Ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis during sucrose fermentation: Optimization of culture conditions using factorial design

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Sucrose utilization by Zymomonas mobilis: Levan production optimization using submerged fermentation

Levan is an extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), constituted by linked fructose units β (2,6), obtained by transfructosilation reaction during fermentation of microorganisms in a sucrose rich culture medium. The bacterial levan production is a good alternative of fructose source, besides having certain functional characteristics in the human body, such as a hypocholesterolemic and an anticarcinogenic agent. In the food industry, the levan can be used to fix colors and flavors, as well as to thickening and stabilizing agent in foods. This work aimed to analyze the kinetic parameters for levan production by Zymomonas mobilis CCT 4494, using submerged fermentation. The response surface methodology (RSM), was utilized to predict the optimization of medium for exopolymer production and the independent variables studied were: initial pH, incubation temperature, sucrose, KCl, K2SO4, MgSO4 and CaCl2. It was observed that the bacterium Z. mobilis CCT 4494 well adapted in medium containing high concentrations of sucrose.

Prediction of genomic-enabled breeding values and genome-wide association study for feedlot average daily weight gain in Nelore cattle

Pós-graduação em Genética e Melhoramento Animal - FCAV

Genetic gain in the selection by multi-effects index in open-pollinated progenies of Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden

In Brazil, Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden is widely used for commercial reforestation, especially for production of pulp, paper and energy. Its genetic variability is being explored in tree improvement programs for over 30 years. The objective of this work was to estimate genetic parameters and compare genetic gains by multi-effects index in a breeding population of E. grandis. Progeny tests were established using open-pollinated seeds from ten provenances ranging from 153 to 160 progenies established in a completely randomized block design in four sites of Sao Paulo State (Anhembi, Avere Itarare e Pratania). At 24 months of age the traits diameter at breast height (DBH), height (ALT) and volume (VOL) were measured. The individual site analyses indicated significant genetic differences among progenies, height genetic variability and the mean progeny heritability (> 0.70). For joint analyses of sites, significant differences in genotype x environmental interaction effects were detected, showing differences of performance of the progenies in different sites. The Itarare site gave high genetic gains, effective size and genetic diversity. The genetic diversity and low effective size are unviable factors; considering that the progeny tests studied should retain adequate levels of genetic variability in order to be transformed in future seedling seed orchards.

Effects of Haematobia irritans infestation on weight gain of Nelore calves assessed with different antiparasitic treatment schemes

Effects of Haematobia irritans infestation on weight gain of 18 to 20 months old non-castrated Nelore calves, were investigated, under field conditions, using different antiparasitic treatments. Sixty animals were divided in three groups, with 20 bovines each: T01 (untreated control); T02 (treated with Cypermethrin 15 g + Chlorpyriphos 25 g + Citronellal 1 g, as a whole body spray, on days 0,30, 60, 90 and 120 post-treatment); and T03 (treated on day zero with an ear tag impregnated with Diazinon 6 g on the left ear). Counts of H. irritans were conducted on day 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 post-treatment (DPT). On the same experimental dates, animals were individually weighed, seeking to evaluate the effects of parasitism on the development of animals in each group. From this study it is concluded that T03 had significantly higher efficacy (>90%, till 90 DPT), based on H. irritans fly counts, compared to T02 which showed little or no effect. At the specific conditions of the present study, an average of approximately 90 flies (mean difference of flycounts between groups T01 and T03) was associated with a difference of 20 kg/animal in 150 days. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genome-wide association with residual body weight gain in Bos indicus cattle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Genetic parameters and trends of morphometric traits of GIFT tilapia under selection for weight gain

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Projeto de controlador gain scheduling usando realimentação derivativa via LMI

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Obesity induced by a sucrose-rich diet promotes deficits in bone mineralization and microarchitecture

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Femoral Biomechanic and microtomography from male rats submitted to dietary restricition supplemented with sucrose

