Superior fruit total soluble solid content of red x pink F1 hybrids over nearly-isogenic parental lines

Comunicación realizada en el congresoPink-coloured tomatoes are reputed as good flavoured and are very popular in local markets. Pink tomatoes show a transparent, colourless fruit cuticle in contrast to the naringenin-chalcone flavonoid-rich, orange-yellow cuticle of normal, red tomatoes due to the y (colourless epidermis) recessive mutation in MYB12 gene located in chromosome 1. In order to investigate the basis of the alleged higher quality of pink vs. red tomatoes and, especially, our previous observations of good flavour in hybrids between red and pink tomato varieties, two red x pink F1 crosses between pairs of tomato near-isogenic lines were obtained, namely ‘Ailsa Craig’ wt/wt x ‘Ailsa Craig’ y/y and ‘Ponderosa Red’ wt/wt x ‘Ponderosa Red’ y/y, being the latter a pink tomato line in which y allele was introgressed from its closely related ‘Ponderosa Pink’ cultivar. The parental lines and the two F1 hybrids were grown to harvest in a greenhouse and total soluble solids (°Brix) and titratable acidity (TA) were measured in red ripe fruits. While no differences for °Brix were observed between the parents of each cross, significantly higher °Brix was measured in the two red x pink F1’s compared to their corresponding parental lines. No clear differences between parental lines and F1 crosses were shown for TA. The experiment was repeated but including also the pink x red, reciprocal F1 crosses. The overdominance for °Brix but not for TA was confirmed in the red x pink hybrids while the pink x red hybrids produced °Brix values similar to those of their parents.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Enhancement of industrial pectin production from sugar beet pulp by the integration of surfactants in ultrasound-assisted extraction followed by diafiltration/ultrafiltration

Producción CientíficaTo recover industrial pectin from sugar beet pulp (SBP), a combined surfactant and ultrasound-assisted extrac- tion, followed by a concentration with ultrafiltration/diafiltration membranes is proposed. First, the operation conditions of the extraction were optimized for synthetic (Tween80, PEG4000) and natural (Saponin) surfac- tants. Tween 80 and Saponin provided maximum galacturonic acid (GalA) concentrations (5.5 and 5.8 g/L, respectively) under the best extraction conditions (4 gsurfactant/L, pH = 1, amplitude = 90%, and time = 90 min). The extracted liquid was purified and concentrated through membranes. The final retentate maintained 73% of the initial GalA and eliminated a high percentage of oligosaccharides. Finally, the pectin was precipitated with ethanol, and the precipitate solid contained 57 g GalA/100 g GalA of SBP with a high degree of esterification (DE = 81%) and MW (930 kDa). The pectin yield for the global process was 24.6%. The ultrasound-assisted extraction with surfactants followed by diafiltration/ultrafiltration could become a promising process for the chemical industry, able to provide pectin-enriched products of commercial interest from sugar beet pulp.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyecto PID2020–115110RB-I00/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033)Junta de Castilla y León (UIC 320, VAG028G19, CLU-2017–09, CL-EI-2021–07)Junta de Castilla y Leon (postdoctoral grant E-47–2019-0114592

Valorization of discarded red beetroot through the recovery of bioactive compounds and the production of pectin by surfactant-assisted microwave extraction

Producción CientíficaDiscarded red beetroot (DRB) is an organic waste generated in the food industry. This study is focused on the valorization of DRB through the recovery of bioactive compounds. The characterization of the DRB juice confirmed a higher content of antioxidants (DPPH 504 ± 24 μmol TE/L, FRAP 10920 ± 440 μmol TE/L, ABTS 22012 ± 592 μmol TE/L), phenolic compounds (1789 ± 56 mg GAE/L), flavonoids (471 ± 17 mg CE/L) and betalains (1426 ± 24 mg/L) than commercial juices. DRB pomace contains pectin that was recovered by microwave extraction aided by a surfactant (polyethylene glycol, PEG4000). Conditions (temperature, time and surfactant concentration) for the extraction of galacturonic acid (GalA) or pectooligosaccharides (POS) were optimized by a central composite experimental design. POS were extracted at high temperatures (160 °C, 5.3 min, 8.4 g PEG4000/L, yield of 271.2 g POS/kg dry pomace). In comparison, galacturonic acid extraction was favored at moderate conditions (137 °C, 5 min, 2.5 g PEG4000/L, yield of 120.1 g GalA/kg dry pomace). The characterization of the freeze-dried hydrolysates revealed that the solid obtained under moderate temperature conditions (137 °C) showed a higher GalA content (49.5%) and lower neutral sugars (11.4%), as GalA degrades at lower temperatures than pentoses. The recovered pectin can be considered high-methoxyl pectin, as the degree of esterification was higher than 50%. FTIR spectra of the freeze-dried hydrolysates showed functional groups consistent with pectin. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis revealed the presence of oligosaccharides of hexoses and pentoses with different structures and degrees of polymerization. Thus, DRB, a low-value vegetable waste, can be converted into high-value-added bioproducts in a biorefinery framework.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (proyect PID2020-115110RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)Junta de Castilla y León (UIC 320, VAG028G19, CLU-2017-09) and grant (REF EDU/875/2021

