Bioactive natural products have always played a significant role as novel therapeutical agents irrespective of their source of origin. They have a profound effect on human health by both direct and indirect means and also possess immense medicinal properties. Fruit species are largely appreciated and highly consumed throughout the world. Epidemiologic information supports the association between high intake of fruits and low risk of chronic diseases. There are several biological reasons why the consumption of fruits might reduce or prevent chronic diseases. Fruits are rich sources of nutrients and energy, have vitamins, minerals, fiber and numerous other classes of biologically active compounds. Moreover, parts of the fruit crops like fruit peels, leaves and barks also possess medicinal properties and have been included in this review. The most important activities discussed in this review include antidiabetic, anticancer, antihypertensive, neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, stimulation of the immune system, cell detoxification, cholesterol synthesis, anticonvulsant and their ability to lower blood pressure. Several phytochemicals involved in this context are described with special emphasis on their structural properties and their relativity with human diseases.

• Background and Aims The aim of this paper was to verify the variation in the loss of seed dormancy during after-ripening and the interspecific and interpopulation variability in the degree of dormancy of seven wild and two cultivated rice species comprising 21 populations and two cultivars. • Methods Four wild rice species from South America, Oryza glumaepatula, O. latifolia, O. grandiglumis and O. alta, and two O. sativa cultivars were tested in one experiment. In a second experiment, five wild species, O. punctata, O. eichingeri, O.rufipogon, O. latifolia and O. glumaepatula, and one cultivated species (O. glaberrima) were evaluated. Initial germination tests were performed soon after the seeds were harvested and subsequently at 2-month intervals, for a total of six storage periods in the first experiment and three in the second. All tests were conducted in the dark at a temperature of 27 °C. • Key Results Different patterns of after-ripening among populations within and between species were observed. • Conclusions The cultivated species (O. sativa and O. glaberrima) and, amongst the wild species, the tetraploids O. latifolia, O. grandiglumis and the diploids O. eichingeri and O. punctata, had weak dormancy, losing it completely 2 months after harvest, while O. rufipogon and O. glumaepatula exhibited pronounced dormancy. The latter showed different patterns of after-ripening between populations indigenous to the Amazon region and those originating in the Paraguay River system. Seeds of Solimões (Amazon) and Japura origin showed weak dormancy whereas those of Paraguay origin showed deep dormancy. Ecological differences among natural habitats may be involved in such differentiation.

Microspore embryogenesis is a method of achieving complete homozygosity from plants. It is particularly useful for woody species, like Citrus, characterized by long juvenility, a high degree of heterozygosity and often self-incompatibility. Anther culture is currently the method of choice for microspore embryogenesis in many crops. However, isolated microspore culture is a better way to investigate the processes at the cellular, physiological, biochemical and molecular levels as it avoids the influence of somatic anther tissue. To exploit the potential of this technique, it is important to separate the key factors affecting the process and, among them, culture medium composition and particularly the plant growth regulators and their concentration, as they can greatly enhance regeneration efficiency. To our knowledge, the ability of meta-Topolin, a naturally occurring aromatic cytokinin, to induce gametic embryogenesis in isolated microspores of Citrus has never been investigated. In this study, the effect of two concentrations of meta-Topolin instead of benzyladenine or zeatin in the culture medium was investigated in isolated microspore culture of two genotypes of Citrus. After eleven months of isolated microspore culture, for both genotypes and for all the four tested media, the microspore reprogramming and their sporophytic development was observed by the presence of multinucleated calli and microspore-derived embryos at different stages. Microsatellite analysis of parental and embryo samples was performed to determine the embryo alleles constitution of early embryos produced in all tested media, confirming their origin from microspores. To our knowledge, this is the first successful report of Citrus microspore embryogenesis with isolated microspore culture in Citrus, and in particular in Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan, cvs. ‘Monreal Rosso’ and ‘Nules’.

Knowledge of the genetic structure and diversity of natural populations is important in developing strategies for in situ and ex situ conservation. We used eight microsatellite loci to estimate genetic structure and investigate within and between population genetic variation in eleven Brazilian wild rice (Oryza glumaepatula) populations. The study showed the following genetic diversity parameters: average number of 3.1 alleles per locus; 77.3% polymorphic loci; 0.091 observed heterozygosity and 0.393 gene diversity. F-statistics detected by microsatellite loci were: F ST = 0.491 (and R ST = 0.608), F IS = 0.780 and F IT = 0.888. No population was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The estimated apparent outcrossing rate (0.143) indicated a predominance of self-fertilization. The gene flow values were low (Nm = 0.259 and 0.161 for F ST and R ST, respectively). Populations were spatially structured but without a correlation between genetic and geographic distances. Five populations (PG-4, PG-2, PU-1, SO-4, NE-18) were identified as priorities for conservation strategies. Populations from the Amazon biome showed heterogeneity with respect to intrapopulation diversity. The high level of genetic differentiation between populations and the high number of private alleles suggested that sampling should be carried out on a large number of O. glumaepatula populations for ex situ conservation purposes

A knowledge of natural populations' breeding systems is important in order to implement in situ and ex situ management and conservation practices. Using microsatellite markers, three Oryza glumaepatula populations from Brazil were studied to determine the breeding system and genetic structure parameters of this species. Each population represented by ten families with ten individuals per family was studied using eight microsatellite primers. Families of the Rio Xingu population (XI) were obtained from the greenhouse, whereas families from Rio Solimoes (SO) and Rio Paraguay (PG) were collected from the wild. Amplified products electrophoresed on non-denaturing polyacrylamide gels were visualized with a silver staining procedure. The mating system parameters were analysed based on the mixed mating model (software MLTR) while genetic structure analyses of the three populations and their families were performed using the FSTAT software. The mean numbers of alleles per loci were 2.5, 3.9 and 2.5, respectively for the XI, PG and SO populations. Compared with their families, higher values for the observed heterozygosity and gene diversity were estimated for the parental populations. The subdivision (based on R(ST)) and inbreeding (F(IS)) in the SO and PG populations had similar effects, while inbreeding was the main effect in the families. Multilocus outcrossing rates varied from 0.011 to 0.223 in the three populations, indicating divergence in the outcrossing rates among O. glumaepatula populations. For the species (considering SO and PG populations together) an intermediate value was observed (tm = 0.116). Biparental inbreeding varied from 0.008 to 0.123, contributing to the selfing rate in these populations. More than 50 % of the outcrossing occurred between related individuals. The results indicated divergence in the mating system among O. glumaepatula populations, with consequences for conservation practices. The mating system of this species was classified as mixed with a predominance of self-fertilization.