Adriana Muhlia

Research Center for Food and Development A.C. | CIAD · Department of Technology of Food of Animal Origin

This study evaluated the effects of clinoptilolite (CTL) and ferulic acid (FA) supplementation on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, gas production, and bacterial abundance. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial design (FA: 0 or 300 ppm; CTL: 0 or 1%) with repeated measures over time (2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 h). Througho...

Rhizostomeae research based on morphological approaches was reinforced and diversified by new techniques after the 1970s, including developing methodologies for phylogenetic analysis, the rise of the polymerase chain reaction, and the emergence of different sequencing technologies. Here, we summarize the contribution of morphological and molecular...

During their long evolutionary history, jellyfish have faced changes in multiple environmental factors, to which they may selectively fix adaptations, allowing some species to survive and inhabit diverse environments. Previous findings have confirmed the jellyfish’s ability to synthesize large ATP amounts, mainly produced by mitochondria, in respon...

La regeneración es un proceso biológico altamente especializado que les permite a los organismos reconstruir células, tejidos, órganos o estructuras corporales dañadas o mutiladas. Hablando de animales, todos se regeneran; sin embargo, las habilidades regenerativas de cada grupo animal son distintas. En este sentido, asombrosas capacidades regenera...

Viral diseases are the most serious threat to the expansion and development of shrimp aquaculture. Rapid diagnosis of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), a lethal shrimp pathogen, is essential to restrict its spread and reduce the mortality of infected shrimp. This virus has globally affected the shrimp farming industry, with a devastating econom...

The global industrial farming of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) has faced significant losses in production and a major negative social impact due to the occurrence of massive mortalities putatively attributed to the Ostreid Herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1). Therefore, therapies based on RNA interference (RNAi), including the small hairpin RNAs (shRNA...

The white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a highly lethal pathogen for several crustacean species, which implies that this virus has caused high mortalities and significant economic losses for the global shrimp aquaculture industry. Viruses’ entry into the host cell depends on the interaction between those proteins located on the surface of the virus...

During their long evolutionary history, jellyfish have faced changes in multiple environmental factors, to which they may selectively fix adaptations allowing some species to survive and inhabit diverse environments. Previous findings have confirmed the jellyfish’s ability to synthesize large ATP amounts, mainly produced by mitochondria, in respons...

The jellyfish genera Stomolophus spp. is one of the most abundant in the Pacific Ocean, yet it has not been thoroughly studied. Until recently, research has been developed and directed to its knowledge because of the economic interest in its exploitation. The genus Stomolophus in the Pacific Ocean is composed of five species (S. agaricus, S. chunii...

Las medusas son un recurso natural poco explotado en México y estudios poblacionales de la medusa Stomolophus sp. 2 demuestran un aumento en su distribución y abundancia. El incremento de la temperatura afecta la dinámica poblacional de las medusas, pero existe escasa información sobre sus mecanismos adaptativos. El objetivo de la investigación es...

Objectives Deficiencies of vitamin B12 and folate in childhood are associated with cardiovascular risk in later life. The main objective of this analysis is to measure the effect of vitamin B12 and/or folic acid supplementation in children between 6 to 30 months of age on biochemical markers of cardiovascular risk at school age. Methods This is a...

Scientific studies about decapod crustaceans’ digestive physiology have increased, being an important topic with novel results in the last years. This revision aims to show how the study of crustacean peptidases has evolved, from the classical biochemical characterization studies to the assessment of their usefulness in biotechnological and industr...

Ferulic acid (FA) is a phytochemical with various bioactive properties. It has recently been proposed that due to its phytogenic action it can be used as an alternative growth promoter additive to synthetic compounds. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the growth performance, carcass traits, fiber characterization and skeletal muscl...

FA dietary supplementation on the growth performance, carcass traits and histochemical characteristics of the Longissimus thoracis muscle from finishing pigs was investigated. Four hundred and twenty pigs were used in this study, and 105 animals (with five replicate pens and 21 pigs per pen) were assigned to one of four treatments: basal diet (BD)...

Studies have shown that the intracellular content of probiotic (postbiotics) has antioxidant properties, which can improve the antioxidant status in vivo. However, its absorption and mechanisms underlying the protective effects are still unknown. The antioxidant capacity of Lacticaseibacillus casei CRL431 (IC-431) postbiotics was determined after a...

In most eukaryotic organisms, mitochondrial uncoupling mechanisms control ATP synthesis and reactive oxygen species production. One such mechanism is the permeability transition of the mitochondrial inner membrane. In mammals, ischemia–reperfusion events or viral diseases may induce ionic disturbances, such as calcium overload; this cation enters t...

