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Introduction
Professor on Plant Physiology at the University of Havana. Leader of a Plant Physiology Group with interest on plant microorganisms interactions and effect of stress on plant physiology.
Interested also on plant productivity and phenotyping
Additional affiliations
December 1969 - April 2016
December 1969 - April 2016
December 1969 - April 2016
Publications
Publications (61)
Cuba is threatened by climate change. Some enzymes act as a shield against oxidative stress, always associated with salinity, water deficit, or excess and extreme temperatures; those enzymes have Heme as a cofactor. Heme is a tetrapyrrole, similar to chlorophyll, but with Fe instead of Mg as the central atom. The response associated with Heme was i...
RESUMEN El estudio de la arquitectura de la raíz permite describir la forma y estruc-tura del sistema radical en las plantas. Las variaciones en la misma están condicionadas por factores ambientales, así como hormonales. Los bra-sinoesteroides y sus análogos promueven el desarrollo del sistema radical , aunque no existen muchos estudios que demuest...
The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family regulates plant developmental processes and response to stresses. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), an important crop legume, possesses a whole set of 78 bZIP (PvbZIP) genes, the majority of these (59%) are most highly expressed in roots and nodules, root-derived new organs formed in t...
In vitro mycorrhization of plants is a highly complex process that depends on ensuring the needs of plants and fungi, organisms with different nutritional requirements. Today doesn´t exist an in vitro culture system which guarantee the mycorrhization of Solanum tuberosum L. (potato), although some authors have made several attempts to achieve it. T...
Efecto del estrés salino sobre el crecimiento, el contenido de peróxido de hidrógeno y la actividad de enzimas antioxidantes en girasol (Helianthus annuus L., cv. Helio)
During their life cycle, plants are exposed to various types of external stressors, preventing the maintenance of homeostasis. Salinity is one of the main adverse factors affecting plant growth and causes great losses in the yield of many crops. In the world there are large areas of saline soils of which are largely agricultural soil. In Cuba 20% o...
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important grain legume for human consumption; but its productivity and symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) is drastically affected by biotic and abiotic stresses, such as salinity. The P.vulgaris genome encodes 3,726 transcription factor (TF) genes belonging to 52 families (O'Rourke et al. 2014). The P....
Eggplant and pepper are horticulture crops with a worldwide distribution, dietary, and culinary importance. In developing countries, they are mainly cultivated under organic amendments as the organoponic system applied in Cuba. In the present research, the plant growth promoting strain B65 of Brevibacillus sp. was applied as inoculant on eggplant a...
Heme, is a cofactor for essential proteins, it is synthesized after the insertion of Fe2+ into protoporphyrin ring by the ferrochelatase (FC) enzyme. Although FC is well described, there are still major questions about the regulation of the heme biosynthetic pathway, and the localization of the enzyme in plants. This review provides a comprehensive...
Eggplant (Solanum melongena L) and pepper (Capsicum annum) are priorities of organic foodstuffs programs in Santiago de Cuba. Seedlings of both, eggplant and pepper are cultivated under organic substrates made of earthworm castings, vegetal residues and soil, which supplies key nutrients but are lacking of plant hormones that may be supplied by pla...
Heme, is a cofactor for essential proteins, it is synthesized after the insertion of Fe2+ into protoporphyrin ring by the ferrochelatase (FC) enzyme. Although FC is well described, there are still major questions about the regulation of the heme biosynthetic pathway, and the localization of the enzyme in plants. This review provides a comprehensive...
Countries all over the world have experienced the negative impact that phytopathogenic fungi and oomycetes have on food security. Controlling these organisms remains a daunting task due to their genetic plasticity and the large temporal and geographic variability of their populations, which enables them to evolve and develop pesticide-resistant var...
EFECTOS DE Brevibacillus bortelensis B65 SOBRE LA GERMINACIÓN Y EL DESARROLLO DE POSTURAS DE HORTALIZAS EN FASE DE SEMILLERO Effects of Brevibacillus borstelensis B65 on germination and seedlings development of horticulture crops ABSTRACT. Eggplant (Solanum melongena L) and pepper (Capsicum annum) are priorities of organic foodstuffs programs in Sa...
