Antibiotic resistance in microorganisms isolated in a bull semen stud.

Many microorganisms from various sources may be present in ejaculates of bulls. This study identified and isolated bacteria from bull sperm samples in a commercial stud and evaluated their resistance to antibiotics. The number of colony-forming units was determined in semen samples collected at distinct steps during freezing and thawing. The minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration were determined for four antibiotics commonly used in commercial studs. A total of 135 microorganisms from 25 genera were isolated. After a sensitivity test, all evaluated microorganisms (n = 55) were resistant to penicillin and most of them were resistant to tylosin and lincomycin (n = 54). Resistance to all tested antibiotics was observed in 22% of all isolates, whereas only 3.9% of the isolates were inhibited by the tested antibiotics at the concentrations recommended by the international legislation. As the isolated microorganisms presented high resistance to frequently used antibiotics, sensitivity tests should be periodically conducted in commercial bull semen studs to prevent the use of contaminated semen in artificial insemination.

Increase of Unsaturated Fatty Acids (Low Melting Point) of Broiler Fatty Waste Obtained Through Staphylococcus xylosus Fermentation.

The increasing rise in the production of meat around the world causes a significant generation of agro-industrial waste--most of it with a low value added. Fatty wastes have the potential of being converted into biodiesel, given the overcome of technological and economical barriers, as well as its presentation in solid form. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the capacity of Staphylococcus xylosus strains to modify the chemical structure of chicken fatty wastes intending to reduce the melting points of the wastes to mild temperatures, thereby breaking new ground in the production of biodiesel from these sources in an economically attractive and sustainable manner. The effects in time of fermentation and concentration of the fat in the medium were investigated, assessing the melting point and profile of fatty acids. The melting temperature showed a decrease of approximately 22 °C in the best operational conditions, due to reduction in the content of saturated fatty acids (high melting point) and increase of unsaturated fatty acids (low melting point).

Improved Sugarcane-Based Fermentation Processes by an Industrial Fuel-Ethanol Yeast Strain.

In Brazil, sucrose-rich broths (cane juice and/or molasses) are used to produce billions of liters of both fuel ethanol and cachaça per year using selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae industrial strains. Considering the important role of feedstock (sugar) prices in the overall process economics, to improve sucrose fermentation the genetic characteristics of a group of eight fuel-ethanol and five cachaça industrial yeasts that tend to dominate the fermentors during the production season were determined by array comparative genomic hybridization. The widespread presence of genes encoding invertase at multiple telomeres has been shown to be a common feature of both baker's and distillers' yeast strains, and is postulated to be an adaptation to sucrose-rich broths. Our results show that only two strains (one fuel-ethanol and one cachaça yeast) have amplification of genes encoding invertase, with high specific activity. The other industrial yeast strains had a single locus (SUC2) in their genome, with different patterns of invertase activity. These results indicate that invertase activity probably does not limit sucrose fermentation during fuel-ethanol and cachaça production by these industrial strains. Using this knowledge, we changed the mode of sucrose metabolism of an industrial strain by avoiding extracellular invertase activity, overexpressing the intracellular invertase, and increasing its transport through the AGT1 permease. This approach allowed the direct consumption of the disaccharide by the cells, without releasing glucose or fructose into the medium, and a 11% higher ethanol production from sucrose by the modified industrial yeast, when compared to its parental strain.

Industrial fuel ethanol yeasts contain adaptive copy number changes in genes involved in vitamin B1 and B6 biosynthesis.

Fuel ethanol is now a global energy commodity that is competitive with gasoline. Using microarray-based comparative genome hybridization (aCGH), we have determined gene copy number variations (CNVs) common to five industrially important fuel ethanol Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains responsible for the production of billions of gallons of fuel ethanol per year from sugarcane. These strains have significant amplifications of the telomeric SNO and SNZ genes, which are involved in the biosynthesis of vitamins B6 (pyridoxine) and B1 (thiamin). We show that increased copy number of these genes confers the ability to grow more efficiently under the repressing effects of thiamin, especially in medium lacking pyridoxine and with high sugar concentrations. These genetic changes have likely been adaptive and selected for in the industrial environment, and may be required for the efficient utilization of biomass-derived sugars from other renewable feedstocks.