Publications by authors named "Giovanna Felis"

Background: The brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys has become an invasive insect pest of many crops. A promising control strategy to manage the proliferation of H. halys is based on the suppression of its obligate and vertically transmitted uncultivated symbiotic bacterium Candidatus Pantoea carbekii through surface-sterilization of H.

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Accurate identification and typing of microbes are crucial steps in gaining an awareness of the biological heterogeneity and reliability of microbial material within any proprietary or public collection. Paenibacillus polymyxa is a bacterial species of great agricultural and industrial importance due to its plant growth-promoting activities and production of several relevant secondary metabolites. In recent years, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been widely used as an alternative rapid tool for identifying, typing, and differentiating closely related strains.

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Microbial diseases are of major concern in vitiviniculture as they cause grape losses and wine alterations, but the prevention with chemical substances represents a risk to human health and agricultural ecosystem. A promising alternative is the biocontrol and bioprotection activity of non-Saccharomyces yeasts, such as Metschnikowia pulcherrima, which also presents positive oenological traits when used in multistarter fermentations. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a selected M.

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Metschnikowia pulcherrima is an important yeast species that is attracting increased interest thanks to its biotechnological potential, especially in agri-food applications. Phylogenetically related species of the so-called 'pulcherrima clade' were first described and then reclassified in one single species, which makes the identification an intriguing issue. Starting from the whole-genome sequencing of the protechnological strain Metschnikowia sp.

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In 2020, a taxonomic reorganization of the lactic acid bacteria reclassified over 300 species in 7 genera and 2 families into one family, the , with 31 genera including 23 new genera to include organisms formerly classified as species. This communication aims to provide a debrief on the taxonomic reorganization of lactobacilli to identify shortcomings in the proposed taxonomic framework, and to outline perspectives and opportunities provided by the current taxonomy of the . The current taxonomy of lactobacilli not only necessitates becoming familiar with 23 new genus names but also provides substantial new opportunities in scientific discovery and regulatory approval of these organisms.

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Propionic Acidemia (PA) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder caused by the enzymatic block of propionyl-CoA carboxylase with the consequent accumulation of propionic acid, which is toxic for the brain and cardiac cells. Since a considerable amount of propionate is produced by intestinal bacteria, interest arose in the attempt to reduce propionate-producing bacteria through a monthly antibiotic treatment of metronidazole. In the present study, we investigated the gut microbiota structure of an infant diagnosed at 4 days of life through Expanded Newborn Screening (NBS) and treated the child following international guidelines with a special low-protein diet, specific medications and strict biochemical monitoring.

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Yeast species have been spontaneously participating in food production for millennia, but the scope of applications was greatly expanded since their key role in beer and wine fermentations was clearly acknowledged. The workhorse for industry and scientific research has always been Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It occupies the largest share of the dynamic yeast market, that could further increase thanks to the better exploitation of other yeast species.

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Lactobacillaceae presents potential for interspecific Quorum Sensing (QS) in spontaneous cocoa fermentation, correlated with high abundance of luxS. Three Brazilian isolates from cocoa fermentation were characterized by Whole Genome Sequencing and luxS gene was surveyed in their genomes, in comparison with public databases. They were classified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Limosilactobacillus fermentum and Pediococcus acidilactici.

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The taxonomy of the genus was revised in April 2020 to reclassify species that were originally described as species into 25 genera that comprise phylogenetically related micro-organisms. The species in these 25 genera also share major metabolic traits and generally have a shared ecology. A total of four comb.

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The genus comprises 261 species (at March 2020) that are extremely diverse at phenotypic, ecological and genotypic levels. This study evaluated the taxonomy of and on the basis of whole genome sequences. Parameters that were evaluated included core genome phylogeny, (conserved) pairwise average amino acid identity, clade-specific signature genes, physiological criteria and the ecology of the organisms.

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Terpenes are important contributors to wine aroma. Free and glycosidically bound terpenes are primarily formed in grapes. During fermentation, they undergo important transformation catalyzed by yeast, so that the terpene profile of grape is substantially different from that of the corresponding wine.

