i have been working with plant products for two years, i have evaluated few plant products and patented. i want to know the significance of phytochemicals in agriculture. i want to know the advance technology useful in dentification of phytochemicals .

thank you,

Hello sudhesha -

Here are a few resources that may be helpful to you -

USDA Research Project - MOLECULAR BASIS OF ABSORPTION, INTERACTION, AND FUNCTIONS OF FLAVONOIDS IN HUMAN CELLS. 2004 Annual Report

"We hypothesize that phytochemicals can alter cellular processes affecting human health, thereby preventing chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Particularly flavonoids and phenolic conjugates, in combination with nutrients, may act in synergy to modulate cellular and molecular pathways, thus preventing chronic diseases. A mechanism-based approach is used to identify those basic biological processes critical for preventing chronic diseases. We focus on cellular processes that are associated with mitigating disease states, such as cell cycle pathways and apoptosis pathways. Techniques/methods to monitor the effects of phytochemicals on these processes include cell culture, RT-PCR, and DNA micro-array technology, and other conventional biochemical assays. We are applying these tools toward identifying specific biological mechanisms and pathways responsible for the purported or newly-proposed benefits of phytochemicals on human health."

Additional information on this project click here.


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Meeting abstract:

Wang, T.T., Lavigne, J.A., Hursting, D.S., Chandramouli, G.V.R., Takahashi, Y. 2003. UTIITY OF MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGY IN STUDIES OF CANCER PREVENTIVE PHYTOCHEMICALS. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the United States-Japan Natural Resources Food and Agriculture Panel Members Meeting, Tsukuba, Japan. 304-307.

Abstract:
The mechanisms underlying the mammary and prostate cancer protective effects of fruits and vegetables remain unclear. We hypothesized that phytochemicals in these plant-derived foods contributed to such beneficial effects. To further identified cancer protective phytochemicals, their molecular targets in cell and the mechanisms that contributed to their cancer protective effects, we considered the use of microarray technology as a tool to address these questions. In the present study we presented results on using the microarray approach to examine the effects of genistein, a soy isoflavone, on prostate cancer cell.



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This study utilizes HPLC for identifying phytochemicals...

R. Renuka Devi and C. Arumughan. Phytochemical characterization of defatted rice bran and optimization of a process for their extraction and enrichment. Bioresource Technology, Volume 98, Issue 16, November 2007, Pages 3037-3043

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to characterize the defatted rice bran (DRB) employing HPLC for identifying the major phytochemicals in DRB and to examine its commercial potential as a source of bioactive phytochemicals leading to value addition of DRB otherwise used as cattle feed. Various solvent extracts showed the presence of oryzanols, tocols, and ferulic acid. Methanol was the most effective extractant under the optimized conditions of a materialsolvent ratio of 1:15 (wt./vol.) and a time of extraction of 10 h. The yields of total phenols, oryzanols and ferulic acid from DRB with methanol were 2204, 316, and 233 ppm, respectively. Enrichment of antioxidants in the crude methanolic extract (CME) was achieved by sequential extraction and fractionation, resulting in three enriched fractions, viz., acetone extract (AE), acetone extract-lipophilic fraction (AE-LP) and acetone extract-polar fraction (AE-PP). While AE-LP was enriched in oryzanols and tocols by about 65 times, AE-PP was enriched in ferulic acid by 70 times as compared to their contents in DRB.


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Also check out the
Chemical Fingerprinting method developed by PhytoCeutica Inc.

Summary of PhytoCeutica's Chemical Fingerprinting

In addition to the standard liquid chromatography with UV-VIS or MS detection for quantitative detection of single marker standards, PhytoCeutica has developed a rapid method to identify and characterize a broad range of low molecular weight phytochemicals in the range of 100-1000 amu. This method combines high sensitivity capillary (LC) coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry to provide a high resolution molecular fingerprint that, when coupled to a comprehensive database of phytochemicals, can be used both for accurate phytochemical identification and for the creation of detailed phytochemical fingerprints for QC comparisons. These fingerprints can form the foundation as a signature profile for standardizing the botanical extract that defines the clinical batch for later batch-to-batch comparisons, as a reference to study stability, and as a comprehensive dataset to identify potential adulterated drugs or chemical contaminants. An illustration of the approach is described in Figure 1, using our drug candidate PHY906.

PhytoCeuticas software package, PhytoViewerCA, has been written to analyze chemical fingerprint patterns, identify the compounds, define the signature pattern, calculate similarity coefficients, and assign quantitative pattern cut-offs acceptance or rejection of manufactured batches.



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Hope these help... Good luck!