Muscle fiber morphometry and physicochemical characteristics were evaluated in LT muscles obtained from entire male lambs treated with zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH, 0 and 0.15 mg/kg body weight) and/or steroidal implant (SI, with and without trenbolone acetate/estradiol). ZH and SI acted synergistically to increase LT area, type-IIb fiber cross-sec...

The cannonball jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris display colour variations from blue to purple, and different pigmentation patterns on the umbrella surface. Although these colour phenotypes are common in this organism, surprisingly, little is known about the causes and the adaptive significance of these polymorphisms. In this study, we investigated t...

Jellyfish are non-model organisms that have brought the scientific community's attention over the last decades since the frequency and intensity of these species blooms around the world have increased significantly. The occurrence of blooms has been hypothesized due to the rise in seawater temperature associated with climate change. This fact has p...

Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCPs) play an essential role in dissipating the proton gradient and controlling the mitochondrial inner membrane potential. When active, UCPs promote proton leak across the inner membrane, oxidative phosphorylation uncoupling, oxygen uptake increase and decrease the ATP synthesis. Invertebrates possess only isofor...

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a Gram-positive saprophytic bacterium found in the microaerobic/anaerobic layers of the skin that becomes a health hazard when it is carried across the skin through punctures or wounds. Pathogenicity is enhanced by the ability of S. epidermidis to associate into biofilms, where it avoids attacks by the host and antibio...

Shrimp farming is considered the fastest growing aquaculture industry in the last decades, with an average growth in production of ~15% per year. Unfortunately, this industry has been affected by the emergence of viral diseases, and currently, there are no commercially available therapeutics against these pathogens. Therefore, a deeper understandin...

Forty hairbreed male lambs were used to evaluate the effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH, 0 and 0.15 mg/kg BW) and steroid implant (SI, without and with 52.5 mg trenbolone acetate and 7.5 mg 17β-estradiol) on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, non-carcass components, wholesale cut yield, and meat quality. Supplemental ZH increased gr...

El uso de aditivos de origen natural en producción animal ha tomado gran importancia en el sector pecuario, debido a su potencial de promover el crecimiento de una forma similar a los compuestos sintéticos como hormonas y antibióticos, pero sin causar posibles daños a la salud del animal, del consumidor o detrimento en la calidad de la carne. En lo...

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a Gram-positive saprophytic bacterium found in the microaerobic/anaerobic layers of the skin. It becomes a health hazard when introduced across the skin by punctures or wounds. S. epidermidis forms biofilms in low O 2 environments. As oxygen concentrations ([O 2 ]) decreased, the metabolism of S. epidermidis was modifi...

Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP) transport protons from the intermembrane space to the mitochondrial matrix uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation. In mammals, these proteins have been implicated in several cellular functions ranging from thermoregulation to antioxidant defense. In contrast, their invertebrate homologs have been much less stud...

Phytochemicals as ferulic acid (FA) have been suggested as alternative to synthetics growth promoters in animals without affect the characteristics in meat quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the histochemical characterization in muscle fibers and meat quality from hair lambs supplemented with FA. Thirty-two male hair-lambs (24 ± 3...

Mitochondrial ATP is synthesized by coupling between the electron transport chain and complex V. In contrast, physiological uncoupling of these processes allows mitochondria to consume oxygen at high rates without ATP synthesis. Such uncoupling mechanisms prevent reactive oxygen species overproduction. One of these mechanisms are the alternative re...

Palaemonetes argentinus, an abundant freshwater prawn species in the northern and central region of Argentina, has been used as a bioindicator of environmental pollutants as it displays a very high sensitivity to pollutants exposure. Despite their extraordinary ecological relevance, a lack of genomic information has hindered a more thorough underst...

Heat shock protein Hot water treatment Mangifera indica L. Pectate lyases Pectin Polygalacturonases Rhamnogalacturonan lyases A B S T R A C T Quarantine measures to prevent insect dispersion include modified atmospheres or hot water treatment (HWT) for mango. The effects of HWT on mango "Ataulfo" at mature-green and ripe stages on gene expression w...

Growth promoters have been widely used as a strategy to improve productivity, and great benefits have been observed throughout the meat production chain. However, the prohibition of growth promoters in several countries, as well as consumer rejection, has led industry and the academy to search for alternatives. For decades, the inclusion of phytoch...

Mitochondria are essential organelles that provide energy for most eukaryotes. Even though the basic functions performed by this organelle are widely recognized, considerable variations exist on mitochondria from different species because of specific energetic demands and environmental conditions. The respiratory functions of marine invertebrates a...

Crustaceans are intensively farmed in aquaculture facilities where they are vulnerable to parasites, bacteria, or viruses, often severely compromising the rearing success. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is crucial for the maintenance of cellular integrity. Analogous to higher vertebrates, the UPS of crustaceans may also play an important rol...

