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This study aimed to reveal the effects and possible mechanism of terpinen-4-ol, the main component of tea tree oil (TTO), on the disease resistance of strawberry fruit. When the effects of TTO and its components were compared on the decay development in fruit inoculated with Botrytis cinerea after treatment, strawberry treated with terpinen-4-ol showed the lowest disease incidence (44.4%) after 48 h and also the smallest lesion diameter during the whole storage. This indicates that terpinen-4-ol induces the highest disease resistance in strawberry compared with TTO and other components. Untargeted metabolomic analysis showed that terpinen-4-ol treatment strongly activated phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and flavonoid metabolism pathway by increasing the accumulation of cinnamaldehyde, coniferyl aldehyde, naringenin, taxifolin, quercetin, and quercitrin in fruit at 12 h after treatment. In addition, terpinen-4-ol treatment also caused the accumulation of total phenolics and lignin by enhancing activities and relative gene expression of key enzymes in the phenylpropanoid metabolism pathway. These results suggest that terpinen-4-ol, as the key component of TTO, is the most important contributor to the effectiveness of TTO in improving disease resistance of strawberry fruit through activating the phenylpropanoid metabolism pathway.

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Our present study focused on the regulating effect of oolong tea polyphenols (OTPs) on the circadian rhythm of liver and intestinal microbiome. OTP significantly alleviated the disrupted diurnal oscillation and phase shift of the specific intestinal microbiota and liver clock genes in mice induced by constant dark (CD) treatment. Transcriptomics revealed that 1114 genes in the control group and 647 genes in the CD group showed circadian rhythm while 723 genes were rhythmic in the CD-OTP group. The Gene Ontology (GO) database provided significant differences in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to OTP treatment. In addition, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched the most DEGs after OTP intervention including "Focal adhesion" (9 DEGs) and "PI3K-Akt signaling pathway" (9 DEGs). The present study provided a global view that OTP may alleviate the circadian rhythm disorder of the host, contributing to the improvement of microecology and health.

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In this study, the effects of the addition of pectin (PEC) on the physicochemical properties and freeze-thaw stability of waxy rice starch (WRS) were investigated. As PEC content increased, the pasting viscosity and pasting temperature of WRS significantly increased (p < 0.05), whereas its breakdown value and setback value decreased. Differential scanning calorimetry showed that the addition of PEC increased the gelatinization temperature of WRS, but decreased its gelatinization enthalpy. Rheological measurements indicated that the addition of PEC did not change the shear-thinning behavior of WRS–PEC blends, and the storage modulus and loss modulus were positively correlated with PEC content. Moreover, the textural parameter of WRS decreased with the increase in PEC content. Furthermore, the addition of PEC decreased the transmittance of starch paste, but enhanced the freeze-thaw stability of WRS to some extent. These results may contribute to the development of WRS-based food products.