The molecular mechanisms of plant recognition, colonization, and nutrient exchange between diazotrophic endophytes and plants are scarcely known. Herbaspirillum seropedicae is an endophytic bacterium capable of colonizing intercellular spaces of grasses such as rice and sugar cane. The genome of H. seropedicae strain SmR1 was sequenced and annotated by The Paraná State Genome Programme—GENOPAR. The genome is composed of a circular chromosome of 5,513,887 bp and contains a total of 4,804 genes. The genome sequence revealed that H. seropedicae is a highly versatile microorganism with capacity to metabolize a wide range of carbon and nitrogen sources and with possession of four distinct terminal oxidases. The genome contains a multitude of protein secretion systems, including type I, type II, type III, type V, and type VI secretion systems, and type IV pili, suggesting a high potential to interact with host plants. H. seropedicae is able to synthesize indole acetic acid as reflected by the four IAA biosynthetic pathways present. A gene coding for ACC deaminase, which may be involved in modulating the associated plant ethylene-signaling pathway, is also present. Genes for hemagglutinins/hemolysins/adhesins were found and may play a role in plant cell surface adhesion. These features may endow H. seropedicae with the ability to establish an endophytic life-style in a large number of plant species. In this work we describe the genome of H. seropedicae SmR1, a bacterium capable of fixing nitrogen and promoting the growth of important plant crops such as maize, rice, and sugar cane. Several investigations have shown that H. seropedicae supplies fixed nitrogen to the associated plant and increases grain productivity up to 50%. In the genome of H. seropedicae, we identified all the genes involved in the nitrogen fixation process and its regulation and, in addition, genes potentially involved in the establishment of efficient interaction with the host plant. Our analyses also revealed that this bacterium has a highly versatile metabolism capable of synthesizing and degrading a large number of organic and inorganic compounds. We believe that the knowledge of the genome of this bacterium will direct research to a better understanding of this important endophytic organism and allow the construction of new strains with enhanced agronomic efficiency.

A total of 117 dried fruit samples (black sultanas, white sultanas, dates, dried plums, dried figs and apricots) from different origins were analysed both for toxigenic fungi and for the presence of ochratoxin A. Amongst the fungi found, Aspergillus niger was predominant, with 406 isolates, of which 15% were ochratoxin A producers. They were followed by A. ochraceus, with 15 isolates and 87% ochratoxigenics, and A. carbonarius, with only five isolates of which 60% were ochratoxin A producers. The average infection rates for A. niger in black sultanas, plums, figs, dates and white sultanas were 22.0, 8.0, 4.0, 1.5 and 0.5%, respectively. The apricot samples were not contaminated by any fungi or ochratoxin A. Black sultana and dried figs contained the highest contamination with ochratoxin A, with 33 and 26.3% of the samples containing more than 5 µg kg⁻¹ respectively, while all the white sultanas, dates and plums had no sample that exceeded this limit.

In spite of the taxonomy of the Aspergillus species of the Nigri Section being regarded as troublesome, a number of methods have been proposed to aid in the classification of this Section. This work aimed to distinguish Aspergillus species of the Nigri Section from foods, grains and caves on the basis in Polyphasic Taxonomy by utilizing morphologic and physiologic characters, and sequencing of ß-tubulin and calmodulin genes. The morphologic identification proved useful for some species, such as A. carbonarius and Aspergillus sp UFLA DCA 01, despite not having been totally effective in elucidating species related to A. niger. The isolation of the species of the Nigri Section on Creatine Sucrose Agar (CREA) enabled to distinguish the Aspergillus sp species, which was characterized by the lack of sporulation and by the production of sclerotia. Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) allowed distinguishing the species into two distinct groups. The production of Ochratoxin A (OTA) was only found in the A. carbonarius and A. niger species. The sequencing of β-tubulin gene was efficient in differing most of the Aspergillus species from the Nigri Section with the exception of Aspergillus UFLA DCA 01, which could not be distinguished from A. costaricaensis. This species is morphologically similar to A. costaricaencis for its low sporulation capacity and high sclerotia production, but it differs morphologically from A. costaricaensis for its conidial ornamentation and size of vesicles. Equally, based on partial calmodulin gene sequence data Aspergillus UFLA DCA 01 differs from A. costaricaensis

Microsatellites and gene-derived markers are still underrepresented in the core molecular linkage map of common bean compared to other types of markers. In order to increase the density of the core map, a set of new markers were developed and mapped onto the RIL population derived from the ‘BAT93’ × ‘Jalo EEP558’ cross. The EST-SSR markers were first characterized using a set of 24 bean inbred lines. On average, the polymorphism information content was 0.40 and the mean number of alleles per locus was 2.7. In addition, AFLP and RGA markers based on the NBS-profiling method were developed and a subset of the mapped RGA was sequenced. With the integration of 282 new markers into the common bean core map, we were able to place markers with putative known function in some existing gaps including regions with QTL for resistance to anthracnose and rust. The distribution of the markers over 11 linkage groups is discussed and a newer version of the common bean core linkage map is proposed.