Effect of harvest-to-cooling delay and precooling on Kufri Jyoti (Solanum tuberosum) potato quality.

Precooling is the rapid removal of field heat in harvested crops to preserve their quality and increase their shelf life. The following study was conducted to understand the importance of precooling and to optimize the precooling condition to extend the storage life of potatoes. Therefore, the study was divided into two components. In the first part, the Kufri Jyoti potatoes were subjected to field heat for 0-64 h, then were precooled for 48 h before sending to cold storage for 60 days. The results demonstrated that when the time delay was doubled, starch content (SC) decreased by 15.86%, reducing sugar content (RSC) increased by 32.71%, ascorbic acid content (AAC) decreased by 5.94% and total plate count (TPC) increased by 20.06%. Microstructural changes in potatoes due to the exposure to field heat were visible in SEM images. These results suggested a decrease in the quality of potatoes with an increase in time delay between harvest and cooling. In the second part of the study, the potatoes were precooled for 48 h at different temperatures (T) (6 °C, 8 °C, and 10 °C) and relative humidity (RH) (87%, 91%, and 95%), and their effect was studied on the same quality parameters after storage. Regression models were developed for each response, and models with non-significant lack of fit were selected for optimization. The analysis of the observations has shown that precooling aided in better quality retention of potatoes during cold storage.

Pomegranate peel polyphenols prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 main protease by in-silico docking and molecular dynamics study.

Pomegranate peel, the waste product generated from pomegranate fruit, has prophylactic properties, such as antimicrobial, anti-malarial, and controls respiratory infections and influenza. Based on the previous literature and need of the hour, molecular docking was performed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of major pomegranate peel polyphenols against COVID-19. Among the 44 studied compounds, 37 polyphenols show interaction with the catalytic dyad of the Mpro protease and 18 polyphenols have a higher binding affinity than that of the Mpro protease inhibitor (N3), indicating their high probability of binding at ACE2: SARS-CoV-2 interface. Furthermore, several polyphenols studied in this work are found to have higher binding affinity as compared to those of hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, nelfinavir, and curcumin, some of which have been earlier tested against COVID-19. Further, molecular dynamics simulations (200 ns) for Mpro-polyphenols including pelargonidin3-glucoside, quercetin3-O-rhamnoside, cyanidin3-glucoside and punicalin revealed highly stable complexes with less conformational fluctuations and similar degree of compactness. Estimation of total number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and binding free energy confirmed the stability of these Mpro-polyphenol complexes over Mpro-curcumin complex. Based on the greater binding affinity of polyphenols of pomegranate peel towards Mpro as compared to that of curcumin, pomegranate peel may be considered in any herbal medicinal formulation or may be incorporated into daily diets for prevention of COVID-19.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Cryo-Ground Mango Kernel Powder: Characterization, LC-MS/MS Profiling, Purification of Antioxidant-Rich Gallic Acid, and Molecular Docking Study of Its Major Polyphenols as Potential Inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 Mpro.

Mango processing waste (MPW) is an inexpensive and rich source of valuable substances. Hence, the mango kernel powder (MKP) from four cultivars (Chausa, Neelum, Barahmasi, and Dashehari) was characterized for the selection of the best cultivar. The MKP of the best cultivar (Dashehari) was analyzed for the profiling of polyphenols using LC-MS/MS in both modes of ionization (positive and negative) and indicated the presence of 50 compounds with specific retention times. After identification, gallic acid (GA), an important industrial compound, was targeted and purified followed by its confirmation using NMR (600 MHz) and HRMS. The antioxidant activity (IC50: 1.96 µg/mL) of extracted GA proposes its use as a natural antioxidant in novel food formulations. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) was selected for molecular docking based virtual screening of seven major polyphenols (MKP), and the results were compared with hydroxychloroquine. The docking scores of targeted polyphenols revealed that three compounds (epicatechin, mangiferin, and quercetin) exhibited appreciable proteolytic activity against Mpro. In this way, it is a favorable approach toward environmental safety on the standpoint of green chemistry owing to the use of food processing waste and elimination of the waste dumping/composting problems.