Some 2.5 billion years ago, the great oxygenation event (GOE) led to a 10⁵‐fold rise in atmospheric oxygen [O2], killing most species on Earth. In spite of the tendency to produce toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS), the highly exergonic reduction of O2 made it the ideal biological electron acceptor. During aerobic metabolism, O2 is reduced to wate...

The whiteleg shrimp species Litopenaeus vannamei is exposed to cyclic changes of the dissolved oxygen concentration of seawater and must neutralize the adverse effects of hypoxia by using ATP as energy source. In crustaceans, the mitochondrial FOF1-ATP synthase is pivotal to the homeostasis of ATP and function prevalently as a FOF1-ATPase. Hitherto...

Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) belongs to the aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) family, an ancestral group of enzymes responsible for aldehyde detoxification in several organisms. The BADH enzyme catalyzes the irreversible oxidation of betaine aldehyde to glycine betaine (GB) an important osmoptrotector and osmoregulator accumulated in response...

Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) belongs to the aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) family, an ancestral group of enzymes responsible for aldehyde detoxification in several organisms. The BADH enzyme catalyzes the irreversible oxidation of betaine aldehyde to glycine betaine (GB) an important osmoptrotector and osmoregulator accumulated in response...

The mitochondrial FOF1 ATP synthase produces ATP in a reaction coupled to an electrochemical proton gradient generated by the electron transfer chain. The enzyme also hydrolyzes ATP according to the energy requirements of the organism. Shrimp need to overcome low oxygen concentrations in water and other energetic stressors, which in turn lead to mi...

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX), which is located in the inner membrane of mitochondria, is a key constituent of the electron transport chain that catalyzes the reduction of oxygen. The Pacific whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei is constantly exposed to hypoxic conditions, which affects both the central metabolism and the mitochondrial function. The p...

Marine viruses are ubiquitous, extremely diverse, and outnumber any form of life in the sea. Despite their ecological importance, viruses in marine environments have been largely ignored by the academic community, and only those that have caused substantial economic losses have received more attention. Fortunately, our current understanding on mari...

Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) are key enzymes in the phenylpropanoid pathway. The relative expression of PAL and C3H was evaluated in mango fruit cultivar 'Ataulfo' in four ripening stages (RS1, RS2, RS3, and RS4) by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, enzyme activity of PAL and C3H was deter...

Over the long course of evolution and under the selective pressure exerted by pathogens and parasites, animals have selectively fixed a number of defense mechanisms against the constant attack of intruders. The immune response represents a key component to optimize the biological fitness of individuals. Two decades ago, prevention and control of di...

The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COX) catalyzes the reduction of oxygen to water playing a key role in the respiratory chain and ATP synthesis. The nucleus-encoded COX subunits do not participate in catalysis, but some are known to play a role in the expression, assembly and activity of the enzyme. Since hypoxia continuously affects the shri...

The effect of season and storage at three temperatures (0, 5 and 10 °C) was evaluated on the main metabolites and parameters related to rigor mortis. Adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP), lactic acid, octopine, pH and sarcomere length in the adductor muscle of lion's paw scallop Nodipecten subnodosus were determined. Seasonality influenced the initial v...

The aquaculture industry around the world has experienced an explosive growth during the last two decades. The contribution of aquaculture to the total seafood supply has far outstripped the projections made by FAO in 1995.

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is the causative agent of white spot syndrome, one of the most devastating diseases in shrimp aquaculture. The genome of WSSV includes a gene that encodes a putative family B DNA polymerase (ORF514), which is 16% identical in amino acid sequence to the Herpes virus 1 DNA polymerase. The aim of this work was to demon...

The invertebrate lysozyme (i-lyz or destabilase) is present in shrimp. This protein may have a function as a peptidoglycan-breaking enzyme and as a peptidase. Shrimp is commonly infected with Vibrio sp., a Gram-negative bacteria, and it is known that the c-lyz (similar to chicken lysozyme) is active against these bacteria. To further understand the...

Cathepsin B is a cystein proteinase scarcely studied in crustaceans. Its function has not been clearly described in shrimp species belonging to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata, which includes the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and other species from the Penaeidae family. Studies on vertebrates suggest that these lysosomal enzymes intracellularly...

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is the eukaryotic sliding clamp that tethers DNA polymerase to DNA during replication. The full-length cDNA of the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei PCNA (LvPCNA) was cloned and encoded a protein of 260 amino acids that is highly similar to other Crustacean PCNAs. The theoretical shrimp PCNA structu...

In the mitochondrial F(O)F(1) ATP-synthase/ATPase complex, subunits α and β are part of the extrinsic portion that catalyses ATP synthesis. Since there are no reports about genes and proteins from these subunits in crustaceans, we analyzed the cDNA sequences of both subunits in the whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and their phylogenetic relatio...

