Differences in yeast behaviour during ageing of sparkling wines made with Charmat and Traditional methods.

In this study, we followed the yeast and wine behaviour during the second fermentation and subsequent lees ageing of sparkling wines produced by Traditional and Charmat methods at an industrial scale. During this period, we conducted physicochemical, microbiological, gene expression, and marker analyses of characteristics related to wine ageing. Our results show that the yeast behaviour during the fermentation is similar in both methods. However, after fermentation, there is a faster decrease in yeast vitality and viability in the Charmat method, together with an increase in the expression of autophagy-related genes (AMS1, APE1, and ATG8). We relate these factors to ageing with the continuous homogenization of the liquid practised in the Charmat method, and static ageing with the lees concentrated at the bottom of the bottle performed in the Traditional method. Despite the variation in yeast viability during ageing, there are no differences in soluble proteins, free amino nitrogen, total phenols, antioxidant activity, and colour evolution between the wines produced by the two methods, assuming few differences over the time that monitoring was conducted.

Poly(lactic acid) nanocapsules containing lemongrass essential oil for postharvest decay control: In vitro and in vivo evaluation against phytopathogenic fungi.

The increased demand for pesticide-free foods has also increased the search for healthier and environmentally friendly alternatives in agriculture. Essential oils are known to possess natural antifungal properties, becoming a reliable alternative for commercial fungicides, especially for postharvest decay control. However, essential oils are volatile and photodegradable, which reduces their long-term activities. This work presents the development of a lemongrass essential oil-containing poly(lactic acid) nanocapsules. They have shown in vitro antifungal activity against Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides with a MIC dosage of 0.1% (v/v) for both phytopathogens. In the in vivo assay with postharvest apples, the ones treated with encapsulated essential oil showed bitter rot lesions three times smaller than the ones treated with non-encapsulated essential oil, or in comparison to the apples in positive control. The methodology led to stable nanocapsules with spherical morphology, a mean diameter of 96.4 nm, and with an encapsulation efficiency of 99%.

Local and systemic immune mechanisms underlying the anti-colitis effects of the dairy bacterium Lactobacillus delbrueckii.

Several probiotic bacteria have been proposed for treatment or prevention of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), showing a protective effect in animal models of experimental colitis and for some of them also in human clinical trials. While most of these probiotic bacteria are isolated from the digestive tract, we recently reported that a Lactobacillus strain isolated from cheese, L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis CNRZ327 (Lb CNRZ327), also possesses anti-inflammatory effects in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating that common dairy bacteria may be useful in the treatment or prevention of IBD. Here, we studied the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of Lb CNRZ327 in vivo, in a mouse dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis model. During colitis, Lb CNRZ327 modulated the production of TGF-ß, IL-6, and IL-12 in colonic tissue and of TGF-ß and IL-6 in the spleen, and caused an expansion of CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in the cecal lymph nodes. Moreover, a strong tendency to CD4+Foxp3+ expansion was also observed in the spleen. The results of this study for the first time show that orally administered dairy lactobacilli can not only modulate mucosal but also systemic immune responses and constitute an effective treatment of IBD.

DNA duplex stability as discriminative characteristic for Escherichia coli σ(54)- and σ(28)- dependent promoter sequences.

The advent of modern high-throughput sequencing has made it possible to generate vast quantities of genomic sequence data. However, the processing of this volume of information, including prediction of gene-coding and regulatory sequences remains an important bottleneck in bioinformatics research. In this work, we integrated DNA duplex stability into the repertoire of a Neural Network (NN) capable of predicting promoter regions with augmented accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. We took our method beyond a simplistic analysis based on a single sigma subunit of RNA polymerase, incorporating the six main sigma-subunits of Escherichia coli. This methodology employed successfully re-discovered known promoter sequences recognized by E. coli RNA polymerase subunits σ(24), σ(28), σ(32), σ(38), σ(54) and σ(70), with highlighted accuracies for σ(28)- and σ(54)- dependent promoter sequences (values obtained were 80% and 78.8%, respectively). Furthermore, the discrimination of promoters according to the σ factor made it possible to extract functional commonalities for the genes expressed by each type of promoter. The DNA duplex stability rises as a distinctive feature which improves the recognition and classification of σ(28)- and σ(54)- dependent promoter sequences. The findings presented in this report underscore the usefulness of including DNA biophysical parameters into NN learning algorithms to increase accuracy, specificity and sensitivity in promoter beyond what is accomplished based on sequence alone.

The effect of monoterpenes on swarming differentiation and haemolysin activity in Proteus mirabilis.

Urinary tract infection by Proteus mirabilis depends on several virulence properties that are coordinately regulated with swarming differentiation. Here we report the antibacterial and anti-swarming effect of seventeen terpenoids, and the effect of subinhibitory concentrations of five selected terpenoids on swarming, biofilm formation and haemolysin activity. The results showed that all the terpenes evaluated, particularly oxygenated terpenoids, inhibited P. mirabilis with MIC values ranging between 3 and 10 mg/L. Moreover, citral, citronellol and geraniol effectively inhibit P. mirabilis swarming in a dose dependent manner, reducing swimming/swarming cell differentiation and haemolysin activity at 1/10 MIC concentration. The inhibition of P. mirabilis swarming and virulence factor expression by selected oxygenated terpenoids suggest that essential oils with high concentration of these compounds have the potential to be developed as products for preventing P. mirabilis infections.