El agua es Ia sustancia mas abundante en Ia biosfera y el unico compuesto que se encuentra en Ia naturaleza en los estados sólido, líquido y gaseoso. Es el principal constituyente de las plantas y participa en
todos sus procesos fisiológicos. Su contenido varía entre plantas y sus diferentes partes, siendo mayor en las plantas herbáceas, y disminuy...
Nitrogen (N) fertilizers have a decisive influence on the yield and quality of tobacco. Yield, percentage of plant N, wrapper leaf quality, and nicotine content are all important quality characteristics in tobacco growing. This work is an attempt to provide a tool for optimizing mineral N nutri-tion for Cuban cigar tobacco, using a strategy that li...
This study investigated the influence of different sources of nitrogen on Glutamine synthetase (GS) activity of Pantoea sp. strain 9C and the effect of inoculation with the bacterium on the growth medium of rice seedlings. The growth curves of 9C showed lowest cell concentration in LGI medium free of nitrogen and highest cell concentration in LGI m...
This study was aimed to isolate and identify the N(2)-fixing bacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus from 11 sugarcane varieties, grown under field conditions in four Cuban provinces, and from their associated mealybugs Saccharicoccus sacchari. Identification was based on morphological and biochemical tests and PCR-amplification of 16S rRNA gene...
Proline, glicine betaíne and total soluble proteincontents were determined in 12 Cuban wheat varieties, of T.aestivum and T. durum species, growing under salineconditions. Thus, two experimental variants were conductedbased on a concentrated nutrient solution. The first treatmentbecame salty with NaCl to an electric conductivity of 8 dS.m-1and the...
Pantoea sp. is an endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacterium isolated from sugarcane tissues. The aim of the present study was to determine the contents of amino acids in sugarcane as a result of inoculation of nodes and nodal roots with Pantoea sp. strain 9C and to evaluate the effects of amino acids on growth, nitrogenase activity and ammonium excretio...
Problem statement: The chitosan derivatives promote diverse defensive responses in plants, which are affected by chitosan chemical features and concentration. Glucanase (EC 3.2.1.6), Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) and peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.6) are key enzymes in tobacco defense responses. Thus, the aim of this study was to know t...
El desarrollo óptimo de los cultivos demanda una elevada aplicación de fertilizantes minerales y pesticidas. El
uso de dichos insumos químicos implica no solo costo y requerimientos energéticos elevados, sino que su aporte indiscriminado pudiera provocar problemas de salinización y contaminación del manto freático. El desarrollo vegetal también pue...
El fósforo (P) es un macronutriente mineral esencial para las plantas. Aunque puede encontrarse en los suelos en diferentes formas minerales, la baja solubilidad de estos disminuye su disponibilidad para las plantas, y el nutriente debe aplicarse como fertilizante a los cultivos. Las reservas mundiales de P son limitadas y tendrán una reducción con...
Black tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important cash crop in Cuba; it is used in the manufactory of Habano cigars. Biotic and abiotic factors affect it, so the studies of physiological damages caused by stress are valuable. The aim of this research was to quantify the effects of temperature stress causing necrotic damage in leaves and to deter...
The present paper reports the presence of bacteria and yeasts tightly associated with spores of an isolate of Glomus mosseae. Healthy spores were surface disinfected by combining chloramine-T 5%, Tween-40, and cephalexin 2.5 g L(-1) (CTCf). Macerates of these spores were incubated on agar media, microorganisms were isolated, and two yeasts were cha...
El tabaco negro (Nicotiana tabacum L.) es un importante cultivo económico en Cuba por su uso en la manufacturade puros Habanos. Factores bióticos y abióticos lo afectan, de ahí que sea valioso el estudio de los daños fisiológicos que le produce el estrés. El objetivo de este trabajo fue cuantificar los efectos del estrés por temperatura sobre el da...
In in vitro assays, a chitosan polymer caused differential growth inhibition of the following pathogens isolated from tobacco: Phytophthora parasitica Dastur var. nicotianae (Ppn), Pythium aphanidermatum (Edson) Fitzp, Rhizoctonia solani Kühn, and Sclerotium rolfsii Sace. The most sensitive were P aphanidermatum and S. rolfsii, the growth of which...
