Maize Extracts Research Articles

Native corn (Zea mays L., cv. ‘Elotes Occidentales’) polyphenols extract reduced total cholesterol and triglycerides levels, and decreased lipid accumulation in mice fed a high-fat diet

Obesity is a complex disease with numerous molecular and metabolic implications that could be prevented through proper diet and lifestyle. Native corn is a promissory underutilized plant species containing bioactive compounds that could reduce the impact of obesity. This research aimed to characterize and evaluate the anti-obesogenic effect of a polyphenols-rich extract of native corn (‘Elotes Occidentales’) in HFD-fed mice. The powdered extract was administered using gelatins to C57BL/6 J mice randomly divided into four groups (n:8/group) for 13 weeks: standard diet (SD) group, HFD group, HFD+200 mg extract/kg body weight (BW), and HFD+400 mg extract/kg BW/day. Ellagic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin, and kaempferol were the most abundant phenolics (2022.44–4028.43 µg/g). Among the HFD groups, the highest dose of the extracts promoted the lowest BW gain, and fasting triglycerides and cholesterol levels. Moreover, the HFD+400 mg/kg BW group showed the lowest epididymal and subcutaneous adipose tissue weight and adipocytes’ diameter and area between the HFD-treated animals. The extract administration prevented hepatic lipid accumulation. Rutin demonstrated the highest in silico binding affinity with proteins from the AMPK pathway (ACACA, SIRT1, and SREBP1) (-6.70 to −8.70 kcal/mol). Results indicated beneficial effects in alleviating obesity-associated parameters in vivo due to bioactive compounds from native maize extracts.

Design and fabrication of a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor with high sensitivity for zearalenone assessment in maize

A highly sensitive and selective molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensor was developed for rapid detection of zearalenone (ZEA) in maize samples. The sensor exhibited a wide linear dynamic range from 1 × 10−4 to 1 × 102 ng/mL with an impressive limit of detection of 3.4 × 10−5 ng/mL. It demonstrated excellent selectivity towards ZEA over structurally similar mycotoxins and provided accurate quantification in spiked maize extracts with recoveries ranging from 92 % to 108 % and relative standard deviations under 10 %. Comparative analysis with a conventional HPLC-fluorescence detection method revealed strong correlation (R2 = 0.982) between the two datasets. The proposed imprinted electrochemical sensing platform offers distinct advantages of simplicity, portability, cost-effectiveness, and high analytical performance, making it a promising tool for rapid on-site screening of ZEA contamination in food commodities.

LFMNet: a lightweight model for identifying leaf diseases of maize with high similarity.

Maize leaf diseases significantly impact yield and quality. However, recognizing these diseases from images taken in natural environments is challenging due to complex backgrounds and high similarity of disease spots between classes.This study proposes a lightweight multi-level attention fusion network (LFMNet) which can identify maize leaf diseases with high similarity in natural environment. The main components of LFMNet are PMFFM and MAttion blocks, with three key improvements relative to existing essential blocks. First, it improves the adaptability to the change of maize leaf disease scale through the dense connection of partial convolution with different expansion rates and reduces the parameters at the same time. The second improvement is that it replaces a adaptable pooling kernel according to the size of the input feature map on the original PPA, and the convolution layer to reshape to enhance the feature extraction of maize leaves under complex background. The third improvement is that it replaces different pooling kernels to obtain features of different scales based on GMDC and generate feature weighting matrix to enhance important regional features. Experimental results show that the accuracy of the LFMNet model on the test dataset reaches 94.12%, which is better than the existing heavyweight networks, such as ResNet50 and Inception v3, and lightweight networks such as DenseNet 121,MobileNet(V3-large) and ShuffleNet V2. The number of parameters is only 0.88m, which is better than the current mainstream lightweight network. It is also effective to identify the disease types with similar disease spots in leaves.

