Ficus Hirta Vahl Research Articles

UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS-Based Metabolomics Approach Reveals the Antifungal Potential of Pinocembroside against Citrus Green Mold Phytopathogen.

Pinocembroside (PiCB) isolated from Ficus hirta Vahl. fruit was studied herein with the aim to find the potential mechanism for significant inhibition of growth of Penicillium digitatum, a causative pathogen of citrus green mold disease. PiCB substantially inhibited mycelial growth of P. digitatum, with the observed half maximal effective concentration (EC50), minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of 120.3, 200, and 400 mg/L, respectively. Moreover, PiCB altered hyphal morphology and cellular morphology by breaking and shrinking of mycelia, decomposing cell walls, cytoplasmic inclusions. In addition to, a non-targeted metabolomics analysis by UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS was also performed, which revealed that PiCB treatment notably disrupted the metabolisms of amino acids, lipids, fatty acids, TCA, and ribonucleic acids, thereby contributing to membrane peroxidation. Current findings provide a new perception into the antifungal mechanism of PiCB treatment in inhibiting P. digitatum growth through membrane peroxidation.

Preparation and Chemical Analysis of Volatile Oil in Seven-lobed leaf type of Ficus hirta Vahl.

To analyze the chemical constituents of volatile oil in Ficus hirta Vahl. of seven-lobed leaf type. The volatile chemical components of extracts were analyzed using GC-MS, and the relative contents of various chemical components in the volatile oils were calculated by area normalization method. The volatile oils from Ficus hirta Vahl. of seven-lobed leaf type were detected to contain 50 chemical components respectively. The main components are compounds such as esters, aldehydes, alcohols, coumarins, and organic acids, and some terpenoids, alkaloids, phenols, and ketones are also present.The method is simple and efficient, and can be used for preliminary identification of volatile oil components from Ficus hirta Vahl. of seven-lobed leaf type.

Preservation of Xinyu Tangerines with an Edible Coating Using Ficus hirta Vahl. Fruits Extract-Incorporated Chitosan.

Xinyu tangerine is a citrus fruit that has enjoyed great popularity in China for its fewer dregs and abundant nutrients. However, it is considered an easily perishable fruit that is vulnerable to various pathogenic fungal infections, especially by Penicillium italicum, which reduces its storage life and commercial value. Normally, to reduce the losses caused by fungal deterioration of harvested fruit, polysaccharide-based edible coating, containing natural antimicrobial agents (e.g., plant extracts), have been applied. In current study, we evaluated the effects of Ficus hirta Vahl. fruits extract (FFE)–incorporated chitosan (CS) edible coating on Xinyu tangerines during cold storage at 5 °C. The results showed FFE has efficacy as an antifungal against P. italicum in a dose-dependent manner in vivo, with an EC50 value of 12.543 mg·mL−1. It was found that the edible coating of FFE–CS exhibited a higher reduction of total soluble solid (TSS), titrable acid (TA), and ascorbic acid (AsA) content by reducing the fruit decay rate, weight loss, respiration rate, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content during cold storage at 5 °C. Moreover, the activities of protective enzyme such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), which have been linked with reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the phenylpropanoid pathway, were higher in the FFE–CS-coated fruits. On the basis of these study results, the FFE–CS edible coating could reduce postharvest loss and enhance the storability of Xinyu tangerines due to the in vivo antifungal activity of FFE.

Chitosan-Based Coating Enriched with Hairy Fig (Ficus hirta Vahl.) Fruit Extract for “Newhall” Navel Orange Preservation

A novel coating based on 1.5% chitosan (CH), enriched with or without hairy fig (Ficus hirta Vahl.) fruit extract (HFE), was applied to “Newhall” navel orange for improving the preservation effect. Changes in physicochemical indexes were analyzed over 120 days of cold storage. Uncoated fruit were used as the control. The CH-HFE coating, based on 1.5% CH enriched with HFE, exhibited the best preservation effect and showed the lowest decay rate (5.2%) and weight loss (5.16%). The CH-HFE coating could postpone the ripening and senescence of navel oranges, and maintain higher fruit quality by inhibiting respiration, decreasing the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA), and enhancing the activities of protective enzyme, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), chitinase (CHI), and β-1,3-glucanase (GLU), which suggests that CH-HFE coating has the potential to improve the postharvest quality of “Newhall” navel orange and prolong the storage life.

Detection of Poisonous Herbs by Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

The aim of this paper is the application of terahertz (THz) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics techniques to distinguish poisonous and non-poisonous herbs which both have a similar appearance. Spectra of one poisonous and two non-poisonous herbs (Gelsemium elegans, Lonicera japonica Thunb, and Ficus Hirta Vahl) were obtained in the range 0.2–1.4 THz by using a THz time-domain spectroscopy system. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for feature extraction. The prediction accuracy of classification is between 97.78 to 100%. The results demonstrate an efficient and applicative method to distinguish poisonous herbs, and it may be implemented by using THz spectroscopy combined with chemometric algorithms.

