A multi-screening approach for marine-derived fungal metabolites and the isolation of cyclodepsipeptides from Beauveria felina

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

A química dos liquens

Lichens are symbiotic associations between fungi and algae and/or cyanobacteria. They produce common intracellular products including proteins, amino acids, polyols, carotenoids, polysaccharides and vitamins. The secondary metabolites found in lichens are phenolics which accumulate either on the cortex or on the cell walls of medullary hyphae and they are mainly acetyl-polimalonyl pathway derivatives. Polysaccharides, proteins and secondary metabolites produced by lichens have attracted the attention of investigators due their biological activities. This revision coments about the biosynthetic origin and structures of the principal classes of compounds produced by these organisms.

Seasonal diet shifts of seven fish species in an Atlantic rainforest stream in Southeastern Brazil

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

Alimentação dos peixes em um riacho do Parque Estadual Morro do Diabo, bacia do Alto Rio Paraná, sudeste do Brasil

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

Influência da variação do nível hidrométrico na comunidade fitoplanctônica do Rio Paranapanema e de uma lagoa marginal na zona de desembocadura na Represa de Jurumirim (SP)

Este estudo visou analisar os efeitos da variação do nível hidrométrico na estrutura do fitoplâncton do Rio Paranapanema e de uma lagoa marginal na zona de desembocadura no Reservatório de Jurumirim (SP). As amostragens foram realizadas em duas estações em cada ambiente de julho/2004 a julho/2005. Os maiores valores de riqueza e diversidade foram encontrados na estiagem, enquanto que as maiores densidade e biovolume foram registradas na cheia. A espécie Cryptomonas brasiliensis Castro, C. Bicudo & D. Bicudo (R - estrategista) foi constante ao longo de todo o estudo, sendo dominante, principalmente, no final da estiagem e na enchente, quando os eventos de distúrbios foram mais freqüentes. As diatomáceas foram predominantes quanto à biomassa, representadas, principalmente, por Aulacoseira granulata (Ehrenberg) Simonsem e suas variedades. Conclui-se que, o volume de água acumulada no reservatório à jusante não permite que o pulso hidrológico ocasione um distúrbio que resulte em elevado aumento da diversidade nos ambientes estudados, após a enchente.

Temporal dynamics of two species of Chaetophoraceae (Chlorophyta) in tropical streams of São Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil

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

Fitoplâncton em três lagoas marginais ao Rio Paranapanema e em sua desembocadura no Reservatório de Jurumirim (São Paulo, Brasil) durante um período prolongado de seca

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

Diets of tadpoles from a temporary pond in southeastern Brazil (Amphibia, Anura)

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

Effects of nitrate and phosphate availabilities on growth, photosynthesis and pigment and protein contents in colour strains of Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen in Jacqu.) J.V. Lamour. (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Fatores de risco associados à mastite bovina causada por Prototheca zopfii

Este trabalho teve como objetivo o estudo de fatores de risco associados à mastite bovina causada por Prototheca zopfii. Foram analisadas 13 propriedades leiteiras dos Estados do Paraná e de São Paulo, segundo os seguintes critérios de seleção: confirmação prévia de casos de mastite por Prototheca spp., triagem pela pesquisa de Prototheca spp. em tanques de expansão e latões e rebanhos com contagem de células somáticas acima de 5x105cel mL-1. As amostras coletadas consistiram de: leite, água, solo, fezes e swab de teteiras. Prototheca spp. foi isolada de amostras de leite dos quartos mamários com mastite clínica ou subclínica em uma propriedade e de amostras de leite e do ambiente em quatro propriedades, nas quais foi isolada em amostras de: água de bebedouro, abastecimento, esgoto, empoçada no piso de estábulo e sala de ordenha, solo de piquete e pasto, teteiras, fezes de bezerros e suínos. do total de 383 vacas examinadas, Prototheca spp. foi isolada em 20 (5,2%) vacas, sendo caracterizada como P. zopfii em 18. Os fatores de risco associados à mastite causada por P. zopfii foram: criação das vacas a pasto, alimentação dos animais com pasto e silagem, realização de ordenha mecânica em estábulo, permanência das vacas após ordenha em piquete sem alimento, criação de suínos próxima às instalações dos bovinos, existência de cães, gatos e roedores, falta de higienização dos tetos com água, pré-imersão dos tetos em aplicador com retorno e sem a troca do anti-séptico, alimentação dos bezerros com leite de vacas com mastite clínica e serem as vacas da raça holandesa.

