The wild edible plants offer a valuable resource for food and human nutrition. The current study aimed to analyze the proximate composition and ethno-medicinal profiles of twenty selected wild edible plants from the Malakand District, Pakistan. The proximate composition (moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat, and dietary fiber) was analyzed following Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) protocols. Ethno-medicinal profiles were obtained through semi-structured interviews with local informants. Mineral elements were analyzed using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDX) Spectroscopy. The normalized variation matrix and centered log ratio (CLR) biplot were used to assess linear associations between nutritional components. The results revealed significant variations in the nutritional components and mineral contents among the studied plant species. Higher crude carbohydrates (64.48%) were scrutinized in Ziziphus jujuba, followed by proteins (19.90%) in leaves of Solanum nigrum, fiber (19.50%) in Caralluma tuberculata and fats (6.12%) in Mentha spicata. A maximum energy value of 332.34 Kcal/100g was calculated for leaves of Solanum nigrum. The concentrations of carbon (C) in Mentha longifolia were (60.20%), followed by oxygen (46.06%) in Ziziphus jujuba, potassium (10.80%) in Rumex dentatusand nitrogen (7.98%) in Nasturtium officinale. The centered log ratio biplot confirms strong relationships between moisture, energy, carbohydrates, fibers, and ash content, while protein and fat concentrations exhibit a separate pattern. The findings provide valuable insights into the compositional data analysis of edible plant species, suggesting interdependencies among carbohydrate, energy, moisture content, and fibers. Additionally, the results of our current study showed that all of these selected wild edible plants have the potential to provide humans with important macronutrients and elements.
GalNAc-T1, a key candidate of GalNac-transferases genes family that is involved in mucin-type O-linked glycosylation pathway, is expressed in most biological tissues and cell types. Despite the reported association of GalNAc-T1 gene mutations with human disease susceptibility, the comprehensive computational analysis of coding, noncoding and regulatory SNPs, and their functional impacts on protein level, still remains unknown. Therefore, sequence- and structure-based computational tools were employed to screen the entire listed coding SNPs of GalNAc-T1 gene in order to identify and characterize them. Our concordant in silico analysis by SIFT, PolyPhen-2, PANTHER-cSNP, and SNPeffect tools, identified the potential nsSNPs (S143P, G258V, and Y414D variants) from 18 nsSNPs of GalNAc-T1. Additionally, 2 regulatory SNPs (rs72964406 and #x26; rs34304568) were also identified in GalNAc-T1 by using FastSNP tool. Using multiple computational approaches, we have systematically classified the functional mutations in regulatory and coding regions that can modify expression and function of GalNAc-T1 enzyme. These genetic variants can further assist in better understanding the wide range of disease susceptibility associated with the mucin-based cell signalling and pathogenic binding, and may help to develop novel therapeutic elements for associated diseases.
Crocus sativus, a medicinally important herbaceous plant, has been traditionally used to cure coughs, colds, insomnia, cramps, asthma, and pain. Moreover, the therapeutic applications of saffron include its immunomodulatory and anticancer properties. The current experimental analysis was performed to explore the potential nutraceutical efficacy of corm, leaf, petal, and stigma of saffron ethanolic extracts as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, and antidepressant using hot plate, carrageenan-induced paw edema, capillary tube and forced swim test, respectively in mice. The results indicated that among all the extracts, stigma ethanolic extract (SEE) represented maximum latency activity (72.85%) and edema inhibition (77.33%) followed by petal ethanolic extract (PEE) with latency activity and edema inhibition of 64.06 and 70.50%, respectively. Corm ethanolic extract (CEE) and leaf ethanolic extract (LEE) displayed mild analgesic activity of 22.40% and 29.07%, respectively. Additionally, LEE (53.29%) and CEE (47.47%) exhibited mild to moderate response against inflammation. The coagulation time of SEE (101.66 s) was almost equivalent to the standard drug, aspirin (101.66 s), suggesting a strong anticoagulant effect followed by PEE (86.5 s). LEE (66.83 s) represented moderate inhibitory effect on coagulation activity while CEE (42.83 s) showed neutral effect. Additionally, PEE and SEE also expressed itself as potential antidepressants with immobility time ≤76.66 s, while CEE (96.50 s) and LEE (106.83 s) indicated moderate to mild antidepressant efficacy. Based on the in vivo activities, saffron extract, particularly SEE and PEE, can be used as a potential nutraceutical and therapeutic agent due to its significant pharmacological activities.