Screening of key abiotic factors for biomass production of Pavlova gyrans

Microalgae biomass is an important source of bioactive compounds with commercial interest (e.g., polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, pigments) for several industrial sectors such as cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food, and feed. Known for their plasticity and high growth rates under different environments, a precise control of microalgae cultivation is of the utmost importance to maximize biomass productivity and its biochemical composition, reducing, at the same time, the production costs involved. Nutritional conditions and abiotic parameters (e.g., temperature, light) are well-documented in bibliography as the main responsible factors for significant variations in microalgae biomass productivities and bioactive compounds profile. The aim of this study was to evaluate the main culture variables impacting the biomass growth of marine microalga Pavlova gyrans, an interesting species commonly used as feed in aquaculture due to its biochemical profile, which presents high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (e.g., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) and several valuable phytosterols and pigments (e.g., carotenoids). The study was carried out by the application of a Plackett-Burman design (PB) as a screening tool to identify the physicochemical factors that favour biomass productivities (p-value<0.1). Using PB, it was possible to assess the impact of 17 independent variables in the biomass productivity, namely the concentration of each nutrient of the growth medium (13 in total), as well as the salinity, airflow, inoculum size, and light intensity. Biomass productivity ranged from 72 to 256 mg ash-free dry weight (AFDW).L-1.d-1, while the maximum biomass produced ranged from 0.8 to 2.2 g AFDW.L-1.Light intensity (p-value<0.001) and NaNO3 concentration (p-value=0.001) were found to have a positive effect on this parameter. On the contrary, the use of higher concentrations of CuSO4.5H2O negatively affected the growth of P. gyrans (p-value=0.073).This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit. The author Filipe Maciel thanks to the FCT its financial grant (SFRH/BD/133005/2017). This work is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Competitiveness factors Operational program – COMPETE and by National Funds through the FCT under the project AgriFood XXI (NORTE- 01-0145-FEDER-000041). This research work was supported by ALGAVALOR - Lisboa-01-0247-FEDER-035234, supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE2020), by Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and by Algarve Regional Operational Programme (Algarve 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the ERDF.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The potential of Pavlovophyceae species as a source of valuable carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids for human consumption

Microalgae are a group of microorganisms, mostly photoautotrophs with high CO2 fixation capacity, that have gained increased attention in the last decades due to their ability to produce a wide range of valuable metabolites, such as carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, for application in food/feed, pharmaceutical, and cosmeceutical industries. Their increasing relevance has highlighted the importance of identifying and culturing new bioactive-rich microalgae species, as well as of a thorough understanding of the growth conditions to optimize the biomass production and master the biochemical composition according to the desired application. Thus, this review intends to describe the main cell processes behind the production of carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, in order to understand the possible main triggers responsible for the accumulation of those biocompounds. Their economic value and the biological relevance for human consumption are also summarized. In addition, an extensive review of the impact of culture conditions on microalgae growth performance and their biochemical composition is presented, focusing mainly on the studies involving Pavlovophyceae species. A complementary description of the biochemical composition of these microalgae is also presented, highlighting their potential applications as a promising bioresource of compounds for large-scale production and human and animal consumption.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Waterproof coatings for hydrophilic foods

[Excerpt] In the food industry, the incorporation of dry or poorly hydrated food components in hydrophilic food matrices has only been possible through the use of two-compartment packaging systems, designed to maintain the components separated until their consumption. The main purpose of this research is to provide a solution to this long-standing problem, through the development of hydrophobic coatings, allowing the incorporation of food components with low water activity (e.g. cereals) in hydrophilic foods. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hybrid gels: influence of water and oil phase on textural and rheological properties

The 19th Gums & Stabilisers for the Food Industry Conference: Hydrocolloid MultifunctionalityHybrid gels are biphasic systems formed by conjugating hydrogels and oleogels. The mixture of water-based and oil-based gels provides distinct and unique characteristics to hybrid gels, and based on the structurant molecules and mixture ratio used during their production, different textural and rheological properties can be obtained. Hybrid gels remain a very recent topic concerning pharmaceutical and food applications and despite recent studies on the use of hybrid gels for controlled delivery of compounds (pharmaceutical applications) these structures are still under-studied in regard to their food application possibilities [1, 2]. To improve knowledge and expanding ways to use these systems, it is important to understand how these gels behave regarding textural and rheological properties. Also, the knowledge on their micro and nanostructure allows tailoring their properties and thus maximizing their applicability in foodstuffs. We report on how the combination of a beeswaxbased oleogel and a sodium alginate-based hydrogel influences the gel structural properties at macroscopic (rheological and textural), microscopic (optical microscopy) and molecular (Xray diffraction) levels. Different ratios of both hydrogel and oleogel were used in order to evaluate the hybrid gels’ behaviour in terms of morphological, textural, rheological and polymorphic properties. Differences regarding oleogel particles distribution in the hydrogel matrix were noticed with the increase of oleogel fraction. A more disarranged distribution of oleogel particles was observable for the 50:50 ratios of hydrogel and oleogel. X-ray diffraction data unveiled that once polycrystallinity is reached (in hybrid gels) these patterns remain persistent for all tested ratios. Oleogel showed d-spacings in the range of 3.74 to 8.04 Å. Hybrid gel samples (and hydrogel control) are semi-crystalline, displaying spacings ranging in intervals of d (001) 6.99 – 7.18 Å; d (002) 3.09 – 3.23 Å and d (003) 2.45 – 2.46 Å, respectively. The samples with increasing oleogel ratio revealed a firmness decrease and a consequent reduction of spreadability values. Consequently, is observed less adhesivity for these samples, due to a more pronounced disaggregated structure. For all hybrid gels a gellike behaviour (G´ > G´´) was observed. Results showed that it is possible to modify the hybrid gels’ rheological and textural behaviour by a controlled mixture ratio of oleogels and hydrogels. This opens the possibilities of food applications for this kind of systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hybrid gels: Influence of oleogel/hydrogel ratio on rheological and textural properties

