The skin of anuran species is a protective barrier against predators and pathogens, showing also chemical defense by substances that represent a potential source for bioactive substances. This review describes the current chemical and biological knowledge from the skin secretions of Leptodactylidae species, one of the most diverse neotropical frog families. These skin secretions reveal a variety of substances such as amines (12), neuropeptides (16), and antimicrobial peptides (72). The amines include histamine and its methylated derivatives, tryptamine derivatives and quaternary amines. The peptides of Leptodactylidae species show molecular weight up to 3364 Da and ocellatins are the most reported. The peptides exhibit commonly glycine (G) or glycine-valine (GV) as C-terminal amino acids, and the most common N-terminal amino acids are glutamic acid (E), lysine (K), and valine (V). The substances from Leptodactylidae species have been evaluated against pathogenic microorganisms, particularly Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and the most active peptides showed MIC of 1-15 µM. Furthermore, some compounds showed also pharmacological properties such as immunomodulation, treatment of degenerative diseases, anticancer, and antioxidant. Currently, only 9% of the species in this family have been properly studied, highlighting a large number of unstudied species such as an entire subfamily (Paratelmatobiinae). The ecological context, functions, and evolution of peptides and amines in this family are poorly understood and represent a large field for further exploration.

The genus Cuscuta L. (Convolvulaceae) are holoparasitic plants with cosmopolitan distributions, and they are usually difficult to identify. Based on several new field collections, we present three new floristic records from this genus in Central-West Brazil. Cuscuta platyloba Progel and Cuscuta partita Choisy are cited for the first time from Mato Grosso do Sul state, while Cuscuta xanthochortos var. carinata Mart., which was previously only known from southern Brazil, is also shown to be present in the Central-West region of the country. An identification key of Cuscuta species from Mato Grosso do Sul is also provided.

This study investigated the essential oils (EOs) from leaf, bark, and fruit of Mespilodaphne cymbarum (Kunth) Trofimov (Lauraceae), focusing on their chemical composition and antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. EOs were extracted from plants collected in the Amazon during dry and flood seasons and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Although chemical differences were evident among plant organs and chemotypes, the influence of seasonality was not pronounced. Fruit EO was dominated by α- and β-santalene and limonene. Bark EO was rich in phenylpropanoids, including methyl eugenol, myristicin, and elemicin. Leaf EO showed the greatest metabolic diversity, with chemotype-specific variations. Leaf and bark EOs demonstrated superior antibacterial and antibiofilm activities compared to fruit EO, especially against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Micrococcus luteus. Chemotype-1 leaf and bark EOs inhibited S. epidermidis biofilm formation, while chemotype-2 reduced bacterial growth. The leaf EOs from both chemotypes reduced bacterial growth against S. aureus, and bark EO decreased biofilm formation. All leaf and bark EOs showed antibiofilm activity against M. luteus. These findings highlight the potential of M. cymbarum EOs as natural sources of bioactive compounds and emphasize the importance of chemotype and plant organ selection for optimized applications.

Introduction: Miconia albicans is a medicinal plant widely used in traditional medicine and represents a promising candidate for phytotherapeutic drug development. Despite its widespread use, the influence of environmental seasonality and phenological state on its foliar metabolome remains poorly understood, particularly in seasonal ecosystems such as the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado Biome). Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the influence of seasonality and phenological state on the foliar metabolome of M. albicans by untargeted metabolomics and chemometric approaches. Methods: Leaves of M. albicans were collected from the same individuals over an 18-month period, encompassing dry and rainy seasons and contrasting phenological states (fruiting and budding). Samples were analyzed using LC–MS-based untargeted metabolomics, and data were evaluated through multivariate analyses and univariate mixed-effects models. Results: Twenty-five metabolites were annotated, including flavonoids, megastigmanes, tannins, and triterpenes. Fruiting exerted the strongest effect on global metabolic structure, being associated with marked convergence of foliar metabolomes and coordinated responses of specific chemical classes, such as megastigmanes and tannins. Seasonality mainly affected megastigmanes, which exhibited higher intensities in the dry season. Budding had the weakest effect with responses restricted to the triterpene pathway. Univariate analyses also revealed that all annotated megastigmanes had higher intensities in both fruiting individuals and the dry season. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that foliar specialized metabolism in M. albicans integrates environmental and phenological signals, with megastigmanes participate in a central axis of foliar metabolic plasticity within M. albicans under dry and fruiting conditions.

SUMMARY: Specialized metabolites are central to plant defense, signaling and ecological interactions, yet we still lack a macroevolutionary framework explaining how this diversity is structured across angiosperms. Here, we integrate the open LOTUS chemical repository with standardized taxonomy to map a curated ‘chemical core’ comprising 77 404 family‐supported occurrences across 12 representative families spanning Magnoliids, Monocots, and Eudicots. Chemical composition shows strong higher‐level structure, delineating major lineages while revealing a striking evolutionary topology: inter‐lineage divergence is dominated by metabolite replacement rather than accumulation. Across family pairs, β‐diversity is overwhelmingly explained by turnover, indicating that chemical disparity rarely arises from one lineage retaining subsets of another's repertoire. Despite this universal turnover regime, lineages occupy distinct physicochemical and elemental neighborhoods, consistent with divergent evolutionary strategies under shared allocation constraints. Magnoliids define a lipophilic boundary characterized by greater investment in nitrogen‐bearing and aromatic‐rich defenses; Monocots occupy a more hydrophilic, high‐molecular‐weight and structurally saturated niche; and Eudicots expand oxygen‐rich carbon scaffolds with reduced nitrogen dependence. Together, our results indicate that angiosperm chemical evolution is highly dynamic at the compositional level, yet constrained at the architectural level, with persistent turnover generating lineage‐specific chemical identities within inherited physicochemical corridors. This work provides a reproducible open data foundation for testing mechanistic links between biosynthetic organization, ecological antagonists, and evolutionary diversification of plant chemistry.