(Bio)Sensor Approach in the Evaluation of Polyphenols in Vegetal Matrices

Abstract

Polyphenols are compounds widely distributed in the plant kingdom and have attracted much attention, because of their health benefits and important properties such as radical scavenging, metal chelating agents, inhibitors of lipoprotein oxidation, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic activities. Due to their important role in the diet and in therapy, it is important to estimate their content in the different matrices of interest. Besides classical analytical methods, new emerging technologies have also appeared in the last decade aiming for simple and eventually cheap detection of polyphenols. This review focused on the recent applications of biosensing-based technologies for polyphenol estimation in vegetal matrices, using different transduction principles. These analytical tools are generally fast, giving responses in the order of a few seconds/minutes, and also very sensitive and generally selective (mainly depending on the enzyme used). Direct measurements in most of the investigated matrices were possible, both in aqueous and organic phases.

Systematic gene deletions evidences that laccases are involved in several stages of wood degradation in the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina

“…However, the best known laccases are those from fungi because of their contribution to lignin degradation. The ability of the laccases to act on a wide range of substrates has also made them very important in many biotechnological applications (Arora and Sharma, 2010) such as pulp and paper (Sigoillot et al, 2004), textile (Galante and Formantici, 2003;Wesenberg et al, 2003), organic synthesis, food industries (Minussi et al, 2002), wood products industries (Mai et al, 2004), bioremediation (Baldrian, 2008), biofuel cells (Willner et al, 2009), biosensor (Bergonzi et al, 2008) and other pharmaceuticals and nanobiotechnology (Jorgensen et al, 2007;Madhavi and Lele, 2009;Giardina et al, 2010). Being specific, biodegradable and energy-saving, laccase-based biocatalysts fit well with the development of sustainable and eco-friendly industries.…”

Multiple Multi-Copper Oxidase Gene Families in Basidiomycetes – What for?

“…However, deeper insights reveal that we hardly know anything on the biology of the enzymes, their functions in nature and their natural substrates. Much work is driven by the high interest in laccases in biotechnology – the enzymes have multiple applications in textile industries and dye decolorization [ 6 , 7 ], food industries [ 8 ], wood products industries [ 9 ], paper pulp bleaching [ 10 ], bioremediation [ 11 ], biofuel cells [ 12 ], biosensor applications [ 13 ], and others [ 14 - 16 ]. Upon the classic review on structure and function of fungal laccases by Thurston [ 17 ], little further overview on potential biological functions can be found in the literature.…”

Optimized architecture for Tyrosinase-containing Langmuir–Blodgett films to detect pyrogallol

“…In addition, the quality of food, beverages, oils and juices depends on phenolic compounds that are partly responsible for the self-oxidation stability and organoleptic characteristics. [1][2][3][4][5] Detection of phenolic compounds and derivatives is normally performed with electrochemical biosensors, especially those based on amperometry, which possess good selectivity and potential for miniaturization. 6,7 Existing applications include the assessment of polyphenols in beer, 8 tea, 9 vegetable extracts, 10,11 olive oil, 12 and wine.…”