Food restriction reduces body weight and influence bone mass and also is correlated with bone mineral density (BMD). Mechanisms have been proposed for the loss of BMD after body weight reduction, including reduced energy intake. Growing 8 wk-old Wistar male rats were randomly divided into Control and Calorie restriction associated with sucrose 30% (CRS). These animals were subjected to intermittent food restriction during 8 weeks and had free access to tap water and sucrose30% in distilled water. The rats were euthanized at the end of week 8, blood collected from abdominal aorta artery, femurs cleaned of adherent soft tissues, scanned using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, structural and material properties determined by three-point bending testing in the mid-diaphyseal region, bone surface tested in a microhardness tester and microstructure was assessed in a microcomputer tomography. In CRS animals body weight decreased significantly relative to the Control animals. There was a clear option for high-sucrose beverage in CRS animals. No difference was observed in biochemical, densitometric and biomechanical analyzes. Results from micro CT showed only significant difference in connectivity of trabecular bone. It has been suggested that rats submitted to food restriction consumed sugar not because of its inherent palatability, but in order to alter their macronutrient balance and animals need to meet energy demands in high-sucrose.

Acidose láctica ruminal aguda induzida experimentalmente em ovinos: estudo clínico e laboratorial

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV

Association among residual feed intake, residual body weight gain, residual intake and body weight gain and temperament of Nellore cattle

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relationship between ethanol and sucrose self-administration and schedule-induced polydipsia

Studies have suggested a relationship between drug abuse and compulsive behaviors. The present experiments investigated the relationship between schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) and self-administration (SA) of ethanol and sucrose. SIP served as a model of compulsive behavior. and oral self-administration on a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement assessed the reinforcing value of either a 10% ethanol solution or an isocaloric sucrose solution. Rats first were exposed to PR sessions in which break points were the dependent variable and then switched to SIP sessions. with number of licks as the dependent variable. Results showed a positive relationship between PR and SIP for sucrose but not for ethanol: higher and lower PRs for sucrose were associated with higher and lower SIP levels. The order of the sessions then was reversed, such that SIP sessions were run before PR sessions. An opposite relationship was observed in which high and low SIP animals exhibited low and high PR break points, respectively. The relationship between SIP and SA was dependent on the reinforcing value of the substance and on prior SIP exposure. These results may reflect a common dopaminergic substrate and suggest that prior experience in coping with stress may reduce vulnerability to substance abuse behavior. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Assessing the gain of biological data integration in gene networks inference

Background: A current challenge in gene annotation is to define the gene function in the context of the network of relationships instead of using single genes. The inference of gene networks (GNs) has emerged as an approach to better understand the biology of the system and to study how several components of this network interact with each other and keep their functions stable. However, in general there is no sufficient data to accurately recover the GNs from their expression levels leading to the curse of dimensionality, in which the number of variables is higher than samples. One way to mitigate this problem is to integrate biological data instead of using only the expression profiles in the inference process. Nowadays, the use of several biological information in inference methods had a significant increase in order to better recover the connections between genes and reduce the false positives. What makes this strategy so interesting is the possibility of confirming the known connections through the included biological data, and the possibility of discovering new relationships between genes when observed the expression data. Although several works in data integration have increased the performance of the network inference methods, the real contribution of adding each type of biological information in the obtained improvement is not clear. Methods: We propose a methodology to include biological information into an inference algorithm in order to assess its prediction gain by using biological information and expression profile together. We also evaluated and compared the gain of adding four types of biological information: (a) protein-protein interaction, (b) Rosetta stone fusion proteins, (c) KEGG and (d) KEGG+GO. Results and conclusions: This work presents a first comparison of the gain in the use of prior biological information in the inference of GNs by considering the eukaryote (P. falciparum) organism. Our results indicates that information based on direct interaction can produce a higher improvement in the gain than data about a less specific relationship as GO or KEGG. Also, as expected, the results show that the use of biological information is a very important approach for the improvement of the inference. We also compared the gain in the inference of the global network and only the hubs. The results indicates that the use of biological information can improve the identification of the most connected proteins.