate that pea root plastids can synthesize almost all of their component glycerolipids and that glycerolipid biosynthesis is tightly coupled to de novo fatty acid biosynthesis. pH and the availability of ATP may have important roles in the regulation of lipid biosynthesis at the levels of phosphatidic acid phosphatase and in the reactions that are involved in phosphatidylglycerol and triacylglycerol biosynthesis.Plastids play a central role in plant lipid metabolism. As the only subcellular site for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis, plastids provide the entire plant cell with fatty acids for the synthesis of membrane and storage lipids (Stumpf, 1984;Ohlrogge et al., 1993). Plastids are also actively engaged in their own membrane glycerolipid biosynthesis. Most of the information about the glycerolipid biosynthetic capacities of plastids is derived from studies that have been conducted with photosynthetically active chloroplasts (Roughan and Slack, 1982). Chloroplasts contain and synthesize approximately 75% of the total leaf lipid and are thus the most important sites of glycerolipid biosynthesis in leaves (Harwood, 1980 Slack, 1982). In contrast, little information is available about lipid metabolism in nonphotosynthetic plastids. The available information suggests that nonphotosynthetic plastids may be similar to chloroplasts in terms of their autonomy for fatty acid and glycerolipid biosynthesis and the types of lipids comprising their membranes. However, the actual lipid composition of each plastid varies from one type to another, depending on the physiology or function of the tissues from which the plastids are isolated as well as differences in the regulation of lipid metabolism in these plastids (Sparace and KleppingerSparace, 1993).A few studies have described glycerolipid biosynthesis in nonphotosynthetic plastids from such tissues as cauliflower buds an...

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Fresh tomatoes higher in lycopene content than standard varieties have recently been designed. We hypothesized that consumption of fresh, high lycopene tomatoes (HEC) for 3-weeks, as compared to standard fresh tomatoes, (LEC) would result in significant increases in serum lycopene and reductions in oxidative stress and inflammation. Forty healthy adult men (37.5%) and women (62.5%) age 55.3±4.7 years (BMI = 25.1±3.3 kg/m 2) completed this randomized, crossover, controlled tomato intervention. Serum lycopene, oxidative stress (8-OHdG, 8-iso-PGF2) and inflammation (hsCRP) were assessed. Significant increases were seen in trans-and cis-lycopene (pre-and post-intervention, P < 0.0001), with cis-lycopene increasing significantly more during HEC consumption as compared to LEC (P=0.03). No significant changes in 8-OHdG, 8-iso-PGF2 or hsCRP were demonstrated. Consumption of HEC tomatoes resulted in significant elevations in serum lycopene but not significant reductions in oxidative stress or inflammation in this healthy adult population.

Recognition of the importance of biodiversity for global food security and the community food sustainability movement has helped increase awareness of seed rights. International treaties created to ensure the world’s access to seed biodiversity address access to seed banks for breeding purposes. Ethnobotanists are often required to deposit research plant specimens with government seed banks or herbariums. If Indigenous Peoples’ plants are then used developing patented varieties, are their rights recognized? These rights depend upon recognition of Indigenous Peoples as plant breeders, prior informed consent (PIC) protocols, access and benefit sharing (ABS) agreements via material transfer agreements, and benefits returned to Indigenous and local communities per the Nagoya Protocol. To ensure such rights to genetic material and associated intellectual property rights, documentation of these agreements and links to the people and communities from which they originated needs to occur at first collection and throughout subsequent research, conservation, and breeding programs.