Molecular imprinting of rice husk-derived mesoporous silica for purification and determination of zearalenone

Zearalenone (ZEN) is one of the most prevalent mycotoxins worldwide, yet the extraction and determination of ZEN remain challenging due to difficulties in its purification from the food matrix. In this study, rice husk-derived mesoporous silica (MS) particles were surface-modified with molecularly imprinted polymers (MS@MIPs). The MS@MIPs featured a dense and homogeneous texture with an average particle size of ca. 550 nm, which had an imprinting factor of 5.17 for ZEN. When applied in solid phase extraction (SPE) by packing MS@MIPs and MS (80:20) in a polypropylene column (MIP-SPE), the recovery rate for ZEN deliberately spiked in maize extract reached 94.34%. This was dedicated to facile detection of ZEN by high-performance liquid chromatography with a fluorescence detector (MIP-SPE-HPLC-FLD) showing a linear response to ZEN at 5.0–100 μg/kg with a good R2 of 0.991 and excellent limit of detection and limit of quantification of 1.5 μg/kg and 5.0 μg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, MIP-SPE had good stability with high recovery (≥87.7%) after 5 repeated operations. The results indicated that the MIP-SPE-HPLC-FLD was a facile method for the accurate determination of ZEN in maize.

Aflatoxin B1 production: A time–water activity–temperature model

Aspergillus flavus occurs as a contaminant of various foods and animal feeds and can produce the mycotoxin aflatoxin B1 that is a danger to human and animal health. Here, we develop models to predict the behaviour of A. flavus in maize extract agar and maize grains. Growth and aflatoxin B1 production were recorded on maize extract agar at 20–35 °C and water activities from 0.84 to 0.90. We then obtained probability models—using temperature, water activity, and time as explanatory variables—based on data of growth and aflatoxin B1 production. Additional data were generated under two dynamically changing temperature regimes. Initial water activity, and relative humidity during incubation, were recorded. Predicted probability of growth under dynamic conditions based on models built under static conditions depended on the temperature regime and substrate, concordance ranging from 66 to 100%, with lower concordances obtained for aflatoxin B1 production prediction. Interestingly, aflatoxin B1 production was higher on maize grains than on maize extract agar. Moreover, this work suggests that the safe water activity for a cereal may depend on the previous water activity and temperatures which may have allowed fungal growth and so trigger later toxin production under water stress.

Emergence of pathogenic bacteria isolates from zea maize extract using 16s rRNA molecular sequencing protocol as a tools for microbial identification and characterization

The purpose of this research work is to determine the molecular identity of bacteria isolated from infected Zea maize using the 16s rRNA molecular sequencing protocol. The samples were obtained from Okeagbe, Akoko north-west local government in Ondo state with latitude and longitude of Okeagbe at 7.6450° N, and 5.7603° E respectively. Preparation of infected maize samples was cultured using the serial dilution method.. Confirmatory characterization of bacteria isolates using 16s rRNA (ribosomal RNA) sequencing procedures (purification, amplication, Sequencing, and DNA extraction) inclusive.The result shows the isolation of the bacteria isolates involved the culturing, inoculation, and plating of the isolate on a plated agar, the identification of the bacteria isolate includes the use of Gram staining, biochemical tests, and characterization using Bergey's manual and antibiotics Susceptibility Test. In Gram staining all bacteria isolates were positive except one, in the biochemical test most bacteria isolate was positive for sugar Fermentation and citrate test and all were negative for the Voges Proskauer test. In antibiotics Susceptibility test few were sensitive, most were susceptible to antibiotics used. With the use of the 16S rRNA and procedures (purification and application of product, Sequencing, and Extraction of DNA) the bacteria isolate were identified and characterized. The phylogenetic analysis and molecular identification of 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that Escherichia coli, Samonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus were found to infect maize. Molecular characterization based on 16S rRNA Gene sequencing confirms the identity of bacteria. The conventional procedure shows the presence of different arrays of microorganisms in the infected maize, microbes identified are Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus anthracis, Micrococcus luteus, Clostridium sporogenes, Microbacterium lacticum, Clostridium sporogenes, Lactobacillus casei and Micrococcus luteus. The phylogenetic analysis and molecular identification of 16s rRNA sequencing revealed that Escherichia coli, Samonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus were found to infect maize in Band fragment Base pair 1500bp. In conclusion, the hearsay that maize can only be infected by fungi, it was observed that the possibility of being infected with pathogenic bacteria is imminent. The bottom line is, there should be proper surveillance and food safety in our farm, market and food store, to prevent and totally eradicate emergence of pathogenic organism in our food item.

