Identificação de genes MUTM em BACs da cana-de-açucar e caracterização preliminar destes genes e seus promotores

Sugarcane has an importance in Brazil due to sugar and biofuel production. Considering this aspect, there is basic research being done in order to understand its physiology to improve production. The aim of this research is the Base Excision Repair pathway, in special the enzyme MUTM DNA-glycosylase (formamidopyrimidine) which recognizes oxidized guanine in DNA. The sugarcane scMUTM genes were analyzed using four BACs (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) from a sugarcane genomic library from R570 cultivar. The resulted showed the presence in the region that had homology to scMUTM the presence of transposable elements. Comparing the similarity, it was observed a highest similarity to Sorghum bicolor sequence, both nucleotide and peptide sequences. Furthermore, promoter regions from MUTM genes in some grass showed different cis-regulatory elements, among which, most were related to oxidative stress, suggesting a gene regulation by oxidative stress

Preparação e caracterização de catalisadores à base de titânio suportado em MCM-41 para produção de compostos oxigenados através da pirólise catalítica do capim elefante

In recent years, the area of advanced materials has been considerably, especially when it comes to materials for industrial use, such as is the case with structured porosity of catalysts suitable for catalytic processes. The use of catalysts combined with the fast pyrolysis process is an alternative to the oxygenate production of high added value, because, in addition to increasing the yield and quality of products, allows you to manipulate the selectivity to a product of interest, and therefore allows greater control over the characteristics of the final product. Based on these arguments, in this work were prepared titanium catalysts supported on MCM-41 for use in catalytic pyrolysis of biomass, called elephant grass. The reactions of pyrolysis of biomass were performed in a micro pyrolyzer, Py-5200, coupled to GC / MS, the company CDS Corporation, headquartered in the United States. The catalysts Ti-MCM-41 in different molar ratios were characterized by XRD, TG / DTG, FT-IR, SEM, XRF, UV-visible adsorption of nitrogen and the distribution of particle diameter and specific surface area measurement by the BET method. From the catalytic tests it was observed that the catalysts synthesized showed good results for the pyrolysis reaction.The main products were obtained a higher yield of aldehydes, ketones and furan. It was observed that the best reactivity is a direct function of the ratio Si/Ti, nature and concentration of the active species on mesoporous supports. Among the catalysts Ti-MCM-41 (molar ratio Si / Ti = 25 and 50), the ratio Si / Ti = 25 (400 ° C and 600 ° C) favored the cracking of oxygenates such as acids , aldehydes, ketones, furans and esters. Already the sample ratio Si / Ti = 50 had the highest yield of aromatic oxygenates

Síntese e caracterização do poli(ácido láctico) para potencial uso em sistemas de liberação controlada de fármacos

With the advances in medicine, life expectancy of the world population has grown considerably in recent decades. Studies have been performed in order to maintain the quality of life through the development of new drugs and new surgical procedures. Biomaterials is an example of the researches to improve quality of life, and its use goes from the reconstruction of tissues and organs affected by diseases or other types of failure, to use in drug delivery system able to prolong the drug in the body and increase its bioavailability. Biopolymers are a class of biomaterials widely targeted by researchers since they have ideal properties for biomedical applications, such as high biocompatibility and biodegradability. Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) is a biopolymer used as a biomaterial and its monomer, lactic acid, is eliminated by the Krebs Cycle (citric acid cycle). It is possible to synthesize PLA through various synthesis routes, however, the direct polycondensation is cheaper due the use of few steps of polymerization. In this work we used experimental design (DOE) to produce PLAs with different molecular weight from the direct polycondensation of lactic acid, with characteristics suitable for use in drug delivery system (DDS). Through the experimental design it was noted that the time of esterification, in the direct polycondensation, is the most important stage to obtain a higher molecular weight. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrograms obtained were equivalent to the PLAs available in the literature. Results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) showed that all PLAs produced are semicrystalline with glass transition temperatures (Tgs) ranging between 36 - 48 °C, and melting temperatures (Tm) ranging from 117 to 130 °C. The PLAs molecular weight characterized from Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), varied from 1000 to 11,000 g/mol. PLAs obtained showed a fibrous morphology characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Evolução diagenética e caracterização dos reservatórios da seção devoniana na Bacia do Rio do Peixe-Nordeste do Brasil

The Rio do Peixe Basin represents a main basin of northeastern Brazil and pioneering work positioned the rocks of this basin in the Early Cretaceous. However, a recent study, based on integrated pollen analysis from three wells, found an unprecedented siliciclastic sedimentary section, in the region, of early Devonian age. Therefore, the present study aims a detailed petrographic and petrological analysis of this devonian section, in the Rio do Peixe Basin and proposes a diagenetic evolution, to understand the characteristics of the porous system, identify the main reservoir petrofacies with the main factors impacting on the quality of these rocks as reservoirs and a quick study on the provenance of this section. The petrographic study was based on samples obtained from subsurface and surface. The diagenetic evolution of petrofacies and its identification were based only on subsurface samples and the study of provenance was based on surface samples. The thin sections were prepared from sandstones, pelites and sandstones intercalated with pelites. The original detrital composition for this section is arcosean and the main diagenetic processes that affected these rocks occur in various depths and different conditions, which resulted in extensive diagenetic variety. The following processes were identified: early fracture and healing of grains; albitization of K-feldspar and plagioclase; siderite; precipitation of silica and feldspar; mechanical infiltration of clay and its transformation to illite/esmectite and illite; autigenesis of analcime; dissolution; autigenesis of chlorite; dolomite/ferrous dolomite/anquerite; apatite; calcite; pyrite; titanium minerals and iron oxide-hidroxide. The occurrence of a recently discovered volcanism, in the Rio do Peixe Basin, may have influenced the diagenetic evolution of this section. Three diagenetic stages affected the Devonian section: eo, meso and telodiagenesis. This section is compositionally quite feldspathic, indicating provenance from continental blocks, between transitional continental and uplift of the basement. From this study, we observed a wide heterogeneity in the role of the studied sandstones as reservoirs. Seven petrofacies were identified, taking into account the main diagenetic constituent responsible for the reduction of porosity. It is possible that the loss of original porosity was influenced by intense diagenesis in these rocks, where the main constituent for the loss of porosity are clays minerals, oxides and carbonate cement (calcite and dolomite)