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Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea is a fungal disease that can determine significant economic losses of apple during the storage phase. An alternative to reduce the use of traditional synthetic fungicides is to employ the yeast Starmerella bacillaris as biological control agent (BCA), also with positive effect on apple juice fermentation for the production of cider. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the safety of 16 S.

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A novel irregularly shaped and slightly curved rod bacterial strain, GLDI4/2, showing activity of fructose 6-phosphate phosphoketolase was isolated from a faecal sample of an adult gelada baboon (). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA genes as well as multilocus sequences (representing , and genes) and the core genome revealed that GLDI4/2 exhibited phylogenetic relatedness to DSM 21503 and to DSM 24762. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed the phylogenetic results showing the highest gene sequence identity with strain DSM 21503 (96.

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The inoculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae starter cultures in grape musts is a common practice in wineries worldwide; however, native non-Saccharomyces yeast species are increasingly investigated as co-starters to augment the complexity and regionality of wine. In this study, an extensive collection of non-Saccharomyces yeasts from high-sugar matrices was created and screened with the aim to discover new strains with potentially positive oenological traits. After mining >400 yeasts from 167 samples collected across multiple Italian regions, the isolates were identified based on RAPD-PCR analysis and ITS sequencing.

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Recent demonstration that probiotics administration has positive effects on mood state in healthy populations suggests its possible role as an adjunctive therapy for depression in clinical populations and as a non-invasive strategy to prevent depressive mood state in healthy individuals. The present study extends current knowledge on the beneficial effects of probiotics on psychological well-being, as measured by changes in mood (e.g.

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The meeting of International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes, Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and related organisms was held within the frame of the FoodMicro 2016 Congress in Dublin (FoodMicro 2016, 19-22 July 2016, Dublin, Ireland). The meeting comprised an open session with a workshop entitled 'Research and networking taxonomy in food with an emphasis on LAB' and a closed session on issues related to ICSP Subcommittee activities.

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The meeting of International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes, Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Bifidobacterium,Lactobacillus and related organisms was held within the frame of the FoodMicro 2018 Congress (FoodMicro 2018, 3-6 September 2018, Berlin, Germany). The meeting comprised an open session with a workshop entitled 'Modern approaches of LAB identification and conservation' and a closed session on issues related to ICSP Subcommittee activities.

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In recent years, the concept of "microbial terroir" has been introduced in the frame of the more renowned notion of "vitivinicultural terroir,' since several studies demonstrated that wine characteristics are related to regional microbial community compositions. Most of the existing research focused on grape berries microbiota, since it can directly impact wine quality. In this work we studied, for the first time through next-generation sequencing, the epiphytic bacterial community of vine bark and its relationships with grape microbiota.

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The genus includes over 200 species that are widely used in fermented food preservation and biotechnology or that are explored for beneficial effects on health. Naming, classifying, and comparing lactobacilli have been challenging due to the high level of phenotypic and genotypic diversity that they display and because of the uncertain degree of relatedness between them and associated genera. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of dividing the genus into more homogeneous genera/clusters, exploiting genome-based data.

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The lactic acid bacterium Oenococcus oeni is the most important species involved in malolactic fermentation due to its capability to survive in presence of ethanol and in the acidic environment of wine. In order to identify novel genes involved in adaptation to wine, a new approach using genome-wide analysis based on stress-related genes was performed in strain O. oeni PSU-1, and 106 annotated stress genes were identified.

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Pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS), has been linked to an alteration of the resident microbial commensal community and of the interplay between the microbiota and the immune system. Dietary components such as fiber, acting on microbiota composition, could, in principle, result in immune modulation and, thus, could be used to obtain beneficial outcomes for patients. We verified this hypothesis in a pilot study involving two groups of clinically similar relapsing-remitting (RR) MS patients who had undergone either a high-vegetable/low-protein diet (HV/LP diet group;  = 10) or a "Western Diet" (WD group;  = 10) for at least 12 months.

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