Antimicrobial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Activities of Maize and Clover Pollen Grains Extracts: A Comparative Study with Phytochemical Characterizations.

The failure to treat infectious diseases due to the continual emergence of drug-resistant microbes poses a huge and serious challenge for human health globally. Currently, the discovery and development of natural therapeutic compounds are attracting considerable attention from researchers worldwide. In this project, two types of pollen grains (maize and clover) were evaluated for potential antimicrobial activities. Extracts of both pollen grains were purified using HPLC, which has been shown to have numerous phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Pyro catechol and methyl gallate were detected in high concentrations (1145.56 and 1056.57 µg/mL, respectively) in the maize extract, while caffeic acid, quercetin, and kaempferol (464.73, 393.05, and 390.93 µg/mL, respectively) were among the compounds observed at high concentrations in the clover pollen grains extract. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Candida albicans were more sensitive to the clover pollen grains extract with inhibition zones of 22 ± 0.2, 18 ± 0.1, 29 ± 0.3, and 42 ± 0.4 mm compared to the size of the inhibitory zones caused by the maize pollen grains extract (19 ± 0.3, 15 ± 0.4, 27 ± 0.1, and 22 ± 0.4 mm, respectively). Moreover, lower MIC values for the clover pollen grains extract were recorded against C. albicans (1.97 ± 0.04 µg/mL), S. aureus (62.5 ± 1.00 µg/mL), and E. coli (62.5 ± 0.07 µg/mL) than the MICs caused by the maize pollen grains extract. The use of a transmission electron microscope revealed that the E. coli that had been treated with the clover pollen grains extract showed changes in its cell walls compared to that treated with the maize pollen grains extract. The clover pollen grains extract exhibited a stronger antioxidant potential, with an IC50 value of 22.18 µg/mL, compared to an IC50 value of 54.85 µg/mL for the maize pollen grains extract, via a DPPH scavenging assay. Regarding anticancer activity, the maize pollen grains extract was revealed to be more effective in terms of inhibiting the human colon cancer cell line HCT-116, with an IC50 value of 67.02 ± 1.37 µg/mL, compared with the observed toxicity caused by the clover extract, with an IC50 value of 75.03 ± 1.02 µg/mL. Overall, the clover pollen grains extract demonstrated potent antibacterial and antioxidant activities, but not anticancer activity, when compared to the maize grains extract. Thus, the current findings related to both types of pollen grains (clover and maize) highlight their potential therapeutic applications for the treatment of certain infectious diseases and malignancies.

Selective adsorption of organic dyes from aqueous environment using fermented maize extract-enhanced graphene oxide-durian shell derived activated carbon composite

A secure aquatic environment is essential for both aquatic and terrestrial life. However, rising populations and the industrial revolution have had a significant impact on the quality of the water environment. Despite the implementation of strong and adapted environmental policies for water treatment worldwide, the issue of organic dyes in wastewater remains challenging. Thus, this study aimed to develop an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable material to treat methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous environment. In this research, maize extract solution (MES) was utilized as a green cross-linker to induce precipitation, conjugation, and enhance the adsorption performance of graphene oxide (GO) cross-linked with durian shell activated carbon (DSAC), resulting in the formation of a GO@DSAC composite. The composite was investigated for its adsorptive performance toward MB in aqueous media. The physicochemical characterization demonstrated that the cross-linking method significantly influenced the porous structure and surface chemistry of GO@DSAC. BET analysis revealed that the GO@DSAC exhibited dominant mesopores with a surface area of 803.67 m2/g. EDX and XPS measurements confirmed the successful cross-linking of GO with DSAC. The adsorption experiments were well described by the Harkin-Jura model and they followed pseudo-second order kinetics. The maximum adsorption capacity reached 666.67 mg/g at 318 K. Thermodynamic evaluation indicated a spontaneous, feasible, and endothermic in nature. Regenerability and reusability investigations demonstrated that the GO@DSAC composite could be reused for up to 10 desorption-adsorption cycles with a removal efficiency of 81.78%. The selective adsorptive performance of GO@DSAC was examined in a binary system containing Rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene orange (MO). The results showed a separation efficiency (α) of 98.89% for MB/MO and 93.66% for MB/RhB mixtures, underscoring outstanding separation capabilities of the GO@DSAC composite. Overall, the GO@DSAC composite displayed promising potential for the effective removal of cationic dyes from wastewater.

