About the Authors

Ammar Altemimi

Affiliations Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States of America, Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah, Basrah Province, Iraq

Dennis G. Watson

Affiliation Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States of America

Ruplal Choudhary

Affiliation Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States of America

Mallika R. Dasari

Affiliation Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States of America

David A. Lightfoot

ga4082@siu.edu

Affiliation Department of Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AA DAL DGW RC. Performed the experiments: AA MRD. Analyzed the data: AA DGW DAL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AA DAL. Wrote the paper: AA DGW DAL RC. Designed, carried out and wrote-up the research: AA. Supervised and helped design the research: DAL. Proofread the article: DAL. Helped design and analyze experiments: DGW RC. Edited drafts of the manuscript: DGW RC. Designed and carried out the FTIR analyzes: MRD.