Essential oils (EOs) are a promising source for novel environmentally safe insecticides. However, the structural diversity of their compounds poses challenges to accurately elucidate their biological mechanisms of action. We present a new chemoinformatics methodology aimed at predicting the impact of essential oil (EO) compounds on the molecular targets of commercial insecticides. Our approach merges virtual screening, chemoinformatics, and machine learning to identify custom signatures and reference molecule clusters. By assigning a molecule to a cluster, we can determine its most likely interaction targets. Our findings reveal that the main targets of EOs are juvenile hormone-specific proteins (JHBP and MET) and octopamine receptor agonists (OctpRago). Three of the twenty clusters show strong similarities to the juvenile hormone, steroids, and biogenic amines. For instance, the methodology successfully identified E-Nerolidol, for which literature points indications of disrupting insect metamorphosis and neurochemistry, as a potential insecticide in these pathways. We validated the predictions through experimental bioassays, observing symptoms in blowflies that were consistent with the computational results. This new approach sheds a higher light on the ways of action of EO compounds in nature and biotechnology. It also opens new possibilities for understanding how molecules can interfere with biological systems and has broad implications for areas such as drug design.

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Porophyllum ruderale (Jacq.) Cass is a medicinal plant of the family Asteraceae, originally from South America and widely distributed in Brazil. It is popularly known as “couvinha”, “arnica-paulista”, “picão-branco”, among other names. It is used in folk medicine for the treatment of bruises and it has few studies regarding its chemical and agronomic aspects. Due to its medicinal uses, the scarcity of scientific documents, as well as the lack of systematic works regarding this species, this study aimed to systematize the studies of the species Porophyllum ruderale. Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases were used, 34 and 21 articles were found, respectively. The articles were gathered in the bibliography manager EndNote and the duplicates were excluded, resulting in 37 documents in total. Those documents with title and abstract according to the theme (Porophyllum ruderale species) were selected. The information contained in the articles was tabulated, such as: author, year, title, objective, other species studied, use, part studied, methodology and conclusion. This result points the need for further studies with this species in other areas such as: earth and planetary sciences, chemistry, medicine, pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceuticals, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology. From this study, new lines of research in the area of medicinal plants can be carried out, once it was verified that this species is considered as toxic and widely used for the treatment of bruises instead of arnica (Arnica montana L. - Asteraceae).

Byrsonima coccolobifolia Kunth. (Malpighiaceae) é citada como planta apícola, forrageira, produtora de frutos comestíveis e como planta medicinal, podendo ser utilizada como diurética (uso interno, em infusão) a partir das cascas dos caules e dos frutos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar um estudo quali-quantitativo das características anatômicas da folhas desta espécie que ocorre em áreas de cerrado e campo rupestre. As observações anatômicas foram realizadas em folhas de material fresco ou fixado, tratadas segundo metodologias usuais em anatomia vegetal. Foram observadas as seguintes características: epidermes do pecíolo e da lâmina foliar uniestratificadas; estômatos do tipo paracítico presentes somente na face abaxial da folha; mesofilo com parênquima paliçádico de uma só camada de células; parênquima lacunoso com sete a nove camadas celulares com formas irregulares e tamanhos variados; idioblastos cristalíferos, observados em todos os parênquimas do pecíolo e lâmina foliar; feixes vasculares, do tipo colateral; colênquima observado, subepidermicamente, no pecíolo e nervuras de maior porte, nas duas faces; o padrão geral de nervação da espécie é pinado, camptódromo, broquidódromo.  As análises micromorfométricas revelaram diferenças significativas em todos os itens quantitativos analisados, sendo as médias mais elevadas encontradas nas folhas das plantas crescendo no cerrado. Isto sugere que a influência de fatores ambientais pode ter modulado respostas morfológicas nas plantas, visto que o tipo e distribuição qualitativa dos tecidos não sofreram alterações nos dois ambientes.

Young vegetables are gaining more and more popularity on a world scale, not only because they are highly nutritious foods, but because they constitute a new ingredient, being used to improve the visual aspect of salads and other garnishes and to embellish a wide variety of dishes. This study aimed to compare the content of bioactive compounds and the antioxidant capacity of kale (Brassica oleracea L.) in three growth stages: microgreen (15 days after sowing), baby leaf (40 days after sowing) and adult (60 days after sowing). The cultivation was carried out in trays for the production of microgreens, later a portion was transplanted in beds to obtain baby leafs and plants in an adult stage. The analyzes performed were: total carotenoids, mineral profile, phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity. Chemical analyzes showed, in general, that vegetables in microgreens and baby leaf stages had higher levels of micronutrients and antioxidant capacity by the phosphomolybdenum method than the plant in the adult (commercial) stage, however, for phenolic compounds and total carotenoids, the adult plant had higher levels than baby leaf and microgreens. It should be noted that baby leaf and microgreens are usually eaten raw and whole, avoiding losses and obtaining a better use of nutrients present in these vegetables. Thus, the consumption of vegetables harvested at early stages may contribute to a greater supply of nutrients and bioactive compounds in the diet.