Assessment of the Safety of Aqueous Extract of Maize (Zea mays) Husks in Wistar Albino Rats

Aims: The possible toxic impact of aqueous extract of maize husks (HA) on Wistar albino rats was investigated.
 Study Design: Experimental design.
 Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria between January 2020 and April 2020.
 Methodology: The extract was prepared adopting the cold extraction procedure. Forty-eight (48) Wistar albino rats were used for this study. Acute toxicity study was carried out by administering HA at a single dose of 2000, 4000 and 8000 mg/kg body weight to the rats by oral gavage. The rats were observed for 14 days for any mortality or signs of toxicity. For sub-acute study, doses of 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg body weight were orally administered daily for 28 days. Biochemical and haematological parameters as well as histopathological studies were carried out after the experiments.
 Results: Acute toxicity results indicated that the median lethal dose (LD50) of HA was greater than 8000 mg/kg. There was remarkable body weight gain (P ≤ 0.05) in both male and female rats in all the sub-acute groups and acute group treated with 8000mg/kg. In the acute and sub-acute toxicity study, slight difference was recorded between the biochemical and haematological parameters of the treated rats dosed with the extract and the control. There was a significant increase in Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of female rats and lymphocytes of male rats treated with 800 mg/mL and 400 mg/mL respectively. The total protein, glucose and urea level of male rats treated with 200 mg/mL reduced while urea level of females treated with 200 mg/mL and 400 mg/mL also reduced remarkably. However, histological data showed no significant difference.
 Conclusion: In general, the extract was found to show no toxic effect on the rats and hence it is safe for potential therapeutic use.

Proximate, Phytochemical and Antibacterial Properties of Ethanol Extracts of Zeamays and Teiferia occidentalis Plant Leaves from Plastic Enriched Compost Soil in Edo State, Nigeria

This study examined proximate, phytochemical and antibacterial properties of ethanol extracts of maize (Zea mays) and pumpkin (Terferia occidentalis) plant leaves from plastics enriched compost soil in Edo State, Nigeria using standard techniques. In this study, the highest phytochemicals constituents were found in control plants with saponin and flavonoid being the most abundant. However, observable decrease and absence of some photochemical constituent were observed in plastic enriched plants. Thus, the presence of microplastic in the soil may have played a part in the reduction of plant phytochemical constituent and possibly reduce the antibacterial properties of our medicinal plant. In proximate analyses, it was observed that phytochemical parameters such as protein, fat, fiber, and carbohydrate, decreased in percentage as the microplastic concentration increases in the soil.

Microencapsulates of Blue Maize Polyphenolics as a Promising Ingredient in the Food and Pharmaceutical Industry: Characterization, Antioxidant Properties, and In Vitro-Simulated Digestion.

An anthocyanin-rich blue maize waste product was used for anthocyanin extraction. To preserve bioactive phenolic compounds, a spray-drying technique was employed using conventional wall material maltodextrin (MD), with novel one, hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPBCD). The obtained spray-dried maize extract (SME) and microencapsulates were analyzed based on physicochemical powder properties, chemical analysis, antioxidant activity, and digestibility. The examined microencapsulates demonstrated good powder properties, exhibited a high powder yield (up to 83%), and had a low moisture content (less than 5%). HPBCD and MD + HPBCD combinations demonstrated superior powder properties in the terms of decreasing the time necessary for rehydration (133.25 and 153.8 s, respectively). The mean average particle diameter ranged from 4.72 to 21.33 µm. DSC analyses signified high powder thermal stability, around 200 °C, related to the increasing preservation with biopolymer addition. The total phenolic and anthocyanin compounds ranged from 30,622 to 32,211 mg CE/kg (CE-catechin equivalents) and from 9642 to 12,182 mg CGE/kg (CGE-cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalents), respectively, associated with good bioactive compound protection. Microencapsulates with both carriers (15% MD and 15% HPBCD) had the highest digestibility (73.63%). Our results indicated that the microencapsulates created with the active ingredient and the wall materials (MD and HPBCD) could protect phenolic compounds/anthocyanins against ABTS radicals (63.53 and 62.47 mmol Trolox Eq/kg, respectively).