Uso da alga Lithothamnium calcareum como fonte alternativa de cálcio nas rações de frangos de corte

Objetivou-se, com este trabalho, avaliar o uso da alga Lithothamnium calcareum (Pallas) Areschoug nas rações para frangos de corte de 1 a 21 e 21 a 42 dias de idade, em substituição à fonte de cálcio tradicional (calcário calcítico). Para isso, foram utilizados 300 pintos machos, da linhagem Cobb®, que receberam rações contendo o calcário calcítico e a alga Lithothamnium calcareum (colhida de inteira e na forma de areia biodentrítica) como fontes de cálcio. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com três tratamentos e cinco repetições de 20 aves cada. As variáveis analisadas foram: ganho de peso (g/ave), consumo de ração (g/ave) e conversão alimentar (g/g). No final do experimento foram avaliados os parâmetros ósseos: peso da tíbia (g), comprimento da tíbia (mm), diâmetro da tíbia (mm) e teor de cinzas na tíbia (%). Na fase inicial (1 a 21 dias) houve efeito (P<0,05) entre os tratamentos para o ganho de peso e conversão alimentar, sendo que o tratamento controle apresentou melhores resultados. Para a fase de crescimento (21 a 42 dias) e período total (1 a 42 dias) não houve efeito entre os tratamentos estudados. A utilização da alga Lithothamnium calcareum (independente da forma de colheita) em substituição à fonte de cálcio tradicional (calcário calcítico) pode ser recomendada para as rações de frangos de corte, sem prejudicar o desempenho zootécnico. Porém, deve-se levar em consideração a viabilidade econômica do uso dessa fonte alternativa nas rações.

Colonization of a 'Lost World': Encrustation patterns in modern subtropical brachiopod assemblages.

The encrustation of Paleozoic rhynchonelliform brachiopods has been studied for decades, but modern brachiopods have not received similar scrutiny. The discovery of abundant subtropical brachiopods from the Southeast Brazilian Bight provides an unprecedented opportunity to assess epibiont abundance, diversity, and encrustation patterns in modern brachiopod assemblages. Across the outer shelf, encrustation frequencies vary among taxa, from mean values of 0.45% for Platidia to 9.3% for Argyrotheca. Encrustation frequencies for Bouchardia increase from 1.6% on the outer shelf to 84% on the inner shelf Larger valves are encrusted more frequently, and epibionts preferentially colonize valve interiors. Increased encrustation on the inner shelf may reflect the greater surface area of larger hosts, longer exposure of dead shells, water-mass characteristics, sedimentation rates, productivity, or other factors that vary with depth. Inner-shelf brachiopods exhibit encrustation frequencies comparable to those reported for epifaunal bivalves. The epibiont fauna is dominated by bryozoans and serpulids, with minor roles played by spirorbids, bivalves, barnacles, foraminifera, algae, and other taxa. Epibiont abundance at each site is highly variable, but sites are similar in rank importance of epibiont taxa. A different suite of epibionts colonized Paleozoic brachiopods, but similar patterns of encrustation have been observed, including preferential settlement according to valve morphology. These results provide a baseline for evaluating the encrustation of modern bivalves and ancient brachiopods, and may elucidate the macroevolutionary history of epibionts and their relationship to their hosts.

