Different harvest times and physiological quality of coriander seeds

ABSTRACT The season of harvest is one of the most important factors influencing seed quality. This study evaluated the effect of different harvesting times on the physiological quality of Coriandrum sativum L. seeds, cv. Palmeira. The experimental design was completely randomized, with six treatments (harvest times) and four replications. The experiment was conducted during the months of April to October 2010. The first moment to harvest seeds was carried out 15 days after full bloom, when approximately 50% of plants were in flowering phase. Other harvests (22, 29, 36, 43 and, 50 days after bloom) were carried out at 7 days intervals until the seeds reached 16.0% of moisture, which occurred in the 6th harvest. Immediately after each harvest, the seeds were analysed for water content, germination and vigor (first count, seedling emergence and emergence rate index). The harvest season most suitable for C. sativum seeds cv. Palmeira occurred between 46 and 50 days after flowering, when the seeds have the highest physiological quality and moisture content between 20 and 16%

Key factors controlling the enzyme catalyzed alcoholysis of vegetable oils

Trabajo presentado en las I Jornadas Españolas de Biocatálisis, celebradas en Madrid (España) del 2 al 3 de julio de 2015.The alcoholysis of vegetable oils is the reaction involved in the synthesis of products of high interest for different industrial sectors, such as biodiesel and nutraceuticals employed in functional nutrition, cosmetics, pharmacy and biomedicine. The enzyme‐catalyzed alcoholysis of oils requires the contact of the two immiscible precursor reagents (oil and short alcohol) with the biocatalyst [1]. Immobilized lipases are the most convenient type of biocatalyst used. In these systems, the reaction can be affected by diffusional limitations of reagents and products through the matrix pores. This fact can be especially important in solvent free systems. Also, the alcoholysis reaction can be carried out in presence and absence of an organic solvent to facilitate the mutual contact of substrates. The yields of the process usually depend on lipase preparation, type of nucleophile and solvent and composition of the reaction mixture. The objective of this investigation has been to develop a robust and highly active biocatalyst, and the optimization of enzymatic alcoholysis process of Camelina oil. The results comprise construction of seven different immobilized lipase derivatives of commercial Novozym® 435, and the identification of the most important reaction limitations. Lipase microenvironment in the biocatalyst preparation can be chemically modified. In this work the commercial biocatalysts was modified to obtain a more hydrophobic enzyme surface with TNBS, a hydrophobic and crosslinked enzyme surface with Glutaraldehyde, EDA modification to change anionic groups of the enzyme by cationic groups, treatment with ionic polymers to generate a very hydrophobic shell around the enzyme molecules, among others. The results permitted to identify optimal operation conditions and a biocatalyst characterized by an increased operational activity and stability in the alcoholysis of Camelina oil.Peer Reviewe

Increased interregional virus exchange and nucleotide diversity outline the expansion of chikungunya virus in Brazil

Abstract The emergence and reemergence of mosquito-borne diseases in Brazil such as yellow fever, zika, chikungunya, and dengue have had serious impacts on public health. Concerns have been raised due to the rapid dissemination of the chikungunya virus across the country since its first detection in 2014 in Northeast Brazil. In this work, we carried out on-site training activities in genomic surveillance in partnership with the National Network of Public Health Laboratories that have led to the generation of 422 chikungunya virus genomes from 12 Brazilian states over the past two years (2021–2022), a period that has seen more than 312 thousand chikungunya fever cases reported in the country. These genomes increased the amount of available data and allowed a more comprehensive characterization of the dispersal dynamics of the chikungunya virus East-Central-South-African lineage in Brazil. Tree branching patterns revealed the emergence and expansion of two distinct subclades. Phylogeographic analysis indicated that the northeast region has been the leading hub of virus spread towards other regions. Increased frequency of C > T transitions among the new genomes suggested that host restriction factors from the immune system such as ADAR and AID/APOBEC deaminases might be driving the genetic diversity of the chikungunya virus in Brazil