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AbstractChamaelirium luteum (L.) A. Gray (Melanthiaceae), commonly known as false unicorn, is a North American medicinal herb traditionally used for women’s reproductive health. Its major bioactive constituents are open-chain steroidal saponins, a structurally distinctive compound subclass whose increased conformational flexibility may confer bioactivities distinct from common steroidal saponin scaffolds. Because C. luteum is slow-growing and primarily wild-harvested, it faces conservation concerns. Although individual metabolites, including chamaelirosides A (1) and B (2), have been characterized, commercial reference standards and extract-level authentication methods are lacking. To address this need, we developed complementary orthogonal analytical approaches integrating high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) chemometric profiling with untargeted liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics and molecular networking. HPTLC band extraction coupled with LC-MS and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) enabled rapid structural verification of marker compounds while reducing analysis time and resource requirements. The workflow established robust phytochemical profiles for authenticated C. luteum materials and was subsequently applied to purchased commercial formulations. The majority of products lacked characteristic C. luteum profiles, highlighting species substitution and adulteration. The generalizable workflow and reference data presented here provide a practical framework for phytochemical characterization of botanicals containing open-chain steroidal saponins and, more broadly, for other taxa lacking authenticated reference materials.

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True Bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera) produce venom or saliva with diverse bioactivities depending on their feeding strategies. However, little is known about the molecular evolution of the venom toxins un...

Inula britannica: Unlocking the Therapeutic and Functional Potential of a Traditional Medicinal Plant In the continuously evolving landscape of natural product research, Inula britannica has emerged as an extraordinary subject worthy of scientific scrutiny due to its multifaceted bioactivities and promising applications. Long revered in traditional Asian medicine, this herbaceous plant is now being dissected with modern biochemical tools to uncover its constituents, physiological effects, and safety profile.

Keywords: Tea, Bioactivities, Pharmacological effects, Anticancer, Antioxidant

Secondary metabolites are a major source of natural products with industrially relevant bioactivities. Lysate-based cell-free expression (CFE) is an emerging platform for accelerating the discovery and engineering of these natural products. While Escherichia coli cell extracts are widely used for CFE, Streptomyces extracts are likely to offer a more biochemically compatible environment for their expression. However, current Streptomyces-based CFE systems remain underdeveloped, with protocols that are either strain-specific or not readily scalable. To address these limitations and enable broader access to cell-free natural product biosynthesis, we present a generalizable and simple set of reaction conditions that support high-yield protein expression (180–230 μg/mL) in lysates derived from Streptomyces venezuelae NRRL B-65422 and Streptomyces lividans TK24. Like E. coli-based systems, these extracts enable iterative and pathway-level biosynthesis, as demonstrated by the production of the polyketide flaviolin and the cyclic dipeptide albonoursin. Notably, the S. lividans lysate outperforms the E. coli systems by also supporting the expression and catalytic activity of a (∼250 kDa) type I polyketide synthase (T1PKS), producing its corresponding ethyl ketone product, 2-methyl-3-pentanone, without the need for precursor or post-translational modification supplements. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration coupling both expression and catalysis of a megasynthase in a Streptomyces-based system, and of a T1PKS in any bacterial extract. By addressing key challenges in the generalizability and scalability of prior Streptomyces CFE, we establish a protocol that enables parallelized evaluation of diverse lysate systems and provides a foundation for high-throughput T1PKS engineering in vitro.

Published in Journal of natural medicines

Oolong tea, a popular traditional Chinese tea, possesses various bioactivities, but little is known about its roles in the protection against pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, in vivo. This study...

Traditional Camis cheese may be an interesting dairy product with potential bioactivities and postconsumption health effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity...

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Recent Advances in the Extraction, Purification, Structural Characterization, Bioactivities, and Applications of Polysaccharides from Dioscorea opposita

Extraction, structural characteristics, bioactivities, structural-activity relationships, and application prospects of the polysaccharides from Ophiopogon japonicus: A review

Advances in extraction, structural characteristics, bioactivities, structure-activity relationship, quality control and applications of polysaccharides from Tremella fuciformis: A review

A novel polysaccharide from Wisteriopsis eurybotrya:extraction optimization, structural characterization, and bioactivities

Marine-Derived Phosphorylated Chitosan: Structural Insights and Bioactivities of a Novel Carbohydrate Polymer

Investigation of the Bioactivities of N, N, N-Trimethyl Chitosan Derivatives Constructed with Sulfonic Zwitterionic Moieties