Stilbenes are a small family of polyphenolic secondary metabolites that can be found in several distantly related plant species. These compounds act as phytoalexins, playing a crucial role in plant defense against phytopathogens, as well as being involved in the adaptation of plants to abiotic environmental factors. Among stilbenes, trans-resveratrol is certainly the most popular and extensively studied for its health properties. In recent years, an increasing number of stilbene compounds were subjected to investigations concerning their bioactivity. This review presents the most updated knowledge of the stilbene biosynthetic pathway, also focusing on the role of several environmental factors in eliciting stilbenes biosynthesis. The effects of ultraviolet radiation, visible light, ultrasonication, mechanical stress, salt stress, drought, temperature, ozone, and biotic stress are reviewed in the context of enhancing stilbene biosynthesis, both in planta and in plant cell and organ cultures. This knowledge may shed some light on stilbene biological roles and represents a useful tool to increase the accumulation of these valuable compounds.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (C. reinhardtii) is one of the most well-studied microalgae organisms that revealed important information for the photosynthetic and metabolic processes of plants and eukaryotes. Numerous extensive studies have also underpinned its great potential as a biochemical factory, capable of producing various highly desired molecules with a direct impact on human health and longevity. Polysaccharides, lipids, functional proteins, pigments, hormones, vaccines, and antibodies are among the valuable biomolecules that are produced spontaneously or under well-defined conditions by C. reinhardtii and can be directly linked to human nutrition and diet. The aim of this review is to highlight the recent advances in the field focusing on the most relevant applications related to the production of important biomolecules for human health that are also linked with human nutrition and diet. The limitations and challenges are critically discussed along with the potential future applications of C. reinhardtii biomass and processed products in the field of nutraceuticals and food supplements. The increasing need for high-value and low-cost biomolecules produced in an environmentally and economy sustainable manner also underline the important role of C. reinhardtii.

Cultivated rice is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population, providing approximately 20% of the world’s food energy needs. A broad spectrum of pathogenic microorganisms causes rice diseases leading to huge yield losses worldwide. Wild and cultivated rice species are known to possess a wide variety of antimicrobial secondary metabolites, known as phytoalexins, which are part of their active defense mechanisms. These compounds are biosynthesized transiently by rice in response to pathogens and certain abiotic stresses. Rice phytoalexins have been intensively studied for over half a century, both for their biological role and their potential application in agronomic and pharmaceutical fields. In recent decades, the growing interest of the research community, combined with advances in chemical, biological, and biomolecular investigation methods, has led to a notable acceleration in the growth of knowledge on rice phytoalexins. This review provides an overview of the knowledge gained in recent decades on the diversity, distribution, biosynthesis, chemical synthesis, and bioactivity of rice phytoalexins, with particular attention to the most recent advances in this research field.

Paclitaxel (1a), a well known antitumor agent adopted mainly for the treatmentof breast and ovarian cancer, suffers from significant disadvantages such as low solubility,certain toxicity and specific drug-resistance of some tumor cells. To overcome theseproblems extensive research has been carried out. Among the various proposed strategies,the conjugation of paclitaxel (1a) to a biocompatible polymer, such as hyaluronic acid(HA, 2), has also been considered. Coupling a bioactive compound to a biocompatiblepolymer offers, in general, many advantages such as better drug solubilization, betterstabilization, specific localization and controlled release. Hereafter the design, synthesisand applications of hyaluronic acid-paclitaxel bioconjugates are reviewed. An overview ofHA-paclitaxel combinations is also given.

Several ionic liquids (ILs) are known to revert aggregation processes and to improve the in vitro refolding of denatured/fibrillar proteins. Here, Raman spectroscopy is exploited to verify the refolding capability of several ammonium-based ILs and to identify the microscopic signatures of the structural rearrangements induced by the interaction of ILs with fibrillar lysozyme. We collected and carefully analyzed spectra from native, fibrillar and ILs-treated fibrillar lysozyme to follow the microscopic process induced by ILs. These allowed us to identify different mechanisms of interaction depending on the length of the cation alkyl chain. A clear refolding effect was observed with EAN, as well as a tendency of the longer alkyl chain (PAN and BAN) of dissolving the fibril packing. A specific interaction mainly affecting the aromatic residues was identified for MEOAN (a long chain ILs with an ether group). The whole of the results, thus, provides new and detailed information on the ILs–protein interaction and shows Raman spectroscopy as a simple, reliable and effective diagnostic technique in this field.