Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria exert beneficial effects on plants through their capacity for nitrogen fixation, phytohormone production, phosphate solubilization, and improvement of the water and mineral status of plants. We suggested that these bacteria may also have the potential to express degradative activity toward glyphosate, a commonly used organophosphorus herbicide. In this study, 10 strains resistant to a 10 mM concentration of glyphosate were isolated from the rhizoplane of various plants. Five of these strains--Alcaligenes sp. K1, Comamonas sp. K4, Azomonas sp. K5, Pseudomonas sp. K3, and Enterobacter cloacae K7--possessed a number of associative traits, including fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, solubilization of phosphates, and synthesis of the phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid. One strain, E. cloacae K7, could utilize glyphosate as a source of P. Gas-liquid chromatography showed that E. cloacae growth correlated with a decline in herbicide content in the culture medium (40% of the initial 5mM content), with no glyphosate accumulating inside the cells. Thin-layer chromatography analysis of the intermediate metabolites of glyphosate degradation found that E. cloacae K7 had a C-P lyase activity and degraded glyphosate to give sarcosine, which was then oxidized to glycine. In addition, strain K7 colonized the roots of common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and sugar sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum Pers.), promoting the growth and development of sunflower seedlings. Our findings extend current knowledge of glyphosate-degrading rhizosphere bacteria and may be useful for developing a biotechnology for the cleanup and restoration of glyphosate-polluted soils.
Lycopene rich food and dark chocolate are among the best-documented products with a broad health benefit. This study explored the systemic effect of lycopene and dark chocolate (DC) on gut microbiota, blood, liver metabolism, skeletal muscle tissue oxygenation and skin. 30 volunteers were recruited for this trial, 15 women and 15 men with a mean age of 55 ± 5.7 years and with moderate obesity, 30 < BMI < 35 kg/m2. They were randomized and divided into five equal interventional groups: three received different formulations of lycopene, one of them with a 7 mg daily dose and two with 30 mg; another group was given 10 g of DC with 7 mg lycopene embedded into its matrix, and the last group received 10 g DC. The trial was double-blinded for the three lycopene groups and separately for the 2 DC groups; the trial lasted for 1 month. By the end of the trial there were dose-dependent changes in the gut microbiota profile in all three lycopene groups with an increase of relative abundance of, e.g., Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Bifidobacterium longum. This was also accompanied by dose-dependent changes in the blood, liver metabolism, skeletal muscle and skin parameters. Consumption of DC resulted in increased relative abundance of, e.g., Lactobacillus and a reduction of corneocyte exfoliation. This is the first study which reports the prebiotic potential of lycopene and DC.
Oxidative stress and antioxidant deficiency play a pivotal role in initiation, development, and outcomes of cardiovascular disease. Pharmacokinetic parameters as well as the impact of highly bioavailable lycopene on cardiovascular variables, markers of inflammation and oxidation were investigated during a 30‐day clinical trial in patients with coronary vascular disease. The patients were randomized into two major groups and were supplemented with a single 7 mg daily dose of lycopene ingested either in the form of lactolycopene (68 patients) or in the form of lycosome‐formulated GA lycopene (74 patients). The endpoints included cardiovascular function parameters, serum lipids, and four markers of oxidative stress and inflammation. Ingestion of lycosome‐formulated lycopene increased serum lycopene levels by 2.9‐ and 4.3‐fold, respectively, after 2 and 4 weeks of the trial, whereas supplementation with lactolycopene upregulated serum lycopene by half‐fold only after 4 weeks of ingestion. Lycosome formulation of lycopene resulted by the end of the trial in a threefold reduction in Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG and reduction to the same degree of the inflammatory oxidative damage marker. The decrease in oxidized LDL caused by lycosome‐formulated lycopene was fivefold. Moreover, supplementation with lycosome‐formulated lycopene was accompanied by a significant increase in tissue oxygenation and flow‐mediated dilation by the end of the observational period. In contrast, lactolycopene did not cause any significant changes in the parameters studied. Therefore, enhanced bioavailability of lycopene promotes its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory functions and endorses a positive effect of lycopene on cardiovascular system.
The health-promoting dietary antioxidant lycopene has limited natural bioavailability, but lycopene-rich functional foods can improve its bioavailability. We assessed a new lycopene-enriched ice cream for systemic antioxidant effects and influence on morphological characteristics of facial skin surface in healthy volunteers. In a randomized crossover study, we used 4-wk dietary interventions with either control or lycopeneenriched ice cream. Samples of serum and residual skin surface components (RSSC) from facial skin were taken before interventions, at 2 wk, and at intervention end. Lycopene concentration, conventional blood biochemistry, and oxidative stress biomarkers comprising inflammatory oxidative damage and low-density lipoprotein peroxidase proteins were assessed in the serum. Lycopene-associated immunofluorescence, lipid droplet size, corneocyte desquamation, and microbial presence were measured in the RSSC. The results show that lycopene concentrations in the serum and skin steadily increased during lycopene-enriched ice cream consumption. Whereas we found no intervention-dependent changes in conventional biochemical parameters, both inflammatory oxidative damage and low-density lipoprotein peroxidase protein values significantly decreased by the end of intervention with lycopene-enriched ice cream, but remained unchanged during control ice cream consumption. Control ice cream significantly increased corneocyte desquamation and bacterial presence in the RSSC. These adverse effects, which could potentially predispose consumers to acne development, were absent when volunteers consumed lycopene-enriched ice cream. We concluded that lycopene-enriched ice cream is a new functional food with clear antioxidant properties. In addition, enrichment with lycopene may alleviate proinflammatory action of ice cream at the level of facial skin, thus decreasing diet-associated acne development risk in young consumers.
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