Worldwide, there are plants known as psychoactive plants that naturally contain psychedelic active components. They have a high concentration of neuroprotective substances that can interact with the nervous system to produce psychedelic effects. Despite these plants' hazardous potential, recreational use of them is on the rise because of their psychoactive properties. Early neuroscience studies relied heavily on psychoactive plants and plant natural products (NPs), and both recreational and hazardous NPs have contributed significantly to the understanding of almost all neurotransmitter systems. Worldwide, there are many plants that contain psychoactive properties, and people have been using them for ages. Psychoactive plant compounds may significantly alter how people perceive the world.
1. Carbohydr Polym. 2025 Jan 1;347:122694. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.122694. Epub 2024 Aug 31. A green and fast semi-liquefaction strategy: One-step preparation of high-yield nanocellulose particles. Miao G(1), Zhou Y(2), Yang S(2), He L(3), Xu F(4). Author information: (1)Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Biomass Materials and Energy, Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. (2)Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, China. (3)Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, China. Electronic address: heliang@kust.edu.cn. (4)Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Engineering Research Center of Forestry Biomass Materials and Energy, Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: xfx315@bjfu.edu.cn. The complexity and cost of the biorefinery industry hinder the high-value utilization of lignocellulose. Herein, we propose a green, fast, and economical oxygen-alkali-ethanol (OAE) semi-liquefaction strategy for achieving one-step preparation of hemp stalk material (HSM) biomass into nanocellulose particles (NCPs). Oxygen, alkali, and ethanol have obvious synergistic effects during the semi-liquefaction process, which jointly promote the opening and depolymerization of the crystalline regions of cellulose. The presence of hemicellulose in HSM affects the preparation of NCPs, and the removal of hemicellulose in advance can significantly increase the yield of NCPs. The results showed that the yield of NCPs was as high as 90.14 % with 92.30 % purity after treatment at 120 °C for 2 h. The conversion of rod-shaped nanocellulose to NCPs was successfully captured, and Van der Waals forces were hypothesized to play a dominant role in the formation of NCPs by molecular dynamics simulations. Moreover, the semi-liquefaction can simultaneously fractionate uncondensed lignin with a yield of 46.52 %. With ethanol as a hydrogen donor, the residual lignin was effectively converted to aromatic monomers, predominantly vanillin and syringaldehyde. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2024.122694 PMID: 39486935 Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 2. Environ Pollut. 2024 Oct 28:125219. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125219. Online ahead of print. Unappreciated role of secondary metabolism-derived small mediators in degrading bisphenol A and antibiotics by a laccase-expressing fungus. Sun K(1), Wu ZH(2), Liu J(2), Cheng ZH(3), Liu DF(4), Lin H(5), Yu HQ(6). Author information: (1)College of Resources and Environment,Anhui Agricultural University,Hefei, 230036,China; CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion,Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei, 230026,China. (2)College of Resources and Environment,Anhui Agricultural University,Hefei, 230036,China. (3)CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion,Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei, 230026,China. (4)CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion,Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei, 230026,China. Electronic address: dfl@ustc.edu.cn. (5)Research Center for Eco-Environmental Engineering,Dongguan University of Technology,Dongguan, 523808,China. (6)CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion,Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei, 230026,China. Electronic address: hqyu@ustc.edu.cn. Fungal laccase producers can effectively address bisphenol A (BPA) and antibiotic-contaminated water. However, the role of small mediators produced by fungal secondary metabolism in enhancing the removal of refractory contaminants is often overlooked. In this work, an efficient laccase-producing strain, Trametes hirsuta La-7, was activated to simultaneously treat BPA and antibiotics. Coexisting tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, sulfadiazine, or roxithromycin inhibited fungal cell growth, reducing laccase biosynthesis but largely increasing the formation of syringaldehyde (SYR), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA), and