Nutrients composition, sensory properties and storage stability of processed Nigerian soy cheese (Beske)

Industrial commercialization of beske is limited due its poor presentation and high perishability. Local soy-cheese samples were produced from soymilk using two coagulants (10 ml of lime fruit juice to 3 litres of soy milk and 10 ml of fermented maize extract to 3 litres of soy milk) and different processing methods (boiling (100 °C), frying (180 °C) and drying (50 °C). The nutritional composition (proximate, vitamin and mineral content) and microbiological quality were determined using standard analytical methods. The sensory evaluation was carried out using 50 panelists. Data obtained were analyzed using ANOVA at p ≤ 0.05. The moisture, ash, protein, fiber, fat and carbohydrates content ranged from 20.40 - 25.33%, 2.33 - 3.4%, 31.40 - 35.0%, 2.0 -3.0%, 30.50 - 34.4% and 4.20 - 9.83% respectively. The Ca, Mg and Fe content varied from 11.20 – 13.50, 20.33 – 26.20 and 33.0 - 67.2 mg/100 g respectively. The vitamin content ranged from 0.03 - 0.04, 0.01–0.21, 0.02 - 0.12 and 0.01 - 0.03 mg/100 g of vitamin A, K, E and C respectively. Sample LFD (Lime-Fried-Dried beske) had the lowest microbial counts, even at eight weeks of storage. Based on overall acceptability, nearly all the samples were rated above average by the panelists. Sample LFD should be recommended for commercial production, based on its nutrient quality, storage stability and sensory properties.

Maize Stem Contour Extraction and Diameter Measurement Based on Adaptive Threshold Segmentation in Field Conditions

Solving the problem of the stem contour extraction of maize is difficult under open field conditions, and the stem diameter cannot be measured quickly and nondestructively. In this paper, maize at the small and large bell stages was the object of study. An adaptive threshold segmentation algorithm based on the color space model was proposed to obtain the stem contour and stem diameter of maize in the field. Firstly, 2D images of the maize stem in the field were captured with an RGB-D camera. Then, the images were processed by hue saturation value (HSV) color space. Next, the stem contour of the maize was extracted by maximum between-class variance (Otsu). Finally, the reference method was used to obtain the stem diameter of the maize. Scatter plots and Dice coefficients were used to compare the contour extraction effects of the HSV + fixed threshold algorithm, the HSV + Otsu algorithm, and the HSV + K-means algorithm. The results showed that the HSV + Otsu algorithm is the optimal choice for extracting the maize stem contour. The mean absolute error, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean square error (RMSE) of the maize stem diameter at the small bell stage were 4.30 mm, 10.76%, and 5.29 mm, respectively. The mean absolute error, MAPE, and RMSE of the stem diameter of the maize at the large bell stage were 4.78 mm, 12.82%, and 5.48 mm, respectively. The MAPE was within 10–20%. The results showed that the HSV + Otsu algorithm could meet the requirements for stem diameter measurement and provide a reference for the acquisition of maize phenotypic parameters in the field. In the meantime, the acquisition of maize phenotypic parameters under open field conditions provides technical and data support for precision farming and plant breeding.

