Extraction of dye sorghum biocolorant for the dyeing of , a West African soft cheese.

We developed a sustainable method to extract the red biocolorant from dye sorghum leaf sheaths for dyeing , a West African soft cheese. The pigments were extracted using three different solvents: commercial ethanol (method A), (a local liquor distilled from palm wine; method B) and aqueous alkaline solvent (method C). In methods A and B, a pot still was used to distil and collect the solvent for reuse.

New value chain nuts and butter from West Africa to international markets: Biological activities, health benefits, and physicochemical properties.

The tallow or butter tree ( Sabine) is a ligneous forest species of multipurpose use largely distributed in Sub-Sahara Africa. Owing to the biological properties of different parts of the tree and physicochemical properties, as well as the numerous benefits of its fruits, research on products, especially kernels and butter, has now gained more interest. Thus, the scientific literature revealed that butter is a more promising product with good physical and technological characteristics.

A comprehensive review of recent development in extraction and encapsulation techniques of betalains.

Betalains are attractive natural pigments with potent antioxidant activity, mainly extracted from the roots, tubers, leaves, flowers, and fruits of certain plants and some fungi. They constitute a reliable alternative to synthetic dyes used in the food industry and are considered toxic for consumers. In addition, there is convincing evidence of their health benefits for consumers.

Nanoencapsulation of Cyanidin 3--Glucoside: Purpose, Technique, Bioavailability, and Stability.

The current growing attractiveness of natural dyes around the world is a consequence of the increasing rejection of synthetic dyes whose use is increasingly criticized. The great interest in natural pigments from herbal origin such as cyanidin 3--glucoside (C3G) is due to their biological properties and their health benefits. However, the chemical instability of C3G during processing and storage and its low bioavailability limits its food application.

Physicochemical characterization and microbiology quality of the Pentadesma butyracea fruit pulp collected from various parks in Benin.

In Benin, P. butyracea fruit pulp undergoes significant post-harvest loss due to its low valorization. The collected fruits in five parklands from a survey of transformer's perception were characterized through their visual observations, the determination of their dimensions and pulp proportions.

Antimicrobial Activity and Chemical Composition of "Kpètè-Kpètè": A Starter of Benin Traditional Beer Tchoukoutou.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial effect of the crude starter "" and lactic acid bacteria used during the production of "tchoukoutou." To achieve this, a total of 11 lactic acid bacteria and 40 starter samples were collected from four communes. The samples were tested on 29 gram + and - strains by disk diffusion method.

Biochemical characterization and growth patterns of new yeast isolates.

African sorghum opaque beers play a vital role in the diet of millions of consumers. In the current study we investigated the growth profiles of yeast strains isolated from kpete-kpete, a traditional starter used to produce tchoukoutou, an opaque sorghum beer in Benin. 10 yeast strains were isolated from sorghum beer starters and cultivated under both liquid and solid media for phenotypic growth characterization.

The soybean aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) protein superfamily.

Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) are members of NAD(P)(+)-dependent protein superfamily that catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of endogenous and exogenous highly reactive aliphatic and aromatic aldehyde molecules to their corresponding non toxic carboxylic acids. Research evidence has shown that ALDHs represent a promising class of genes to improve growth development, seed storage and environmental stress adaptation in higher plants. The recently completed genome sequences of several plant species have resulted in the identification of a large number of ALDH genes, most of which still need to be functionally characterized.

Structural characterization of plant defensin protein superfamily.

Plant defensins represent a major innate immune protein superfamily with strong inhibitory effects on infectious diseases of humans, antifungal/antibacterial activities, proteinase and insect amylase inhibitory activities. They are generally defined by their conserved cysteine scaffold with α-helix and triple strand anti parallel β-sheet connected to the scaffold. With the genome of more plant species being fully sequenced, significant information about newly sequenced defensin proteins has been revealed.