Análisis de expresión de genes potencialmente implicados en la deposición de la cutícula del fruto en líneas de introgresión de tomate

La cutícula vegetal es la capa más externa que cubre los órganos aéreos de las plantas y los protege de la pérdida de agua y del ataque de patógenos, además de determinar rasgos de calidad de fruto como el agrietado o la vida post cosecha. Recientemente identificamos dos regiones QTL en el cromosoma 3 asociadas a la cantidad de cutícula del fruto (cm3.1 y cm3.2) en una población RIL de un cruzamiento de la especie cultivada con el silvestre Solanum pimpinellifolium acc. TO-937. Además, una IL con una introgresión de TO-937 que contiene cm3.1 y cm3.2 (sp3-3) presentaba menor cantidad de cutícula que la línea parental de tomate cultivado ‘Moneymaker’ (MM). Con el objetivo de identificar genes candidatos para estos QTLs, la expresión de genes situados en las regiones próximas a los picos de los QTLs fue analizada mediante RT-qPCR a partir de extracciones de ARN de piel de frutos en cuatro estadios de desarrollo en las líneas sp3-3 y en MM. Se estudió la anotación de los genes en las regiones genómicas de ambos QTLs y se analizó la expresión de 42 de ellos. Los genes que presentaban mayores diferencias en sus perfiles de expresión entre las líneas sp3-3 y MM fueron analizados de nuevo empleando dos subILs obtenidas por selección asistida por marcadores que presentaban introgresiones acortadas de cm3.1 y cm3.2 e individualizadas, permitiendo así aislar los efectos de los dos QTLs y evitando posibles interferencias para la deposición de cutícula de otros QTLs conocidos que se sitúan en una región próxima a cm3.2 que también está presente en sp3-3. Los resultados obtenidos de este segundo análisis fueron consistentes con los anteriores y permitieron plantear 2-3 genes candidatos para cada uno de los dos QTLs, que serán estudiados próximamente mediante análisis funcional y que arrojarán luz sobre los mecanismos genéticos que subyacen a las diferencias observadas en la deposición de cutícula en diferentes cultivares de tomate.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Green biorefinery for sugar beet pulp valorisation: Microwave hydrothermal processing for pectooligosaccharides recovery and biobutanol production

Producción CientíficaThe complete valorisation of sugar beet pulp (SBP) through pectooligosaccharides (POS) extraction and biobutanol production was studied. A central composite experimental design was planned to optimise the time and temperature of the hydrothermal microwave-assisted extraction. 59.7% of the POS present in the SBP were recovered, and a prehydrolysate with 31.1 g POS/L was obtained under optimal conditions (165 °C and 12 min). The prehydrolysate was further precipitated by ethanol. One-step and stepwise alcohol precipitation were evaluated. The prehydrolysate:ethanol ratio was increased from 1:1–1:3 in the stepwise precipitation, whereas a ratio of 1:2 was used in the one-step precipitation. The pectin fractions differed from each other in their chemical composition. The molecular weight of the pectin fractions ranged from 474 to 523 kDa, and the degree of esterification of all of them was higher than 50%, so they can be considered high methoxyl pectins. On the other hand, the pretreated solid enriched in glucan was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulases and fermented by Clostridium beijerinckii, producing 8.3 g butanol/L after 48 h of fermentation (53 kg butanol/t SBP). As this research has demonstrated, SBP is a suitable feedstock for a green biorefinery approach. The fractionation of SBP by hydrothermal treatment avoids using acid and alkaline solvents and allows high POS and biobutanol production yields.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (project PID2020-115110RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)Junta de Castilla y León (project UIC 320, CLU 2017-2109 and grant EDU/875/2021

VIII Congreso Internacional de Docencia Universitaria CINDU 2023

En la asignatura Cálculo y Diseño de Reactores Químicos se han utilizado cuestionarios de autoevaluación con Moodle (asíncronos) y Socrative (síncro-nos). Socrative permite la creación de cuestionarios digitales sencillos con infor-mes de resultados instántaneos para el profesor. Moodle facilita retroalimenta-ción en las diferentes preguntas. Ambos son útiles herramientas de autoevalua-ción

VIII Congreso Internacional de Docencia Universitaria CINDU 2023

En la asignatura Tecnología Ambiental y de Procesos se han diseñado un seminario y una tarea relacionados con la sostenibilidad empresarial. Estas acti-vidades han motivado a los estudiantes y han permitido profundizar en el cono-cimiento de los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible, la responsabilidad social cor-porativa y las memorias de sostenibilidad

Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable

Brazil, home to one of the planet's last great forests, is currently in trade negotiations with its second largest trading partner, the European Union (EU). We urge the EU to seize this critical opportunity to ensure that Brazil protects human rights and the environment