Identificação molecular de Escherichia coli diarreiogênica na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Xopotó na região do Alto Rio Doce

Esta pesquisa científica teve como principal objetivo identificar patótipos de Escherichia coli diarreiogênica nas águas superficiais da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Xopotó, na região do Alto Rio Doce, Minas Gerais. Os estudos referentes às estirpes diarreiogênicas de E. coli no meio ambiente no Brasil são escassos. A bacia hidrográfica escolhida para o estudo sofre intensa degradação ambiental devido ao lançamento de esgoto in natura em seus corpos d’água e às atividades antrópicas, como a agropecuária. As coletas de água nos 13 pontos amostrais foram realizadas em duas épocas do ano de 2015 (abril e julho). Para identificação dos genes de E. coli diarreiogênica, utilizou-se o método de reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR). A bacia hidrográfica apresentou contaminação diarreiogênica de patótipos E. coli produtora de toxina Shiga (STEC), E. coli enteropatogênica (EPEC) e E. coli enterotoxigênica (ETEC), tal ocorrência foi constante em ambas as campanhas. Os genes de virulência observados foram: na STEC, toxina Shiga (Stx1), responsável por causar doenças renais graves, como a síndrome hemolítico-urêmica (SHU); já a EPEC apresentou somente o gene virulento eae, característico do subgrupo atípico (aEPEC); a ETEC apresentou toxinas termolábeis (LT). A presença desses patótipos representa potencial risco de doenças diarreiogênicas na população que utiliza os recursos hídricos, particularmente idosos e crianças, e evidencia o comprometimento da qualidade microbiológica dos cursos d’água constituintes da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Xopotó, decorrente principalmente da ausência de estações de tratamento de esgoto (ETEs).The main purpose of this scientific research was to identify pathotypes of diarrheogenic Escherichia coli in the watershed of Xopotó River, in Alto do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais region, Brazil. The studies referring to the stirps diarrheagenics of E. coli in the environment in Brazil are scarce. The watershed chosen for the study suffers intense environmental degradation due the release of raw sewage into their water bodies and human activities, such as agriculture. The water collecting at 13 sampling points were held in two periods of the year 2015 (April and July). For the identification of the genes of diarrheagenic E. coli, the method of reaction polymerase chain (PCR) was used. The watershed presented pathogenic contamination of pathotypes Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) such a constant occurrence in both campaigns. The virulence genes observed were: STEC, Shiga toxin (Stx1), responsible for causing severe kidney disease as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Besides that, EPEC presented only the virulent gene eae, characteristic of the atypical subgroup (aEPEC), as well as thermolabile toxins (LT). The presence of these pathotypes represents potential risk of diarrheagenic diseases in the population that uses the water resources, particularly the elderly and children, and demonstrates the commitment of the microbiological quality of constituents watercourses of the watershed of Xopotó River, mainly because the lack of sewage treatment facilities

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Microbial dynamics during azo dye degradation in a UASB reactor supplied with yeast extract.

The present work aimed to investigate the microbial dynamics during the anaerobic treatment of the azo dye blue HRFL in bench scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor operated at ambient temperature. Sludge samples were collected under distinct operational phases, when the reactor were stable (low variation of color removal), to assess the effect of glucose and yeast extract as source of carbon and redox mediators, respectively. Reactors performance was evaluated based on COD (chemical oxygen demand) and color removal. The microbial dynamics were investigated by PCR-DGGE (Polimerase Chain Reaction - Denaturing Gradient of Gel Electrophoresis) technique by comparing the 16S rDNA profiles among samples. The results suggest that the composition of microorganisms changed from the beginning to the end of the reactor operation, probably in response to the presence of azo dye and/or its degradation byproducts. Despite the highest efficiency of color removal was observed in the presence of 500 mg/L of yeast extract (up to 93%), there were no differences regarding the microbial profiles that could indicate a microbial selection by the yeast extract addition. On the other hand Methosarcina barkeri was detected only in the end of operation when the best efficiencies on color removal occurred. Nevertheless the biomass selection observed in the last stages of UASB operation is probably a result of the washout of the sludge in response of accumulation of aromatic amines which led to tolerant and very active biomass that contributed to high efficiencies on color removal

Fungos micorrízicos associados a orquídeas em campos rupestres na região do Quadrilátero Ferrífero, MG, Brasil Mycorrhizal fungi associated to orchids growing in "campos rupestres" in "Quadrilátero Ferrífero" region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Oito isolados de fungos micorrízicos rizoctonióides foram obtidos do sistema radicular de orquídeas neotropicais, a saber: Bulbophyllum weddelii (Lindl.) Rchb. f., Epidendrum dendrobioides Thunb., Maxillaria acicularis Herb. ex Lindl., Oncidium gracile Lindl., Pleurothallis teres Lindl., Prosthechea vespa (Vell.) W.E. Higgins, Sophronitis milleri (Blumensch. ex Pabst) C. Berg & M.W. Chase e Sarcoglottis sp., que ocorrem em campos rupestres da região do Quadrilátero Ferrífero, no Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Três gêneros anamórficos foram identificados: Epulorhiza, isolados do sistema radicular de E. dendrobioides e S. milleri; Ceratorhiza, isolados de B. weddelii, O. gracile, P. teres e P. vespa e Rhizoctonia, isolados de M. acicularis e Sarcoglottis sp. O trabalho constitui-se no primeiro relato taxonômico e de caracterização morfológica de fungos micorrízicos rizoctonióides associados a espécies de orquídeas que ocorrem em campos rupestres no Brasil.Eight strains of Rhizoctonia-like mycorrhizal fungal were isolated from the root system of neotropical orchids, Bulbophyllum weddelii (Lindl.) Rchb. f., Epidendrum dendrobioides Thunb., Maxillaria acicularis Herb. ex Lindl., Oncidium gracile Lindl., Pleurothallis teres Lindl., Prosthechea vespa (Vell.) W.E. Higgins, Sophronitis milleri (Blumensch. ex Pabst) C. Berg & M.W. Chase and Sarcoglottis sp., growing in "campos rupestres" in "Quadrilátero Ferrífero" region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Three anamorphic genera were identified: Epulorhiza, isolated from the root system of E. dendrobioides and S. milleri; Ceratorhiza, isolated from B. weddelii, O. gracile, P. teres and P. vespa; Rhizoctonia, isolated from M. acicularis and Sarcoglottis sp. This is the first report of Rhizoctonia-like fungi isolated from the root systems of orchids from the "campos rupestres" in Brazil

PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA EM HOSPITAL DA MICRORREGIÃO DE OURO PRETO, MINAS GERAIS, BRASIL

A água representa o principal meio de transmissão de micro-organismos em centros de saúde, os quais podem causar infecções que são um grave problema de saúde pública. O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a qualidade microbiológica da água utilizada em um hospital da microrregião de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Foram coletadas doze amostras de água em pontos distintos para testes de detecção de coliformes totais e termotolerantes, assim como de outros microrganismos; além disso, testes de sensibilidade a antimicrobianos também foram realizados. A espécie bacteriana Pseudomonas aeruginosa foi detectada na amostra correspondente à água de enxágue de roupas limpas coletada na área limpa da lavanderia e foi identificada por coloração de Gram e análise automatizada utilizando o equipamento VITEK®. O isolado de P.aeruginosa mostrou-se sensível aos antibióticos usualmente utilizados no tratamento de infecções induzidas por esta bactéria, tais como cefalosporinas, fluorquinolonas, polimixinas e carbapenêmicos. Contudo, os resultados indicam a necessidade de maior atenção ao processo de higienização de roupas hospitalares, fato ainda negligenciado no Brasil