There were significant differences between treatments according to the analysis of variance (p ≤0.05).The different letters indicate significant differences between the Tukey means test (α = 0.05, n=9). ND: Not detected.
Medicinal and aromatic plants in Mexico have been studied and explored through history. Day by day there is an increase in ethnobotanical, taxonomic, or phytochemical studies, providing an encouraging picture of research in Mexico and to support its use in traditional medicine. Chemical and biological exploration permit to provide solutions to the treatment of diseases. With this background, the objective of this chapter is to show the potential of endemic medicinal and aromatic plants in Mexico.
Flavonoids are compounds that are secondary metabolites, but which play an important role in the biological activities of plants. They can be responsible for the color of flowers and fruits and for the attraction of pollinators. They also participate in plant-microorganism symbiosis. These relationships can be used to naturally control weeds and insect pests and reduce stress and diseases in order to increase crop yield. To improve the understanding of the different biological systems where flavonoids are involved in their symbiotic relationships and in plant physiology, tools such as metabolomics are used, which give a broader picture and allow to search for strategies to solve problems specific to the agricultural sector.
We quantitatively evaluate the effects of UV-C radiation on bean seeds Oti (Phaseolus vulgaris), their germination and phenolic compounds of seedlings, by means of photoacoustic spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It is shown that: i) The photoacoustic signal produced by the bean seeds exposed to UV-C radiation during 15 minutes, reduces from 0.24 to 0.10 mV for the wavelengths of 295 and 340 nm, as a result of their degradation. This significant reduction of 58.3% decreases, but keeps over 50% for other spectral UV wavelengths within the interval (270-400 nm). ii) As the UV-C radiation time increases from 2 to 15 min, the morphological changes at the surface of the bean seeds exhibits micro-holes and detachment of the cotyledon sclereids. iii) There are no significant statistical differences in the variables of germination, dry weight and seedling length, for exposure times up to 15 minutes. iv). The phenolic acids and flavonoids of the bean seedlings of seeds treated by UV-C for different exposure times (0, 2, 5, 10 and 15 min) display significant statistical differences (P ≤ 0.05) in both roots and foliage. For both the roots and foliage, the highest concentration of phenolic acids is observed at 10 and 15 minutes, while for root flavonoids, it appears at 5 and 15 minutes.
<p><strong>Background</strong>: Inhibition of quorum sensing systems (QSS-I) is a novel strategy in the treatment of bacterial infections. To date, plants are the major source of metabolites with this inhibitory activity. Thus, species of Mexican flora can be important resources for obtaining metabolites with QSS-I activity.</p><p><strong>Hypothesis</strong>: We hypothesized that extracts from species of the genus <em>Ceiba</em> have metabolites with inhibitory activity against bacterial quorum sensing systems.</p><p><strong>Species studied</strong>: <em>Ceiba pentandra </em>(L.) Gaertn.<em> </em>and <em>Ceiba aesculifolia (</em>Kunth) Britten & Baker f. (Malvaceae).</p><p><strong>Study site and years of study</strong><strong>: We collected <em>Ceiba </em>bark in the municipalities of </strong>Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, and Acatlan, Oaxaca, in August 2013.</p><p><strong>Methods</strong>: We determined the effect of extracts from <em>C. aesculifolia</em> and <em>C. pentandra</em> against QSS-regulated phenotypes of <em>Chromobacterium violaceum</em> and <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>. Extracts were fractionated and the main metabolites were identified. As support in the identification of the species, we carried out an anatomical study of the bark.</p><p><strong>Results</strong>: Hexane and dichloromethane extracts of both species of <em>Ceiba</em> exhibited QSS-I activity. We identified four fractions rich in terpene and sterol compounds with the ability to attenuate virulence factors in <em>P. aerugiosa</em>. The histological analysis appears to support the presence of some differences in the barks that can facilitate identification of the two species.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: The extracts and fractions of the two species of <em>Ceiba </em>are sources of phytochemicals with the ability to regulate bacterial quorum sensing systems positively or negatively.</p>
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