Chemical Constituents and Antifungal Activity of Ficus hirta Vahl. Fruits.

Phytochemical investigation of Ficus hirta Vahl. (Moraceae) fruits led to isolate two carboline alkaloids (1 and 2), five sesquiterpenoids/norsesquiterpenoids (3–7), three flavonoids (8–10), and one phenylpropane-1,2-diol (11). Their structures were elucidated by the analysis of their 1D and 2D NMR, and HR-ESI-MS data. All of the isolates were isolated from this species for the first time, while compounds 2, 4–6, and 8–11 were firstly reported from the genus Ficus. Antifungal assay revealed that compound 8 (namely pinocembrin-7-O-β-d-glucoside), a major flavonoid compound present in the ethanol extract of F. hirta fruits, showed good antifungal activity against Penicillium italicum, the phytopathogen of citrus blue mold caused the majority rotten of citrus fruits.

Anti-inflammatory phenylpropanoids and phenolics from Ficus hirta Vahl.

Four new phenylpropanoids (1–4) along with ten known phenolics were isolated and purified from the roots of hairy fig (Ficus hirta Vahl.). Their structures were elucidated by the extensive spectroscopic analysis and chemical degradation. The anti-inflammatory activities of the purified compounds were evaluated. Results indicated that the extracts and some purified compounds exhibited pronounced inhibitory effects on the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced nitric oxide (NO) production in murine macrophage RAW 264.7 compared to indomethacin, which suggested that hairy fig could be served as an anti-inflammatory agent for health products.

Phenolics from the roots of hairy fig (Ficus hirta Vahl.) exert prominent anti-inflammatory activity

The roots of hairy fig (Ficus hirta Vahl.), known as Cantonese ginseng, is widely used as a plant-derived popular food to improve fatigue resistance by Hakka people in southern China. In the current study, four new phenolics (17, 18, 22 and 24) along with twenty-five known congeners were isolated and purified from the roots of hairy fig. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and chemical degradation. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the purified compounds were also evaluated. Results indicated that some phenolics showed moderate antioxidant activity compared to those of l-ascorbic acid in DPPH and superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity assay. Most of the isolated compounds exhibited pronounced inhibitory effects on the lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in murine macrophage RAW264.7. The results strongly demonstrated that the phenolics may be partially responsible for the roots of hairy fig’s anti-inflammatory activity.

De novo transcriptome sequencing in Ficus hirta Vahl. (Moraceae) to investigate gene regulation involved in the biosynthesis of pollinator attracting volatiles

Flower volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the receptive figs of Ficus (Moraceae) play important roles in maintaining the specificity of pollinator attraction and reproductive isolation between host species. The dominant components of VOCs are terpenoids, and while the genes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis are known, we know very little about the regulation of these genes and its relationship to pollinator attraction in Ficus. Thus, we selected pre-receptive (pre-VOC attractant-emitting) and receptive (VOC attractant-emitting) phase female flowers of a dioecious fig for transcriptome sequencing to investigate the differential activity of genes, including those related to terpenoid biosynthesis. We annoted 53,445 unigenes, of which 608 were found to be differently expressed in the two stages, with 242 unigenes upregulated and 366 unigenes downregulated in pre-receptive relative to receptive phase flowers. With respect to the production of VOCs, 80 unigenes encoded 34 enzyme-coding genes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis, including nearly all key enzymes of the MVA and MEP pathways forming the backbone of terpenoid biosynthesis. We designed pair primers for 16 of these 34 enzyme genes and validated 5 of them in 30 Ficus species representing 6 subgenera. In addition to the transcript sequences, we identified 35,558 putative microsatellite loci and designed primers for 11,468 of them. Our data and results will contribute to genetic research on terpene biosynthesis in figs and will aid in the understanding of the morphological and chemical changes that occur as the female flowers develop and produce pollinator-specific VOCs.

Effects of Ficus hirta Vahl. (Wuzhimaotao) extracts on growth inhibition of HeLa cells

Ficus hirta Vahl. (Wuzhimaotao) is widely used as a folk medicine by Hakka people in southern China. In order to ascertain if any major fraction can be attributed to have pronounced anticancer effect, extracts of Wuzhimaotao on cytotoxic and apoptosis of HeLa cell lines were evaluated. HeLa cells were cultured and incubated with different concentrations of crude aqueous extracts (CAE), ethyl acetate extracts (EAE), and butyl alcohol extracts (BAE). It showed CAE, EAE, and BAE decreased cell viability on HeLa cells as a dose-dependent manner, and induced a sub-G1 peak in flow cytometry histogram of treated cells compared to the control. Apoptotic cell death is involved in CAE, EAE, and BAE toxicity, with EAE having a significant decrease in G1 population. An over all analysis of results showed that Wuzhimaotao extracts exert antiproliferative action and growth inhibition on HeLa cells through apoptosis induction which indicates its anticancer properties and deserves further investigation.