In this review, we wish to show that in the recent years a
significant progress was done in the EC analysis of practically
all proteins, based on electroactivity of amino acid (aa)
residues in proteins. Also electrochemistry of polysaccharides,
oligosaccharides and glycoproteins greatly advanced in creating
important steps for its larger application in the glycoprotein
research. In recent decades, a great effort was devoted to the
discovery and application of biomarkers for analysis of
different diseases, including cancer. In the following
paragraphs, special attention will be paid (i) to intrinsic
electroactivity of peptides and proteins, including the
sensitivity to changes in protein 3D structures, as well as to
recent advances in EC investigations of DNA-protein
interactions, (ii) to intrinsic electroactivity of glycans and
polysaccharides, advances in EC detection of
lectin-glycoprotein interactions and to introduction of
electroactive labels to polysaccharides and glycans and finally
(iii) to EC detection of protein biomarkers, based
predominantly on application of antibodies in immunoassays,
nucleic acid and peptide aptamers for construction of
aptasensors, and lectin biosensors for detection of
glycoprotein biomarkers.

Electrochemistry of Nonconjugated Proteins and Glycoproteins. Toward Sensors for Biomedicine and Glycomics

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the oldest cultivated crops, but currently it represents only 0.15% of the vegetable oil produced in the world. Castor oil is of continuing importance to the global specialty chemical industry because it is the only commercial source of a hydroxylated fatty acid. Castor also has tremendous future potential as an industrial oilseed crop because of its high seed oil con- tent (more than 480 g kg -1 ), unique fatty acid composition (900 g kg -1 of ricinoleic acid), potentially high oil yields (1250-2500 L ha -1 ), and ability to be grown under drought and saline conditions. Th e scientifi c literature on castor has been generated by a relatively small global community of researchers over the past century. Much of this work was published in dozens of languages in journals that are not easily accessible to the scientifi c community. Th is review was conducted to provide a compilation of the most relevant historic research information and defi ne the tremendous future potential of castor. Th e article was prepared by a group of 22 scientists from 16 institutions and eight countries. Topics discussed in this review include: (i) germplasm, genetics, breeding, biotic stresses, genome sequencing, and biotechnology; (ii) agronomic production practices, diseases, and abiotic stresses; (iii) management and reduction of toxins for the use of castor meal as both an animal feed and an organic fertilizer; (iv) future industrial uses of castor including renew- able fuels; (v) world production, consumption, and prices; and (vi) potential and challenges for increased castor production.

A Review on the Challenges for Increased Production of Castor

Castor oil, produced from castor beans, has long been considered to be of important commercial value primarily for the manufacturing of soaps, lubricants, and coatings, among others. Global castor oil production is concentrated primarily in a small geographic region of Gujarat in Western India. This region is favorable due to its labor-intensive cultivation method and subtropical climate conditions. Entrepreneurs and castor processors in the United States and South America also cultivate castor beans but are faced with the challenge of achieving high castor oil production efficiency, as well as obtaining the desired oil quality. In this manuscript, we provide a detailed analysis of novel processing methods involved in castor oil production. We discuss novel processing methods by explaining specific processing parameters involved in castor oil production.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.4137/LPI.S40233

Castor Oil: Properties, Uses, and Optimization of Processing Parameters in Commercial Production

Castor oil is increasingly becoming an important bio-based raw material for industrial applications. The oil is non-edible and can be extracted from castor seeds from the castor plant belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. The oil is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid esters linked to a glycerol. The presence of hydroxyl group, a double bond, carboxylic group and a long chain hydrocarbon in ricinoleic acid (a major component of the oil), offer several possibilities of transforming it into variety of materials. The oil is thus a potential alternative to petroleum-based starting chemicals for the production of materials with variety of properties. Despite this huge potential, very little has recently been reviewed on the use of castor oil as a bio-resource in the production of functional materials. This review therefore highlights the potential of castor oil in the production of these diverse materials with their projected global market potential. The review gives the background information of castor oil and its geographical availability, the properties and its uses as bio-based resource for synthesis of various materials. The review further highlights on the use of castor oil or ricinoleic acid as a green capping agent in the synthesis of nanomaterials.