Multiplexed lateral flow immunoassay based on inner filter effect for mycotoxin detection in maize

Multiplexed screening techniques for simple, rapid, and accurate mycotoxin sensing are of great importance. Hence, a multiplexed competitive lateral flow immunoassay (cLFIA) based on inner filter effect (IFE) between flower-like gold nanoparticles and red-emitting quantum dots was developed for the simultaneous detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), and zearalenone (ZEN) in maize. A control line based on a biotin–streptavidin system was developed to ensure that a target independent signal can serve as the reference signal and achieve accurate quantification of multiple targets. The resultant multiplexed IFE–cLFIA test strips exhibited high sensitivities for AFB1, OTA, and ZEN, with LODs of 0.005, 0.04, and 0.4 μg/L, respectively. The quantitative detection linear range was 0.01–0.625 μg/L for AFB1, 0.08–2.5 μg/L for OTA, and 0.8–25 μg/L for ZEN in the diluted maize extract solution. Recoveries for the three kinds of mycotoxins in maize ranged from 72.92% to 105.80%, with a coefficient of variation below 15.43%.

Effects of Fermentation and Roasting on Natural Antioxidants in Maize

Natural antioxidants in foods are well appreciated for preserving foods and had been shown to have beneficial effects against oxidative stress-induced degenerative and age-related diseases, cancer, and aging. This chapter reviewed the effects of two major primary processing methods; fermentation and roasting on the antioxidant properties of maize and its products. The effect of fermentation and roasting on the chemical active compounds including carotenoids, vitamin C, phenolics, and flavonoids, and the scavenging antioxidants power of both aqueous and organic extracts of fermented and roasted maize using DPPH and ABTS assays were reported. Fermentation results in the modification of cereals' phytochemicals; caroteniods content of maize increases due to fermentation with improved scavenging power of fermented maize extract. The effect of roasting includes increased antioxidant activity and content, development of brown colouration and improved flavour due to the presence of Maillard reaction products. These changes contribute to better health benefits by enhancing the digestibility of nutrients and the activity of available antioxidants. Intakes of roasted fresh or dried maize varieties; especially, QPM are highly recommended to ameliorate the causes of night blindness, lung and prostate cancers.

Determination of UDP-Glucose and UDP-Galactose in Maize by Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography and Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Nucleotide sugars, the activated forms of monosaccharides, are important intermediates of carbohydrate metabolism in all organisms. Here, we describe a method for the detection and quantification of UDP-glucose and UDP-galactose in maize in order to compare their metabolism in both wild-type and mutated plants. Triple quadrupole operating in a multiple reaction monitoring mode was used to quantify nucleotide sugars. The limits of detection for UDP-glucose and UDP-galactose were 0.50 and 0.70 ng·mL−1, respectively. The recoveries of the method ranged from 98.3% to 103.6% with the relative standard deviations less than 6.3%. To prove the applicability of this method, we analyzed several sets of maize extracts obtained from different cultivars grown under standardized greenhouse conditions. All the results demonstrated the suitability of the developed method to quantify UDP-glucose and UDP-galactose in maize extracts.

Assessing Intra-Row Spacing Using Image Processing: A Promising Digital Tool for Smallholder Farmers

Assessing planting to ensure well-distributed plants is important to achieve high yields. Digital farming has been helpful in these field assessments. However, these techniques are at most times not available for smallholder farmers or low-income regions. Thus, to contribute such producers, we developed two methods to assess intra-row spacing in commercial fields using mobile photos and simple image processing. We assessed a maize field after mechanized planting in 7 and 12 days after planting (DAP) and in two farming systems (conventional and no-till) to acquire images at height of one meter and perpendicular to the ground. In the first method, we used morphological operations based on the HSV scale and the center of mass to extract the region of interest (ROI) corresponding to the maize plant. In the second method, we used local maxima equations (Peaks) to find prominence values corresponding to the maize plant and extract their coordinates. No-till images were deleted due to excessive weeds. Thus, before acquiring the images, it is necessary to remove these elements (e.g., no-till adapted). The methods achieved an overall RMSE of 3.48 cm (<5.63 cm) and R² of 0.90 (>0.71) between the actual and estimated spacing. Precision and recall were higher than 0.88. There was no difference between actual and estimated CV values, except in conventional tillage in 7 DAP using ROI due to leaves overlapping. The method Peaks was more accurate to detect multiple spacing but miss spacing was correctly detected in both methods. However, the larger the plant leaves, the worse the detection. Thus, our proposed methods were satisfactory and are promising for assessing planting in a remote and accessible way.

