Mezcal is a distillate produced by spontaneous fermentation of the must obtained from stalks of Agave spp. plants that are cooked and pressed. Agave must contains a high amount of fructose and phenolic compounds, and fermentation usually occurs under stressful (and uncontrolled) environmental conditions. Yeasts capable of growing under such conditions usually display advantageous biological and industrial traits for stress tolerance such as flocculation. In this study, seven Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from mezcal must were exposed to temperatures ranging between 10 and 40 °C, and to different sugar sources (fructose or glucose). Yeasts grown in fructose increased their stress tolerance, determined by colony count in a microdrop assay, under low temperature (10 °C) compared to the growth at 40 °C on solid cultures. The most stress-tolerant mezcal strain (Sc3Y8) and a commercial wine (Fermichamp) strain, used as control, were grown under fermentation conditions and exposed to long-term temperature stress to determine their performance and their potential for flocculation. Compared to glucose, fermentation on fructose increased the metabolite accumulation at the end of culture, particularly at 40 °C, with 2.3, 1.3 and 3.4 times more glycerol (8.6 g/L), ethanol (43.6 g/L) and acetic acid (7.3 g/L), respectively. Using confocal microscopy analysis, we detected morphological changes such as aggregation and wall recognition at the level of budding scars in yeast, particularly in the Sc3Y8 strain when it was exposed to 40 °C. The analysis confirmed that this mezcal strain was positive for flocculation in the presence of Ca2+ ions. Analysis of FLO1, FLO5 and FLO11 gene expression implicated in flocculation in both Saccharomyces strains showed a strong transcriptional induction, mainly of the FLO5 gene in the mezcal Sc3Y8 strain.

Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is an opportunistic foodborne pathogen that causes listeriosis in humans and animals, reaching up to 30% case mortality. There are only a few reports in Mexico about the L. monocytogenes strains found in various foods. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of L. monocytogenes, serogroups, virulence genes, and antimicrobial resistance in different foods from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. L. monocytogenes strains were characterized by microbiological and molecular methods. Susceptibility to 12 antibiotics was determined according to CLSI and EUCAST. A total of 300 samples of seafood, pasteurized and raw milk, cheese, beef, and chicken were collected from supermarkets and retail markets. The presence of L. monocytogenes was detected in 5.6% of the samples. Most strains belonged to serogroups 4b, 4d, and 4e (68.4%). All strains presented a minimum of four virulence genes; the most common were actA, hly, and plcB (92.1%). A high percentage of antimicrobial susceptibility was observed, with resistance only to STX-TMP (78.9%), STR (26.3%), MEM (21.0%), and E (2.6%). These results show that the foods in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, are a reservoir of L. monocytogenes and represent a potential health risk.

Alopecia Areata (AA) is a multifactorial, dermatological disease characterized by non-scarring hair loss. Alterations in candidate genes, such as HR (Hairless), could represent a risk factor for its development. The aim of this study was to search for and analyze variants in exons 3, 15 and 17 of the HR gene in Mexican patients with AA. A total of 30 samples from both AA patients and healthy donors were analyzed in this study. Exons were amplified and sequenced using the Sanger method. Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests were used in the analysis of clinical–demographic characteristics and the comparison of allelic/genotypical frequencies between groups, respectively. The effect on protein function for the non-synonymous variants was determined with three bioinformatics servers. Three gene variants were identified in the HR gene of the evaluated patients. The benign polymorphism c.1010G > A p.(Gly337Asp) (rs12675375) had been previously reported, whereas the variants c.750G > A p.(Gln250Gln) and c.3215T > A (Val1072AGlu) have not been described in other world populations. Both non-synonymous variants proved to be significant (p ≤ 0.05). The variant c.3215T > A p.(Val1072Glu) is of particular interest due to its deleterious effect on the structure and function of the protein; therefore, it could be considered a risk factor for the development of AA.

Tryptophan (TRP) is a metabolite from which several important metabolic syntheses arise in plants, animals, and humans. In bacteria and fungi, it is a precursor of Indole Acetic acid (IAA) using various metabolic pathways. The objective of this study is the detection of intermediate metabolites in the synthesis of IAA in seeds of several species in the germination process. In the study, seeds of plant species grown in deionized water were placed in order to stimulate germination and samples were taken every 24 hours. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the detection of the compounds. The results show that the pH of the medium is altered and there is no pattern of behavior. Regarding the detected compounds, in addition to TRP, there is indole-3-acetamide (IAM), 3-indoleacetonitrile (IAN), tryptamine (TRM), which are part of the TRP-dependent routes, since they use this amino acid as a precursor. Anthranilic acid (AA) and kynurenine (KYN), which are part of the Independent TRP pathway, were also detected. IAA and TRP were also detected during the germination process of the studied seeds (Sorghum bicolor, T aesativum, Zea mayz, Phaseolus vulgaris, G. hirsutum, Cucurbita maxima). Finally, it was observed that the seeds, due to weight loss, suffer physical wear during the germination process, since there is a difference between the initial dry weight and the weight of the seeds at the end of the study.

El hongo Fusarium oxysporumSchltdl es un agente fitopatógeno que tiene amplia distribución en el mundo, atacando cultivos anuales y perennes de diversas familias,como las solanáceas, cucurbitáceas y gramíneas;y en infección avanzada la apariencia de las plantas es marchitamiento y muerte. F oxysporumpuede producir ácido indol acético,que puede estar involucrado en el proceso patogénico de este hongo sobre sus hospederos. En este caso, empleando una cepa asilada de rizosfera de zarzamora,se estudiaron las rutas de síntesis del ácido indol acético (AIA),usando medio de cultivo LB adicionado o no con triptofano, principal cofactor en este tipo de estudios. El objetivo del estudio es determinar si Fusarium oxysporumcepa Poxy05es capaz de producir el AIA y las vías que emplea en ello. Para esto se aplicaron estándares comerciales para la detección por HPLC de los compuestos clave que intervienen en las vías de síntesis del AIA. Los resultados muestran que esta cepa produce AIA por la ruta del indol acetamida (IAM), una vía de la ruta Triptofano-Dependiente. Los compuestos involucrados en las rutas Triptofano-Independiente no fueron detectados, por lo que se estima que laIAMes la única vía empleada por el hongoen la síntesis del IAA.