The Role of Secondary Metabolites in Cereals: Biochemical, Qualitative, and Health-Related Aspects
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Grain".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2024 | Viewed by 117
Special Issue Editors
Interests: quality and nutritional aspects of cereal products; structural characterization of secondary metabolites in several cereal species, particularly wheat, rice, and barley, using chromatographic (HPLC-DAD) and mass spectrometry techniques (LC-MSn); genetic association studies in cereal crops for qualitative and metabolic traits (metabolite GWAS)
Interests: genetic basis of plant metabolic traits; analysis of the structure and regulation of synthetic pathways of flavonoids and terpenoids; phylogenomics and evolution of gene families involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites; effects of plant domestication and feralization on plant metabolism
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, several genome and genetic association studies in cereal crops have uncovered a large degree of genetic variation impacting the presence and amount of secondary metabolites (SMs). The study of genetic variation impacting metabolic traits is thus of primary importance in plant breeding, given that plant metabolites, and particularly the secondary metabolites of cereal seeds, have an important influence on the qualitative, technological, and nutritional properties of the derived food products. Also, increasing evidence suggests that a diet rich in secondary metabolites (e.g., flavonoids) may provide health-beneficial effects. The data collected so far point to SMs acting either as scavengers of ROS (as antioxidants) or as ligands on membrane receptors and enzymes, thus modulating a range of different cellular responses with potential beneficial effects on health.
Along these lines, we invite contributions in the form of original articles, reviews, and minireviews on the following topics:
- Biochemistry of cereal SMs, with studies on their metabolism and their role as antioxidants (both in planta and as dietary components), including contributions dealing with the genetic basis of their accumulation in cereals;
- Diversity of cereal SMs, with studies also embracing minor and neglected cereals, including the impacts of secondary metabolites on food quality and processing properties;
- Studies in cell and animal models describing the potential health-promoting and disease-preventing activity of cereal SMs.
Dr. Franca Finocchiaro
Dr. Federico Scossa
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- secondary metabolites
- phenolics
- antioxidants
- nutrition
- diet
- metabolomics
- bioactives
- GWAS
- Poaceae
- cereals