Role of Organic Growth Supplement In vitro Multiplication of Orchid Species- A Review

The main purpose of this article is to review role of several organic growth additives such Apple juice, coconut water (CW), maize extract, banana homogenate (BH), peptone and protocorms etc which stimulate the multiplication rate of various orchid species in in vitro multiplication. These organic growth supplements help to increase the number of shoots, root and leaf in culture medium. In many orchid tissue culture, organic growth supplements, which are the most essential medium aspect to stimulate tissue growth, production and facilitate the regeneration of shoot. The banana homogenate (BH) had the highest rate of regeneration and root developments. The use of organic growth supplements resulted in increased regeneration, the creation of more shoots and the development of fresh plantlets. Amino acids, proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates and various types of organic compounds are present in these growth supplements. These components have the potential to play a significant role in the development and creation of culture. Now more research is needed to figure out which factors are responsible for the organic additives’ promoter effect.

Development of Nanobodies against Mal de R\xedo Cuarto virus major viroplasm protein P9-1 for diagnostic sandwich ELISA and immunodetection

Mal de Río Cuarto virus (MRCV) is a member of the genus Fijivirus of the family Reoviridae that causes a devastating disease in maize and is persistently and propagatively transmitted by planthopper vectors. Virus replication and assembly occur within viroplasms formed by viral and host proteins. This work describes the isolation and characterization of llama-derived Nanobodies (Nbs) recognizing the major viral viroplasm component, P9-1. Specific Nbs were selected against recombinant P9-1, with affinities in the nanomolar range as measured by surface plasmon resonance. Three selected Nbs were fused to alkaline phosphatase and eGFP to develop a sandwich ELISA test which showed a high diagnostic sensitivity (99.12%, 95% CI 95.21–99.98) and specificity (100%, 95% CI 96.31–100) and a detection limit of 0.236 ng/ml. Interestingly, these Nanobodies recognized different P9-1 conformations and were successfully employed to detect P9-1 in pull-down assays of infected maize extracts. Finally, we demonstrated that fusions of the Nbs to eGFP and RFP allowed the immunodetection of virus present in phloem cells of leaf thin sections. The Nbs developed in this work will aid the study of MRCV epidemiology, assist maize breeding programs, and be valuable tools to boost fundamental research on viroplasm structure and maturation.

Theoretical formulations and simulations of one-dimensional inhibition kinetics of ethanologenic microorganisms in batch fermenters

The utilization of bio-based technology for energy has piqued researchers' curiosity around the world. As a result, bioethanol fermentation has been a hot topic of research for many scientists since it uses less energy and chemicals, produces fewer harmful by-products and emissions, and has environmentally favorable applications. The modeling and simulations of one-dimensional product and substrate inhibitions for sorghum, maize, and cassava extracts are discussed in this paper. Because it provides an edge over other methodologies, mechanistic modeling techniques are used. Models of substrate and product inhibitions in one dimension (1-D) are constructed. These 1-D models are then confirmed using parameter estimates before being employed in the work's simulations. For each dynamic model constructed, model fitness coefficients (α) are calculated. For the product, the exponential inhibition model, sorghum extract data has the best model fitness coefficient (α = 0.4088), for product sudden stop inhibition model and cassava extract data gives the best model fitness coefficient (alpha = 0.4417) for product exponential model. The projected yield increases for substrate exponential inhibition with sorghum extract data, substrate linear inhibition with maize extract data, and substrate linear inhibition with cassava extract data are 74%, 27%, and 25%, respectively. This unique framework has offered the industry a wide choice of kinetics models to choose from to alleviate inhibitions in fermentation systems and maximize yield and productivity in the bioethanol fermentation process.Article HighlightsThe modeling of inhibitions namely linear, sudden stop, and exponential in batch fermentation processes are presented in this article.Model fitness coefficient analysis showed the product as a primary inhibitor and substrate as a secondary inhibitor during the processThe cassava and maize processes described linear inhibition model and sorghum fermentation showed exponential product inhibition model.