Lycium ruthenicum studies: Molecular biology, Phytochemistry and pharmacology

Wang, Hanqing; Li, Jiaoning; Tao, Weiwei; Xia, Zhang; Gao, Xiaojuan; Yong, Jingjiao; Zhao, Jianjun; Zhang, Liming; Li, Yongzhou; Duan, Jin‐Ao

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.08.026

Cited by 119 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Dried fruits of Lycium plants account for approximately 80 species in the world (Levin & Miller, ) are very popular berries in Asia and other countries (Seeram, ). In recent years, the genus Lycium has especially received considerable attention (Kulczynski & Gramza‐Michalowska, ; Wang et al, ). Also referred to wolfberry or Fructus lycii, Lycium fruits the genus Lycium has 3 main species ( L. barbarum L ., L. ruthenicum Murray, and L. chinense Miller) which have been used as traditional medicinal foods in China and many other countries for centuries (Zhao et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatty acid and mineral contents of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. and antioxidant activity against isoproterenol‐induced acute myocardial ischemia in mice

Nzeuwa

Xia

Shi

et al. 2020

Food Science & Nutrition

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Dried fruits of black goji were investigated for their fatty acid, mineral contents, and antioxidant activity against isoproterenol‐induced acute myocardial ischemia in mice was revealed. It was observed that the key fatty acids from Lycium ruthenicum Murr. (LRM) oil studied included linoleic (59.38%), oleic (20.85%), palmitic (7.07%), linolenic (2.98%), and stearic acids (5.31%), which together comprised 95.59% of the total fatty acids. The key mineral nutrients studied were potassium (17,631.15 mg/kg), calcium (2004.4 mg/kg), and magnesium (1,274.6 mg/kg), while copper, iron, manganese, and zinc were found in trace. Moreover, oral administration of water extraction of LRM exhibited significant reduction of enzyme activities, and MDA level triggered by ISO to be near normal level, while exhibited a significant increase of SOD and GSH activities. Our results provide deep insight on LRM as a potential source of high‐value phytochemicals for the development of new functional food and beverage products.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatty acid and mineral contents of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. and antioxidant activity against isoproterenol‐induced acute myocardial ischemia in mice

Nzeuwa

Xia

Shi

et al. 2020

Food Science & Nutrition

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“…As it was difficult to disentangle genetic from environmental variables, and anthropogenic from non-anthropogenic variables in our study, we limited the discussion of our results to the most highly pronounced transcriptomic and metabolomic differences between the two species. Previous studies found indications that L. ruthenicum may exhibit higher resistance to abiotic (such as high soil salinity and drought) than L. barbarum 3,4,6,9,11 and that berries of L. ruthenicum may have much greater medicinal value than berries of L. barbarum 2,3 . Although we can tentatively conclude only that our results are in agreement with these indications, it will be necessary to corroborate our comparative analyses results in future studies with different experimental setups before any conclusions about genetic and metabolic adaptations of these two…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LB and LR fruits are generally relatively rich in pharmacologically important secondary metabolites synthesized via the phenylpropanoid/flavonoid pathway, such as anthocyanin, betalain, flavone, flavonoid, isoquinoline, etc. 3,5,6,9 . Flavonoids have high antioxidant potential and possess a number of properties putatively beneficial from the pharmacological perspective: antitumorigenic, anti-inflammatory, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, obesity, dental health, etc.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the native range of this species is probably in the Mediterranean Basin, a majority of global commercial production takes place in arid and semi-arid areas of two provinces in Northwest China, Ningxia and Xinjiang 1 . Lycium ruthenicum (Russian box thorn or black wolfberry), a very close relative of L. barbarum and L. chinense 7 , is a wild perennial thorny shrub native to Northwest China, whose resistance to the harsh environment of saline deserts makes it a popular choice plant for combating soil desertification and for alleviating soil salinity/alkalinity 8,9 . It is also used in the local folk medicine and as food 8 , and studies indicate that it has notable pharmaceutical effects 9,10 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lycium ruthenicum (Russian box thorn or black wolfberry), a very close relative of L. barbarum and L. chinense 7 , is a wild perennial thorny shrub native to Northwest China, whose resistance to the harsh environment of saline deserts makes it a popular choice plant for combating soil desertification and for alleviating soil salinity/alkalinity 8,9 . It is also used in the local folk medicine and as food 8 , and studies indicate that it has notable pharmaceutical effects 9,10 . As these two species, and their fruits, are referred to by a range of (often overlapping) names 1 , to avoid confusion we refer to the fruit of L. barbarum (LB) as red wolfberry, and fruit of L. ruthenicum (LR) as black wolfberry.…”

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Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of Lycium ruthenicum and Lycium barbarum fruits during ripening

