Mairá-Potato (Casimirella sp.): Botanical, Food, Pharmacological, and Phytochemical Aspects.

Millions of people in the world live in food insecurity, so identifying a tuber with characteristics capable of meeting the demand for food and also identifying active compounds that can be used to minimize harm to human health is of great value. The aim was to carry out a review based on systematic review tools and the main objective was to seek information on botanical, food, pharmacological, and phytochemical aspects of Casimirella sp. and propose possible applications. This review showed papers that addressed botanical, food, pharmacological, and phytochemical aspects of the Mairá-potato and presented suggestions for using this tuber allied to the information described in the works found in the Google Academic, Scielo, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. This review synthesized knowledge about the Mairá-potato that can contribute to the direction of further research on the suggested technological applications, both on the use of this tuber as a polymeric material and its use as biomaterial, encapsulation, bioactive use, and 3D printing, because this work collected information about this non-conventional food plant (PANC) that shows great potential for use in various areas of study.

Crude Enzyme Concentrate of Filamentous Fungus Hydrolyzed Chitosan to Obtain Oligomers of Different Sizes.

Chitosan is a non-cytotoxic polysaccharide that, upon hydrolysis, releases oligomers of different sizes that may have antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and the inhibition of cancer cell growth, among other applications. It is, therefore, a hydrolysis process with great biotechnological relevance. Thus, this study aims to use a crude enzyme concentrate (CEC) produced by a filamentous fungus to obtain oligomers with different molecular weights. The microorganism was cultivated in a liquid medium (modified Czapeck-with carboxymethylcellulose as enzyme inducer). The enzymes present in the CEC were identified by LC-MS/MS, with an emphasis on cellobiohydrolase (E.C 3.2.1.91). The fungus of the Aspergillus genus was identified by amplifying the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA region and metaproteomic analysis, where the excreted enzymes were identified with sequence coverage greater than 84% to A. nidulans. Chitosan hydrolysis assays compared the CEC with the commercial enzyme (Celluclast 1.5 L®). The ability to reduce the initial molecular mass of chitosan by 47.80, 75.24, and 93.26% after 2.0, 5.0, and 24 h of reaction, respectively, was observed. FTIR analyses revealed lower absorbance of chitosan oligomers' spectral signals, and their crystallinity was reduced after 3 h of hydrolysis. Based on these results, we can conclude that the crude enzyme concentrate showed a significant technological potential for obtaining chitosan oligomers of different sizes.