Feijoa (Acca sellowiana (O. Berg.) Burret), also known as pineapple guava, is a member of the Myrtaceae family and is well known for its fruit. Chemical profiling of the different tissues of the feijoa plant has shown that they generate an array of useful bioactive compounds which have health benefits such as significant antioxidant activities. In this study, an in vitro culture system has been developed, which could be explored to extract high-value bioactive compounds from feijoa. Feijoa tissue culture was initiated by the induction of callus from floral buds. Sections of floral buds were plated on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D and BAP at 2.0mg/L and 0.2mg/L concentrations, respectively. Cell suspension cultures of feijoa were established using a liquid MS medium with different concentrations of 2,4-D and BAP and cultured on a rotary shaker. The growth of the cell suspension was evaluated with different parameters such as different carbohydrate sources, concentration of MS media, and inoculum density. When the cell suspensions were treated with different concentrations of MeJA at different time points, phytochemicals UPLC - QTOF MS analysis identified extractables of interest. The main compounds identified were secondary metabolites (flavonoids and flavonoid-glucosides) and plant hormones. These compounds are of interest for their potential use in therapeutics or skin and personal care products. This report investigates essential methodology parameters for establishing cell suspension cultures from feijoa floral buds, which could be used to generate in vitro biomass to produce high-value bioactive compounds. This is the first study reporting the identification of arctigenin from feijoa, a high-value compound whose pharmaceutical properties, including anti-tumour, anti-inflammatory and anti-colitis effects, have been widely reported. The ability of feijoa cell cultures to produce such high-value bioactive compounds is extremely promising for its use in pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals applications.

This study reports for the first time the fingerprinting extractives analysis of the indigenous wood species of Podocarpus totara from New Zealand, Eucalyptus saligna from Australia and Pinus radiata imported from California, USA and grown in New Zealand. We evaluated the use of analytical techniques for wood species discrimination. We compared the chemical fingerprinting of extractive compounds obtained using traditional chromatographic techniques with direct analysis in real-time–time of flight-mass spectrometry (DART-TOF-MS) with the auxiliary of chemometrics and principal component analysis. The traditional wet chemistry analysis of wood extracts provided a comprehensive characterisation of all extractive components. However, the more eco-friendly, sustainable and faster DART-TOF-MS technique effectively distinguished between wood species when heartwood and sapwood samples were combined. Notably, neither wet chemistry nor DART-TOF-MS could clearly differentiate between heartwood and sapwood within the same wood species. DART-TOF-MS analysis demonstrates potential as a reliable quality control tool for identifying wood species necessary in commercial and timber trading markets as well as for detecting the illicit trade of counterfeit wood products.