The genusBeauveriais considered a cosmopolitan anamorphic and teleomorphic genus of soilborne necrotrophic arthropod-pathogenic fungi that includes ecologically and economically important species. Species identification inBeauveriais difficult because of its structural simplicity and the lack of distinctive phenotypic variation. Therefore, the use of multi-locus sequence data is essential to establish robust species boundaries in addition to DNA-based species delimitation methods using genetic distance, coalescent, and genealogical concordance approaches (polyphasic approaches). In this regard, our study used multilocus phylogeny and five DNA-based methods to delimit species inBeauveriausing three molecular makers. These polyphasic analyses allowed for the delimitation of 20–28 species inBeauveria, confirming cryptic diversity in five species (i.e.B. amorpha,B. bassiana,B. diapheromeriphila, andB. pseudobassiana) and supporting the description ofB. peruviensisas a new taxon from northeastern Peru. The other five species were not evaluated as they did not have enough data (i.e.B. araneola,B. gryllotalpidicola,B. loeiensis,B. medogensis, andB. rudraprayagi). Our results demonstrate that the congruence among different methods in a polyphasic approach (e.g. genetic distance and coalescence methods) is more likely to show reliably supported species boundaries. Among the methods applied in this study, genetic distance, coalescent approaches, and multilocus phylogeny are crucial when establishing species boundaries inBeauveria.

The hyperdiverse genus Trichoderma is one of most useful groups of microbes for a number of human activities, and their accurate identification is crucial. The structural simplicity and lack of distinctive phenotypic variation in this group enable the use of DNA-based species delimitation methods in combination with phylogenies (and morphology when feasible) to establish well-supported boundaries among species. Our study employed a multilocus phylogeny and four DNA-based methods (automated barcode gap discovery [ABGD], statistical parsimony [SPN], generalized mixed Yule coalescent [GMYC], and Bayesian phylogenetics and phylogeography [BPP]) for four molecular markers (acl1, act, rpb2, and tef1) to delimit species of two lineages of Trichoderma. Although incongruence among these methods was observed in our analyses, the genetic distance (ABGD) and coalescence (BPP) methods and the multilocus phylogeny strongly supported and confirmed recognition of 108 and 39 different species in the Harzianum and Longibrachiatum lineages, including three new species associated with cacao farms in northern Peru, namely, T.awajun, sp. nov., T. jaklitschii, sp. nov., and T. peruvianum, sp. nov. Morphological distinctions between the new species and their close relatives are primarily related to growth rates, colony appearance, and size of phialides and conidia. This study confirmed that an integrative approach (DNA-based methods, multilocus phylogeny, and phenotype) is more likely to reliably verify supported species boundaries in Trichoderma.

The increasing use of plastics globally has generated serious environmental and human health problems, particularly in the agricultural sector where low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and other plastics are widely used. Due to its low recycling rate and slow degradation process, LDPE is a major source of pollution. This paper addresses the problem of plastic accumulation in agriculture, focusing on LDPE biodegradation strategies. The studies reviewed include recent data and the methodologies used include state-of-the-art technologies and others that have been used for decades, to monitor and measure the degree of biodegradation that each treatment applied can have, including SEM, GCMS, HPLC, and microscopy. The countries investigating these biodegradation methodologies are identified, and while some countries have been developing them for some years, others have only begun to address this problem in recent years. The use of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and insect larvae that influence its decomposition is highlighted. A workflow is proposed to carry out this type of research. Despite the advances, challenges remain, such as optimizing environmental conditions to accelerate the process and the need for further research that delves into microbial interactions in various environmental contexts.

The time of the fermentation process of coffee from northern Peru is variable (9 to 48 hours) since coffee farmers do not use standardized processes, causing a variety of coffee qualities. This study aimed to identify volatile compounds in both short (9 hours) and long (32 hours) coffee fermentation processes from coffee farms in northern Peru using Solid-Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) to associate the coffee quality and diversity of volatile compounds. Sensory analyses showed that the short fermentation process (SFP) scored 77.8 ± 0.39 and had chocolate, wood, cardboard, dry, fatty and rough notes, while the long fermentation process (LFP) showed higher punctuations 85.5 ± 3.16 and citrus, fruity, floral, caramel and chocolate sensory attributes. A total of 90 compounds were found in the SFP, whereas 141 compounds were identified in the LFP. Significant differences in the relative abundance of 14 chemical compounds were reported in the SFP and LFP (p < 0.05). From these results, the presence of benzaldehyde, methional, hexanal, 2-heptanone, pentadecane, 1-butanol-3-methyl-acetate, and benzene-acetic acid ethyl ester seems to impact the quality of coffee. The analysis of similarities showed that coffee samples (5 h and 9 h) during the SFP were very variable, whereas coffee samples from LFP showed some tendency to group, which may be related to the difference in altitude and temperature in coffee farms making comparison between them difficult. In addition, this study highlights the complex relationship between coffee fermentation and flavour and the influence of several factors and variables that may affect the composition of flavour and aroma precursors in green coffee beans obtained from wet fermentation.