vanillin (VAN) through a complex regulatory network. These specialized metabolites (i.e., small mediators) acted as diffusible electron carriers for laccase, enabling the oxidative decomposition of the four antibiotics with high redox potentials. According to laccase-mediator-regulated radical random polymerization and decomposition, the identified intermediates of copollutants were parallelly concentrated in oligomeric coupling products and oxidative cleavage species. By inoculating logarithmic phase cell pellets in conjunction with an artificially added small mediator (SYR, HBA, or VAN), the removal efficiencies of BPA and the four antibiotics within 5 d reached 100% and 69-100% in artificial wastewater, respectively. The low and ultimately non-biotoxic intermediate products generated in the fungus-mediator systems mitigated the eco-environmental risks of the parent compounds. This work highlights the previously underappreciated role of secondary metabolism-derived small mediators in enhancing the degradation of BPA and antibiotics by a laccase-expressing fungus and is beneficial to the rational design of a robust fungus-mediator system for environmental bioremediation. Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125219 PMID: 39476998 Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Competing Interest ☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. ☐ The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: 3. Toxins (Basel). 2024 Oct 16;16(10):445. doi: 10.3390/toxins16100445. Simultaneous Degradation of AFB1 and ZEN by CotA Laccase from Bacillus subtilis ZJ-2019-1 in the Mediator-Assisted or Immobilization System. Gao B(1)(2), An W(1)(2), Wu J(1)(2), Wang X(1)(2), Han B(1)(2), Tao H(1)(2), Liu J(1)(2), Wang Z(1)(2), Wang J(1)(2). Author information: (1)Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China. (2)Laboratory of Pet Nutrition and Food, Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China. The global prevalence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and zearalenone (ZEN) contamination in food and feed poses a serious health risk to humans and animals. Recently, enzymatic detoxification has received increasing attention, yet most enzymes are limited to degrading only one type of mycotoxin, and free enzymes often exhibit reduced stability and activity, limiting their practicality in real-world applications. In this study, the laccase CotA gene from ZEN/AFB1-degrading Bacillus subtilis ZJ-2019-1 was cloned and successfully expressed in Escherichia coli BL21, achieving a protein yield of 7.0 mg/g. The recombinant CotA (rCotA) completely degraded AFB1 and ZEN, with optimal activity at 70 °C and pH 7.0. After rCotA treatment, neither AFB1 nor ZEN showed significantly cytotoxicity to mouse macrophage cell lines. Additionally, the AFB1/ZEN degradation efficiency of rCotA was significantly enhanced by five natural redox mediators: acetosyringone, syringaldehyde, vanillin, matrine, and sophoridin. Among them, the acetosyringone-rCotA was the most effective mediator system, which could completely degrade 10 μg of AFB1 and ZEN within 1 h. Furthermore, the chitosan-immobilized rCotA system exhibited higher degradation activity than free rCotA. The immobilized rCotA degraded 27.95% of ZEN and 41.37% of AFB1 in contaminated maize meal within 12 h, and it still maintained more than 40% activity after 12 reuse cycles. These results suggest that media-assisted or immobilized enzyme systems not only boost degradation efficiency but also demonstrate remarkable reusability, offering promising strategies to enhance the degradation efficiency of rCotA for mycotoxin detoxification. DOI: 10.3390/toxins16100445 PMCID: PMC11511518 PMID: 39453221 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest. 4. Microb Cell Fact. 2024 Oct 8;23(1):270. doi: 10.1186/s12934-024-02542-7. Adaptive laboratory evolution of Lipomyces starkeyi for high production of lignin derivative alcohol and lipids with comparative untargeted metabolomics-based analysis. Putra FJN(1), Kahar P(1), Kondo A(2), Ogino C(3). Author information: (1)Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-Ku, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan. (2)Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-Ku, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan. (3)Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodaicho, Nada-Ku, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan. ochiaki@port.kobe-u.ac.jp. BACKGROUND: Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) is an impactful technique for cultivating microorganisms to adapt to specific environmental circumstances or substrates through iterative growth and selection. This study utilized an adaptive laboratory evolution method on Lipomyces starkeyi for high tolerance in producing lignin derivative alcohols and lipids from