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Metabolites
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Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism
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Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2019) | Viewed by 9192

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Carolina Simó

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism. Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: nutritional metabolomics; gut microbiota; MS-based technologies; bioinformatics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current molecular nutrition and metabolism research aims to gain insights into the physiological role of nutrients and food components on health status at molecular and cellular levels. Despite the significant amount of research conducted around this subject, the real impact of most food compounds and their mechanisms of action have not yet been fully elucidated. The precise determination of molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of diet and dietary constituents in physiological functions offers a great potential not only in the maintenance of health but also in disease prevention and treatment. To accelerate the effective development of molecular nutrition and metabolism research, omics technologies (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), molecular imaging, and bioinformatics, among others, play a crucial role. The topics that will be covered by this Special Issue include, but are not limited to: health-beneficial effects of bioactive food constituents at a molecular level; identifying new molecular targets of dietary exposure; omics-based methodologies to help advance the field of molecular nutrition research; absorption, digestion, microbial/host metabolism and excretion of dietary nutrients/bioactive compounds; meta-omics approaches to studying the interplay of food or food components with the gut microbiota.

Dr. Carolina Simó
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • molecular mechanisms
  • bioavailability, bioaccessibility, bioactivity
  • omics and meta-omics-based technologies
  • microbial/host metabolism

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 691 KiB  
Article
Application of 1H-NMR Metabolomics for the Discovery of Blood Plasma Biomarkers of a Mediterranean Diet
by Shirin Macias, Joseph Kirma, Ali Yilmaz, Sarah E. Moore, Michelle C. McKinley, Pascal P. McKeown, Jayne V. Woodside, Stewart F. Graham and Brian D. Green
Metabolites 2019, 9(10), 201; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/metabo9100201 - 27 Sep 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4245
Abstract
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a dietary pattern well-known for its benefits in disease prevention. Monitoring adherence to the MD could be improved by discovery of novel dietary biomarkers. The MEDiterranean Diet in Northern Ireland (MEDDINI) intervention study monitored the adherence of participants [...] Read more.
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a dietary pattern well-known for its benefits in disease prevention. Monitoring adherence to the MD could be improved by discovery of novel dietary biomarkers. The MEDiterranean Diet in Northern Ireland (MEDDINI) intervention study monitored the adherence of participants to the MD for up to 12 months. This investigation aimed to profile plasma metabolites, correlating each against the MD score of participants (n = 58). Based on an established 14-point scale MD score, subjects were classified into two groups (“low” and “high”). 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR) metabolomic analysis found that citric acid was the most significant metabolite (p = 5.99 × 10−4*; q = 0.03), differing between ‘low’ and ‘high’. Furthermore, five additional metabolites significantly differed (p < 0.05; q < 0.35) between the two groups. Discriminatory metabolites included: citric acid, pyruvic acid, betaine, mannose, acetic acid and myo-inositol. Additionally, the top five most influential metabolites in multivariate models were also citric acid, pyruvic acid, betaine, mannose and myo-inositol. Metabolites significantly correlated with the consumption of certain food types. For example, citric acid positively correlated fruit, fruit juice and vegetable constituents of the diet, and negatively correlated with sweet foods alone or when combined with carbonated drinks. Citric acid was the best performing biomarker and this was enhanced by paired ratio with pyruvic acid. The present study demonstrates the utility of metabolomic profiling for effectively assessing adherence to MD and the discovery of novel dietary biomarkers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism)
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12 pages, 1863 KiB  
Article
The Biosynthetic Pathway of Major Avenanthramides in Oat
by Zhiyong Li, Yi Chen, Dauenpen Meesapyodsuk and Xiao Qiu
Metabolites 2019, 9(8), 163; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/metabo9080163 - 07 Aug 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4183
Abstract
Avenanthramides are a group of N-cinnamoylanthranilic acids, with health-promoting properties mainly found in oat (Avena sativa L.). However, the biosynthetic mechanism for the main three types of avenanthramides (Avn-A, Avn-B and Avn-C) is not completely understood. In the present study, we [...] Read more.
Avenanthramides are a group of N-cinnamoylanthranilic acids, with health-promoting properties mainly found in oat (Avena sativa L.). However, the biosynthetic mechanism for the main three types of avenanthramides (Avn-A, Avn-B and Avn-C) is not completely understood. In the present study, we report molecular identification and functional characterization of three different types of genes from oat encoding 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA:hydroxyanthranilate N-hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HHT) and a caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) enzymes, all involved in the biosynthesis of these avenanthramides. In vitro enzymatic assays using the proteins expressed in Escherichia coli showed that oat 4CL could convert p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid to their CoA thioesters. Oat HHTs were only responsible for the biosynthesis of Avn-A and Avn-C using hydroxyanthranilic acid as an acyl acceptor and p-coumaroyl-CoA and caffeoyl-CoA as an acyl donor, respectively. Avn-B was synthesized by a CCoAOMT enzyme through the methylation of Avn-C. Collectively, these results have elucidated the molecular mechanisms for the biosynthesis of three major avenanthramides in vitro and paved the way for metabolic engineering of the biosynthetic pathway in heterologous systems to produce nutraceutically important compounds and make possible genetic improvement of this nutritional trait in oat through marker-assisted breeding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism)
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