Xylanases from fungi: properties and industrial applications

Xylan is the principal type of hemicellulose. It is a linear polymer of beta-D-xylopyranosyl units linked by (1-4) glycosidic bonds. In nature, the polysaccharide backbone may be added to 4-O-methyl-alpha-D-glucuronopyranosyl units, acetyl groups, alpha-L-arabinofuranosyl, etc., in variable proportions. An enzymatic complex is responsible for the hydrolysis of xylan, but the main enzymes involved are endo-1,4-beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase. These enzymes are produced by fungi, bacteria, yeast, marine algae, protozoans, snails, crustaceans, insect, seeds, etc., but the principal commercial source is filamentous fungi. Recently, there has been much industrial interest in xylan and its hydrolytic enzymatic complex, as a supplement in animal feed, for the manufacture of bread, food and drinks, textiles, bleaching of cellulose pulp, ethanol and xylitol production. This review describes some properties of xylan and its metabolism, as well as the biochemical properties of xylanases and their commercial applications.

Growth responses and photosynthetic characteristics of wild and phycoerythrin-deficient strains of Hypnea musciformis (Rhodophyta)

The phycoerythrin-deficient strain (green phenotype) of Hypnea musciformis (Rhodophyta) originated from a green branch, which had arisen as a spontaneous mutation in a wild plant (brown phenotype) collected from the Brazilian coast. The present study describes the growth responses to irradiance, photoperiod and temperature variations, pigment contents, and photosynthetic characteristics of the brown and green strains of H. musciformis. The results showed that growth rates increased as a function of irradiance (up to 40 mu mol photons m(-2) s(-1)) but, with further increase in irradiance (from 40 to 120 mu mol photons m(-2) s(-1)), became light-saturated and remained almost unchanged. The highest growth rates of the brown and green strains were observed in temperatures of 20-25 degrees C under long (14:10 h LD) and short (10:14 h LD) photoperiods. The brown strain had higher growth rates than the green strain in the short photoperiod, which could be related to the high concentrations of phycobiliproteins. Phycoerythrin was not detected in the green strain. The brown strain had higher concentrations of allophycocyanin and phycoerythrin in the short photoperiod while the green strain had higher concentrations of phycocyanin. The brown strain presented higher photosynthetic efficiency (alpha), and lower saturation parameter (I-k) and compensation irradiance (I-c) than the green strain. The brown strain exhibited the characteristics of shade-adapted plants, and its higher value of photosynthetic efficiency could be attributed to the higher phycoerythrin concentrations. Results of the present study indicate that both colour strains of H. musciformis could be selected for aquaculture, since growth rates were similar (although in different optimal light conditions), as the green strain seems to be adapted to higher light levels than the brown strain. Furthermore, these colour strains could be a useful experimental system to understand the regulation of biochemical processes of photosynthesis and metabolism of light-harvesting pigments in red algae.

Microhabitat and plant structure of Characeae (Chlorophyta) populations in streams from São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil

Microhabitat distribution was investigated in five populations of Characeae (two of Chara guairensis, two of Nitella subglomerata and one of Nitella sp.) to determine the distributional patterns, the morphometric and reproductive adaptations to varying environmental conditions and niche width on a scale of few centimeters. Variations in physical variables revealed some general trends of microhabitat distribution for the Characeae populations studied, with occurrence under the following conditions: slow and narrow current velocities; substrata predominantly composed of small particle size (sand-clay); variable and generally low depths. In terms of morphological adaptations, we found some general patterns: plants with longer whorl branchlets also had longer internodes in all populations studied, whereas longer plants had also thicker axis. The former were generally associated with higher biomass (percent cover). Few correlations of morphological characters were observed with environmental variables (e.g. plant length with irradiance: negative in two populations and positive in one population). Despite the general patterns of occurrence mentioned above, our results also indicated that each population differed in its responses to environmental variables and had particular morphological and reproductive adaptations. The Characean populations occurred under a narrower range of microhabitat conditions than other macroalgae from lotic habitats, particularly lower current velocity (6.7-9.8 cm s(-1)) and a more specific substratum type (sand-clay). Niche width values (0.60-0.99) of the Characeae populations studied indicate a high degree of habitat specialization and are among the highest yet found in lotic macroalgae. The relatively narrow variations in microhabitat conditions and high niche widths here reported for Characean populations, suggest a lower tolerance to variations in current velocity, depth, irradiance and substratum type. These characteristics probably explain the relatively restricted distribution of Characeae species in streams of S (a) over tildeo Paulo State with low frequency of records in most regions.