/pdf/castor-oil-as-a-potential-renewable-resource-for-the-1wab42est2.pdf

Castor oil as a potential renewable resource for the production of functional materials

Challenges and opportunities for new industrial oilseed crops in EU-27: A review

In the castor plant (Ricinus communis L.), 2S albumins are highly allergenic seed proteins and are detrimental to the reintroduction of castor as a U.S. crop. Others have shown that the two 2S albumins are encoded by a single gene and processed from a precursor protein in castor. Little is known about the expression pattern of the 2S albumin gene. As part of a genetic approach to eliminating 2S albumin from castor, we investigated the developmental expression of this gene in castor seed. To assess seed developmental age quickly and accurately, we established a set of simple criteria, which included two visual markers, seed coat color and endosperm volume, and defined three phases that encompass the course of castor seed development. Northern analysis indicated that the 2S albumin mRNA is highly abundant in the mid-phase of seed development. A comparison of 2S albumin genomic DNA and cDNA clones from two castor cultivars indicated that only a single gene is expressed. Protein domain sequence analysis revealed that castor 2S albumin contains the trypsin/α-amylase inhibitor family domain, suggesting a role for the albumin in insect resistance.

2S Albumin Gene Expression in Castor Plant (Ricinus communis L.)

Castor oil contains the hydroxy fatty acid ricinoleate as a major (90%) component. The diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) carries out the final reaction step in the biosynthesis of triacylglycerol, the principal constituent of seed oil, and has been considered to be the step that controls the oil content of seeds. In order to better understand how castor is able to produce such an unusual oil, we have compared the substrate selectivity of the type 1 DGATs (DGAT1) from castor (RcDGAT1) and Arabidopsis thaliana (AtDGAT1). This comparison of DGATs indicates that RcDGAT1 is more active than AtDGAT1 when the substrate is diricinolein, the predominant substrate for DGAT in the castor seed, while both are similarly active with dipalmitolein. The approximate twofold preference of RcDGAT in using diricinolein explains part of the sixfold preference displayed by a castor in vitro system for incorporating ricinoleate into castor oil.

Castor diacylglycerol acyltransferase type 1 (DGAT1) displays greater activity with diricinolein than Arabidopsis DGAT1

The castor plant Ricinus communis L. is the source of castor oil which has numerous uses and is a key chemical feedstock for an array of products from polymers to cosmetics. Although castor was once widely grown throughout the world, the presence of the toxic protein ricin has deterred the re-introduction of this useful crop. In order to develop a low-ricin or no-ricin castor crop, a robust, accurate method for screening castor seed for ricin content is essential. In this study, we validated a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of ricin and the homologous Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA) in castor beans and screened a collection of castor lines including commercial varieties using this assay. Although the average content derived by extracting several seeds provided a fair representation of the ricin content for a given selection, there was enough seed-to-seed variation to justify determining the ricin/RCA content of individual seeds. Ricin levels observed ranged from 1.16 to 6.25 % by weight.

Toxin Content of Commercial Castor Cultivars

To facilitate the analysis of castor (Ricinus communis L.) seed fractions and germplasm for ricin content, we investigated the use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods to differentiate between ricin toxin and the related Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA). Both proteins are based on a heterodimeric AB structure, with a common A chain. RCA comprises two dimers of A and B chains. Both proteins are found in the meal remaining after castor oil extraction and impede the commercial production of castor seed in the USA. We identified pairs of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that could distinguish between the structurally related proteins that share a common A chain. Antibody specificity was determined by ELISA and checked by immunoblotting. We found that mAb–mAb pairs afforded quantification of each castor protein, and that a mAb paired with a commercial polyclonal antibody provided detection of both with comparable sensitivity.

Xiaohua He

Papers

A Review on the Challenges for Increased Production of Castor

2S Albumin Gene Expression in Castor Plant (Ricinus communis L.)

Castor diacylglycerol acyltransferase type 1 (DGAT1) displays greater activity with diricinolein than Arabidopsis DGAT1

Toxin Content of Commercial Castor Cultivars

Analysis of Castor by ELISAs that Distinguish Ricin and Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA)