Morphological-anatomical and chemical features of Copernicia alba fruits and seeds, a palm from Brazilian Pantanal.

Copernicia alba (Arecaceae) is a palm tree regionally known as carandá that forms large populations and produces abundant fruits, an important food source for the local fauna in Brazilian wetlands. The fruits present morphological variations regarding color, shape and dimensions. In this study fruits of different shapes were collected and processed following routine techniques in plant morphology, and biochemistry analysis of endosperm.

N-acetylation of toxic aromatic amines by fungi: Strain screening, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity evaluation, and application in bioremediation of 3,4-dichloroaniline.

Aromatic amines (AA) are one of the most commonly used classes of compounds in industry and the most common pollutants found in both soil and water. 3,4-Dichloaniline (3,4-DCA) is a persistent residue of the phenylurea herbicide in the environment. In this study, we used a colorimetric method as a new approach to screen 12 filamentous fungal strains of the genera Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, and Mucor to assess their capacity to perform AA N-acetylation since it is considered a potential tool in environmental bioremediation.

Potential of Bacterial Strains Isolated from Ironstone Outcrops Bromeliads to Promote Plant Growth Under Drought Conditions.

Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) are bacteria that have mechanisms that facilitate plant growth in stress conditions such as drought. The objective of this study was to characterize bacterial strains isolated from bromeliads roots in ironstone outcrops (Urucum Residual Plateau, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) for plant growth-promoting under drought conditions. Firstly, we screened isolates with the presence of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity.

Biochemical characterization of a partially purified protease from 7461 and its application as an environmentally friendly dehairing agent for leather industry.

Proteases can be used in several biotechnological processes including detergent, food and leather industries. In the leather industry, dehairing is carried out by chemicals, which pollute the environment. Therefore, to make the hair removal process environmentally friendly, a protease produced by has been purified, biochemically characterized and had an efficient ability to remove hair from bovine leather.

Exploring Trichoderma and Aspergillus secretomes: Proteomics approaches for the identification of enzymes of biotechnological interest.

Filamentous fungal secretomes comprise highly dynamic sets of proteins, including multiple carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) which are able to hydrolyze plant biomass polysaccharides into products of biotechnological interest such as fermentable sugars. In recent years, proteomics has been used to identify and quantify enzymatic and non-enzymatic polypeptides present in secretomes of several fungi species. The resulting data have widened the scientific understanding of the way filamentous fungi perform biomass degradation and offered novel perspectives for biotechnological applications.

Molecular and biochemical characterization of carbonic anhydrases of Paracoccidioides.

Carbonic anhydrases (CA) belong to the family of zinc metalloenzymes that catalyze the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate. In the present work, we characterized the cDNAs of four Paracoccidioides CAs (CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4). In the presence of CO2, there was not a significant increase in fungal ca1, ca2 and ca4 gene expression.

Bioprocess and biotecnology: effect of xylanase from Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus on pulp biobleaching and enzyme production using agroindustrial residues as substract.

This study compares two xylanases produced by filamentous fungi such as A. niger and A. flavus using agroindustrial residues as substract and evaluated the effect of these enzymes on cellulose pulp biobleaching process.

Beta-glucosidase activity from the thermophilic fungus Scytalidium thermophilum is stimulated by glucose and xylose.

An inducible mycelial beta-glucosidase from Scytalidum thermophilum was characterized. The enzyme exhibited a pI of 6.5, a carbohydrate content of 15%, and an apparent molecular mass of about 40 kDa.

Purification and biochemical properties of a thermostable xylose-tolerant beta- D-xylosidase from Scytalidium thermophilum.

The thermophilic fungus Scytalidium thermophilum produced large amounts of periplasmic beta- D-xylosidase activity when grown on xylan as carbon source. The presence of glucose in the fresh culture medium drastically reduced the level of beta- D-xylosidase activity, while cycloheximide prevented induction of the enzyme by xylan. The mycelial beta-xylosidase induced by xylan was purified using a procedure that included heating at 50 degrees C, ammonium sulfate fractioning (30-75%), and chromatography on Sephadex G-100 and DEAE-Sephadex A-50.