En un experimento llevado a cabo en un suelo Vertisol del Valle del Río Cauto en Cuba se evaluó el efecto del exceso de agua sobre el desarrollo del sistema radical de seis genotipos de caña de azúcar. Se uso un diseño de parcelas divididas, donde la presencia o no de exceso de agua en el suelo era la parcela y los
genotipos eran las subparcelas. L...
From 13 bacterial isolates obtained from Gomus mosseae spores, 9 have capacity to solubilize calcium phosphate. The isolates EndoGm1, 5, 10 and 11, presented higher phosphate solubilizing
capacity from all isolates. Tetrad formation was observed by the isolates EndoGm1 and EndoGm11 and also capacity of poliP
granules accumulation. All of these char...
Sugarcane in an important crop due to the economic value of its products. Physiological characteristics and yield components of sugarcane were studied in three field-grown sugarcane cultivars B 63118, POJ 2878 and Ja 60-5. Three growth stages were identified: formative phase (until 140 DAP), grand growth (140-300 DAP) and maturity (after 300 DAP)....
Several nitrogen compounds were identified and quantified in the apoplastic and symplastic sap of sugarcane stems. The sap of stems was composed mainly of soluble sugars, which constituted 95% of the total organic compounds detected. Sap also contained nitrogen compounds, with amino acids (50-70% of N) and proteins (20-30% of N), being the main nit...
The effects of different carbon and nitrogen sources on the growth, nitrogenase activity, and carbon metabolism of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus were investigated. The amino acids asparagine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid affected microbial growth and nitrogenase activity. Several enzymatic activities involved in the tricarboxylic acid cycle...
To isolate and identify endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugarcane growing in Cuba without chemical fertilizers.
Two N2-fixing isolates, 9C and T2, were obtained from surface-sterilized stems and roots, respectively, of sugarcane variety ML3-18. Both isolates showed acetylene reduction and H2 production in nitrogen-free media. Nitrogenase act...
The effect of some abiotic factors, dryness, heat and salinity on the growth and biological activity of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, and the influence of a salt stress on some enzymes involved in carbon metabolism of these bacteria is studied under laboratory conditions.
Strain PAL-5 of G. diazotrophicus was incubated under different condition...
Brassinosteroid were accepted in 1996 as a new class of plant growth regulators. Information about its effects on sugarcane growth and development is scarce; moreover there are few reports about the dose-effect relationship even for other plant species. The natural concentrations of this plant growth regulator are very low, between 10-7 and 10-1 pp...
Los hongos micorrizógenos arbusculares (HMA) son endosimbiontes obligados, presentes en muchos ecosistemas naturales y agrícolas, con gran responsabilidad en la integridad fisiológica de la planta. Esta investigación se basa en la realización de diferentes aislamientos de Glomus clarum, proveniente de cultivos puros del cepario del INCA. Se aislaro...
Understanding the patterns of source-sink relationships in wheat under field conditions is crucial to determine the physiological factors limiting grain filling. The aim of this investigation was to assess the time-course of source-sink interactions in wheat after anthesis under Cuban field conditions. For this purpose, plants of wheat, cultivar Cu...
In sugarcane propagation the sett pieces are routinely heated at 50 degreesC before planting to control the xylem pathogen Leifsonia xyli ssp. xyli. To determine whether this treatment also affects the diazotrophic endophyte, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, found in the intercellular solution of cane parenchyma, cultures of this bacterium were si...
A methodology to evaluate the photosynthetic capacity in sugarcane plants by the 14C-photosynthates production is proposed. 14CO2 was produced within an acrilic chamber in which the leaf was introduced. The sugarcane plants were growing under natural condi-tions (habitat) and were exposed to a 14CO2-flux during 10 and 30 minutes, respectively. Phot...
The intensity and rnain products of the photosynthesis was evaluated in plants of lour varieties of sugar-cane: CP 52-43 {plant czne. 6 months) and Ja 60•5, POJ 28-78 and B 63-118 {sprout. S and g month* The was produced in the natural conditions of Iiue or the plants studied and the time of exposition was 30 minutes. It was employed the system pha...
The intercellular spaces of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) stem parenchyma are filled with solution (determined by cryoscanning microscopy), which can be removed aseptically by centrifugation. It contained 12% sucrose (Suc; pH 5.5.) and yielded pure cultures of an acid-producing bacterium (approximately 104 bacteria/mL extracted fluid) on N-p...