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2018.10.019.Hybrid gels can be used for controlled delivery of bioactives and for textural and rheological modification of foods. In this regard the hydrogel:oleogel ratio and gel development methodologies showed to be the aspects that influence most of their properties. The present study shows how different fractions of oleogel can influence the hydrogel matrix of an oleogel-in-hydrogel emulsified system in terms of polymorphic arrangement, microstructure, texture and rheology. The hydrogel was prepared by using an aqueous sodium alginate solution and the oleogel was prepared through the gelation of medium chain triglycerides with beeswax. Hybrid gels were prepared under constant shearing. Crystallinity was clearly changed as hydrogel and oleogel were combined. No polymorphism was observed in the X-Ray diffraction of hybrid gels, as these showed homogeneous results for all component ratios. The behaviour of samples with increasing oleogel-to-hydrogel ratio presented a decrease of both firmness and spreadability, and then, a decrease of gel adhesivity and cohesiveness. This textural response was a consequence of the disaggregated structure, stemming from the disruption of the hydrogel network, due to the inclusion of increasing amounts of oleogel. Rheological results showed that all hybrid gels presented a gel-like behaviour (G´>G´´). Oleogel's strength influenced the overall textural and rheological performance of hybrid gels. This work demonstrates the possibility of producing hybrid gels aiming to tailor texture on food systems.The authors acknowledge the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462). Artur Martins is recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-692015-15) funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Cunha thanks CNPq (307168/2016-6) for the productivity grant. This research was supported by Norte Regional Operational Program 2014–2020 (Norte2020) through the European Regional Development Fund(ERDF) Nanotechnology based functional solutions (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000019).info: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 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

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

Monitoring beer production by UV-VIS-SWNIR spectroscopy

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biológica (área de especialização em Tecnologia Química e Alimentar)A cerveja apresenta-se como um dos produtos de origem biotecnológica mais antiga. Várias são as etapas que constituem este processo que, mediante pequenas variações, possibilita a obtenção de produtos diferenciados ou de produtos com baixa qualidade para o cliente. Face à instabilidade do processo e à necessidade crescente de produções homogéneas com otimização de tempo e custos, torna-se importante a construção de novas tecnologias de acompanhamento da produção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi aplicar e verificar se a tecnologia de fibras óticas, baseada na espetroscopia UV-VIS-SWNIR, apresenta resultados comparáveis aos métodos de análise clássicos durante a monitorização da fermentação cervejeira. Dois tipos de cerveja foram acompanhados quanto aos parâmetros de extrato aparente, graus Plato, atenuação aparente, álcool, pH, cor e diacetilo. A análise foi realizada por recurso a fibra ótica, sendo os espetros resultantes tratados para diminuição dos efeitos dispersivos, usados para o cálculo de perfis fermentativos por PCA e por fim para construção de calibrações de todos os parâmetros por intermédio do PLS. A análise por PCA permitiu verificar a distribuição de ambas as cervejas ao longo da fermentação. Pelo PLS os modelos de calibração que apresentaram melhores valores foram obtidos para a Super Bock, com valores de R2 entre 0.58 e 0.64, para os parâmetros de extrato aparente, atenuação, pH e álcool. Apesar de valores de correlação um pouco afastados dos ideais, verificou-se que a tecnologia mediante melhorias de processamento e análise apresenta boas perspetivas de aplicação. Em paralelo com este trabalho estudou-se a aplicação das cartas de controlo de Shewart ao processo fermentativo, verificando-se que este procedimento não é o ideal em processos com estas características. Analisou-se também a evolução dos parâmetros cervejeiros usados nas calibrações, confirmando-se que aqueles que apresentam maior variabilidade ao longo da fermentação estão associados ao extrato, álcool, pH e diacetilo.The beer presents as one of the oldest products with biotechnological origin. There are several steps that constitute the brewing process, in which by small variations produce different products or products with low quality for the customer. Due to the instabilities of the process and the increasing need of homogenous productions, with time and cost optimization, the construction of new technologies for monitoring the production becomes important. The aim of this work was to apply and to check if spectroscopy UV-VIS-SWNIR with fiber-optic technology presents comparable results to classic methods of analysis during the beer production. Two kinds of beer were followed regarding parameters as apparent extract, Plato degrees, attenuated degree of fermentation, alcohol, pH, color and diacetyl. The analysis was realized across fiber-optic, and the resulting spectra treated to reduce the dispersive effects, used to the calculation of PCA fermentative profiles and to the construction of the calibration models by PLS to all parameters. The PCA analysis allowed to verify the distribution of both beers along the fermentation. The PLS calibration models that presented the best values were obtained to Super Bock with R2 values between 0.58 and 0.64 for parameters of apparent extract, attenuated degree of fermentation, pH and alcohol. Although the correlation values being far from the ideal ones, was checked that UV-VIS-SWNIR with some treatments and data analysis improvements have good perspectives of application. Beyond this work, was also studied the application of Shewart control charts to the fermentation. It was concluded that this method is not appropriated to this kind of process. The evolution of parameters fermentation was also studied, being the most variables associated to extract, alcohol, pH and diacetyl