Zhao

Yin

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Red wolfberry (or goji berry, Lycium barbarum; LB) is an important agricultural product with a high content of pharmacologically important secondary metabolites such as phenylpropanoids. A close relative, black wolfberry (L. ruthenicum; LR), endemic to the salinized deserts of northwestern china, is used only locally. The two fruits exhibit many morphological and phytochemical differences, but genetic mechanisms underlying them remain poorly explored. in order to identify the genes of interest for further studies, we studied transcriptomic (Illumina HiSeq) and metabolomic (LC-MS) profiles of the two fruits during five developmental stages (young to ripe). As expected, we identified much higher numbers of significantly differentially regulated genes (DEGs) than metabolites. The highest numbers were identified in pairwise comparisons including the first stage for both species, but total numbers were consistently somewhat lower for the LR. The number of differentially regulated metabolites in pairwise comparisons of developmental stages varied from 66 (stages 3 vs 4) to 133 (stages 2 vs 5) in both species. We identified a number of genes (e.g. AAT1, metE, pip) and metabolites (e.g. rutin, raffinose, galactinol, trehalose, citrulline and DL-arginine) that may be of interest to future functional studies of stress adaptation in plants. As LB is also highly suitable for combating soil desertification and alleviating soil salinity/alkalinity/pollution, its potential for human use may be much wider than its current, highly localized, relevance.Despite their close phylogenetic relationship, the fruits of these two species exhibit distinct phenotypic profiles of during all developmental stages, including their shape, size, colour, taste, nutritional value and pharmacological properties 3,4,11 . As opposed to the red and elongated mature red wolfberry, black wolfberry is dark-purple or black, round, and smaller. It is also known that metabolic phenotypes of these two fruits differ significantly, particularly in the content of fatty acids, phenols and antioxidant capacities, which are much higher in black wolfberry, while the content of carotenoids, sugars, amino acids and osmolytes is higher in the red wolfberry 3,4 .Fruit ripening is a complex developmental process, coordinated by a network of interacting genes and signalling pathways 12 , so genetic mechanisms underpinning these phenotypic differences remain only partially understood. The objective of this study was to contribute to our understanding of the complexity of ripening processes of these two fruits in different environments. To achieve this, we collected L. barbarum and L. ruthenicum fruits at five developmental stages, from young to ripe fruit, and sequenced their transcriptomes and metabolomes. These data shall help us better understand genetic underpinnings of both within-and between-species phenotypic differences that fruits of these two species exhibit during their respective ripening processes. Materials and methodsSample collection. Fruits were collected ...

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Fruit ripening in Lycium barbarum and Lycium ruthenicum is associated with distinct gene expression patterns

Zhao

Yin

et al. 2020

FEBS Open Bio

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Goji berries have been used as food and medicine for millennia. Due to their high morphological similarity, fruits of two distinct species belonging to the family Solanaceae, Lycium barbarum (LB) and Lycium chinense (Chinese boxthorn), are usually marketed together as goji berries, but nearly 90% of all commercially available goji berries belong to the former species. A third closely related species, a wild perennial thorny shrub native to north‐western China, Lycium ruthenicum (LR; known as Russian box thorn, and its fruit as black wolfberry), has become a popular choice for combating soil desertification and for alleviating soil salinity/alkalinity due to its high resistance to the harsh environment of saline deserts. Despite the phylogenetic closeness of LB and LR, their fruits are very different. To identify the genes involved in these distinct phenotypes, here we studied expression patterns of 22 transcriptional regulators that may be crucial drivers of these differences during five developmental stages. BAM1 may contribute to higher sugar content in LB. High expression of BFRUCT in ripe LR is likely to be an evolutionary adaptation to fruit ripening in an arid environment. Two arogenate dehydratase paralogues, CHS and LDOX, are probably crucial elements of the mechanism by which LR accumulates much higher levels of anthocyanin. DXS2 (carotenoid accumulation in LB) and CCD4 (carotenoid degradation in ripe LR fruit) may be crucial drivers behind the much higher content of carotenoids in LB. EIL3 and ERF5 are two transcription factors that may contribute to the higher abiotic stress resilience of LR. GATA22‐like appears to have more important roles in growth than ripening in LB fruit and vice versa in LR. HAT5‐like exhibited opposite temporal patterns in two fruits: high in the 1st stage in LB and high in the 5th stage in LR. PED1 was expressed at a much lower level in LR. Finally, we hypothesise that the poorly functionally characterised SCL32 gene may play a part in the increased resistance to environmental stress of LR. We suggest that BAM1, BFRUCT, EIL3, ERF5, ADT paralogues (for functional redundancy), PED1, GATA22‐like, HAT5‐like and SCL32 warrant further functional studies.

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Lycium ruthenicum studies: Molecular biology, Phytochemistry and pharmacology

Cited by 119 publications

References 71 publications

Fatty acid and mineral contents of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. and antioxidant activity against isoproterenol‐induced acute myocardial ischemia in mice

Fatty acid and mineral contents of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. and antioxidant activity against isoproterenol‐induced acute myocardial ischemia in mice

Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of Lycium ruthenicum and Lycium barbarum fruits during ripening

Fruit ripening in Lycium barbarum and Lycium ruthenicum is associated with distinct gene expression patterns

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