Acid digestive proteinases were studied in the gastric fluids of two species of clawed lobster (Homarus americanus and Homarus gammarus). An active protein was identified in both species as aspartic proteinase by specific inhibition with pepstatin A. It was confirmed as cathepsin D by mass mapping, N-terminal, and full-length cDNA sequencing. Both...

Juveniles fed a diet containing a low or a high level of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) for 38 days were exposed to handling stress. In a first experiment, stress was applied daily for 30 days, after which the physiological and immunological variables were measured, whereas in a second experiment, stress was applied once and samples were obt...

Mitochondria play key roles in many cellular processes. Description of penaeid shrimp genes, including mitochondrial genomes are fairly recent and some are focusing on commercially important shrimp as the Pacific shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei that is being used for aquaculture not only in America, but also in Asia. Much less is known about other Paci...

We studied for the first time the ATP-synthase complex from shrimp as a model to understand the basis of crustacean bioenergetics since they are exposed to endogenous processes as molting that demand high amount of energy. We analyzed the cDNA sequence of two subunits of the Fo sector from mitochondrial ATP-synthase in the white shrimp Litopenaeus...

Crustaceans commonly experience starvation periods due to natural food scarcity and during molting. Several physiological, metabolic and behavioral changes have been associated with starvation in these animals. Traditionally, protein was assumed as the main energy source for crustaceans; however, new findings indicate that carbohydrates reserves in...

Thioredoxin (TRX) is a main component of the redox homeostasis machinery in the cell and it is required for ribonucleotide reductase function among others. In invertebrates, the redox balance is compromised during disease and changes in the physiological state and it is one of the components of the innate immune response. In this work, the shrimp (...

Food protein hydrolysis, a crucial step in digestion, is catalyzed by trypsin enzymes from the digestive apparatus of invertebrates. Trypsin appeared early in evolution and occurs in all phyla and, in the digestive systems of invertebrates, it became the most abundant proteinase. As in vertebrates, invertebrate trypsin is also present in several fo...

We report the analysis of 872 cDNA clones from a WSSV-infected white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei gill cDNA library. Comparison against the GenBank protein and nucleotide sequences identified 87% (E < or = 10(-2)) as previously known genes, while 13% are novel sequences. The 601 ESTs (87%) represent transcripts of 276 genes. These genes were categor...

Manganese superoxide dismutases (MnSODs) are usually mitochondrial enzymes, although there are few examples of cytosolic MnSODs (cMnSOD). We have previously characterized a cMnSOD cDNA from Litopenaeus vannamei hemocytes, and to obtain new insights into the tissue specific expression and the protein structure, we characterized three more different...

Crustaceans are forced to fast during molting. Several physiological, metabolic and behavioral changes have been associated with starvation. Although some of these changes have been well studied, knowledge of the dynamics of fuel reserves during the molting process is limited. To understand the effects of short-term hunger stress on energy reserves...

In this paper, we review the current knowledge about the usage of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins as energy source by marine crustaceans during starvation. Crustaceans are a large and diverse group including some economically important species. The efforts to culture them for human consumption has prompted the interest to understand the preferen...

A high density lipoprotein-beta glucan binding protein (HDL-BGBP) is synthesized in the hepatopancreas of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and secreted to the hemolymph. Recently, we reported the HDL-BGBP full length cDNA sequence and found that the predicted polypeptide is larger than the mature protein and also, that it contains a long 5'- a...

Spatial and temporal variations in catch-per-unit-effort (U) were analyzed under extreme conditions of sea-surface temperature during the warm years of 1982 and 1987, and cold years of 1988 and 1989. Distribution of U revealed high-density patches in areas with greatly ranging temperatures and temperature anomalies up to 2.5°C. These patterns were...

The white mullet Mugil curema is distributed along the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts and constitutes an important food resource in Mexico. However, during recent years the capture of this mugilid has decreased considerably, especially in Bahía and Ensenada de La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The effects of different levels of temperature (2...

Regulation of the expression of trypsin encoding genes in juveniles white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) was studied during starvation for up to 120 h. Since molting is now recognized as a physiologically important process in penaeids, specimens were selected according to molt stage. Starvation led to immediate weight loss and a sharp decrease in hepato...

Protein food modulates the activity of proteases of the midgut gland of Penaeus vannamei. Shrimp fed with food containing 15, 30 and 50% protein exhibited differences in trypsin and chymotrypsin activity and trypsin mRNA levels. Shrimp fed with 30% protein showed higher trypsin and chymotrypsin activities than those fed 15 or 50% protein. An additi...

We investigated the effect of starvation as a stimulant of the digestive system on digestive proteinase activities in the white shrimp Penaeus vannamei. The starved organisms were sampled periodically according to the molting stage and compared with a continuously fed group. Molting stage was included as an independent variable. Most analyzed varia...