syringaldehyde. Afterward, untargeted metabolomics analysis was employed to find the key metabolites that play important roles in the better performance of evolved strains compared to the wild type. Lignin, a prominent constituent of plant biomass, is a favorable source material for the manufacture of biofuel and lipids. Nevertheless, the effective transformation of chemicals produced from lignin into products with high economic worth continues to be a difficult task. RESULTS: In this study, we exposed L. starkeyi to a series of flask passaging experiments while applying selective pressure to facilitate its adaptation to syringaldehyde, a specific type of lignin monomeric aldehyde. Using ALE, we successfully developed a new strain, DALE-22, which can synthesize syringyl alcohol up to 18.74 mM from 22.28 mM syringaldehyde with 41.9% lipid accumulation. In addition, a comprehensive examination of untargeted metabolomics identified six specific crucial metabolites linked to the improved tolerance of the evolved strain in the utilization of syringaldehyde, including 2-aminobutyric acid, allantoin, 4-hydroxyphenethyl alcohol, 2-aminoethanol, tryptophan, and 5-aminovaleric acid. CONCLUSION: The results of our study reveal how L. starkeyi adapts to using substrates produced from lignin. These findings offer important information for developing strategies to improve the process of converting lignin into valuable products for sustainable biorefinery applications. © 2024. The Author(s). DOI: 10.1186/s12934-024-02542-7 PMCID: PMC11463098 PMID: 39379959 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests. 5. Biochimie. 2024 Oct 4:S0300-9084(24)00228-1. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2024.10.002. Online ahead of print. Synthesis and Evaluation of Water-Soluble Antioxidants Derived from L-carnosine and Syringaldehyde (or Vanillin). Antwi-Boasiako C(1), Agbemade B(2), Ko JH(3), Barone V(4), Uzarski R(5), Lee CY(6). Author information: (1)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: antwi1c@cmich.edu. (2)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA; Science of Advanced Materials Program, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: agbem1b@cmich.edu. (3)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: kojacqueline06@gmail.com. (4)Department of Physics, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA; Science of Advanced Materials Program, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: baron1v@cmich.edu. (5)Department of Biology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: uzars2rl@cmich.edu. (6)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA; Science of Advanced Materials Program, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, USA. Electronic address: lee1cy@cmich.edu. Polyphenols are well known for their health-related benefits, including antioxidant activities, but most of them are hydrophobic, decreasing their bioavailability. This study reports water-soluble trimeric antioxidants synthesized with L-carnosine and the hydrophobic ortho-methoxy-substituted phenolic unit, syringaldehyde or vanillin. In the DPPH assay, carnosine-syringaldehyde (7.5 μM) and carnosine-vanillin (19 μM) derivatives showed much lower IC50 values than ascorbic acid (27.5 μM) and sodium ascorbate (30.5 μM) standards. According to the AAPH assay, carnosine-syringaldehyde and carnosine-vanillin protect DNA at concentrations as low as 6.5 μM and 26 μM, respectively, while both sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid protected until 52 μM. Another notable property of these antioxidants is they can protect DNA well against hydroxyl radicals, produced via the Fenton reaction: carnosine-syringaldehyde showed DNA protection at all tested concentrations (833-1.6 μM), but the protection was slightly weaker between 26-1.6 μM. Carnosine-vanillin showed strong protection in the 833-104 μM range and some protection between 52-3.2 μM. Conversely, both sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid did not protect DNA at any test concentration. In the pro-oxidant potential assessments, the synthesized antioxidants did not show any pro-oxidant effects at all concentrations, whereas sodium ascorbate showed severe pro-oxidant effects between 833-13 μM and ascorbic acid, 833-52 μM. Our study stresses the importance of ortho-methoxy group(s) for antioxidants as its electron-donating nature contributes to enhancing antioxidant activities, while steric bulk eliminates pro-oxidant effects by preventing the effective binding of transition metal ions to the phenolic hydroxyl group. The hydrophobicity of hindered phenols can be overcome if attached to a water-soluble scaffold. Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V. DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2024.10.002 PMID: 39369939 Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.