Raul Rodriguez

universidad autonoma de caohuila · Food research

Agavins (fructans from the agave plant) are used for their technological and prebiotic properties in developing functional foods. In this study, four extraction methods were evaluated: ultrasound (U), microwave (M), simultaneous ultrasound-microwave (UM), and heat treatment (HT). Isomers with a degree of polymerization (DP) > 10, as well as a signi...

Plants have been used to treat diseases since ancient times, but their active principles are regularly degraded in physiological conditions, such as that which occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry focuses on designing new phytopharmaceutical forms to ensure that the active principle reaches the site of action...

Synthetic chemicals are mainly used for the control of fungal diseases in tomato, causing the phytopathogens to generate resistance to the chemical active ingredient, with a consequent risk to human health and the environment. The use of plant extracts is an option for the control of these diseases, which is why the main objective of this research...

Protein hydrolysates are a promising source of bioactive peptides. One strategy by which they can be obtained is fermentation. This method uses the proteolytic system of microorganisms to hydrolyze the parental protein. Fermentation is a little-explored method for obtaining protein hydrolysates from amaranth. Different strains of lactic acid bacter...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used for centuries to produce fermented foods. Cruciferous vegetables contain large amounts of health-promoting compounds such as glucosinolates (GLSs) and phenolics. GLSs and phenolics have been linked to antioxidant, anticancer, and immunosuppressive effects. However, it has been reported that some LAB strains...

Proper identification and classification of the microbiota in several environments has prompted the search for rapid response molecular tools. Microsatellites are among the most widely used markers because they are distributed along the genome, are highly variable, and the fragments of different lengths describe genetic diversity. Repeated intergen...

Tannase or tannin acyl hydrolase (EC. 3.1.120) has diverse potential applications in the food industry, because of this, it is necessary to count with different versions of the enzyme. Microbial origin enzymes have acceptance in the biotech industry. Moreover, metagenomics has opened new paths of investigation by allowing analysis without precedent...

Polyphenols are a broad group of bioactive phytochemicals with powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and antiviral activities. Numerous studies have demonstrated that polyphenol extracts obtained from natural sources can be used for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Pomegranate peel extract is an excellent source of polyp...

The growing demand for foods with better characteristics has led to the search for new alternatives, one of these being sprouts, of which polyembryonic maize kernels have been little studied. The objective of this work was to evaluate the morphological changes, as well as the physicochemical, techno-functional, phytochemical, and antioxidant proper...

Currently, there is a growing interest in obtaining natural pigments, without presenting a risk to health, as well as to the matrix and food safety. The objective of this study was to characterize grains with different shades of red color (High pigmentation maize = RA, Medium pigmentation maize = RM, and Low pigmentation maize = RB, reddish maize w...

En este trabajo se consideró el uso del orujo de uva como tratamiento poscosecha para extender la vida de anaquel de la fresa. Se prepararon dos diferentes extractos de orujo de uva, uno acuoso y otro etanólico, este último al 70% (v/v); ambos fueron obtenidos mediante un método de extracción híbrido (ultrasonido-microondas). Los extractos se aplic...

Desert and semi‐desert areas are rich in vegetation, despite their often extreme climate conditions. The Chihuahuan desert is the largest in North America where different plant species predominate, mainly shrubs and grasslands, and common species found in these areas are Jatropha dioica, Flourensia cernua, Turnera diffusa, Eucalyptus camaldulensis,...

Currently, coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world and one of the most important commercial products. However, the industrial processing of this crop generates enormous amounts of waste that are disposed of in the environment, generating a severe pollution problem. This situation raises the need to look for alternatives to use thes...

p>Crops are affected by different pathogens that cause damage to the plant and production losses. Quarantine restrictions may also occur due to the presence of a pathogen. In most cases, synthetic chemical products are used to control phytopathogens. However, some of these products have been associated with risks to human health or the environment....

The goals of the present study were to characterize the phages isolated by magnetic nanocomplex, to determine the effect of natural polyphenols on phage activity against E. coli and the stability of free and encapsulated bacteriophages under UV irradiation, and their efficacy against E. coli on romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia) as...

In Arteaga, Coahuila, Mexico, different apple mutants derived from the Golden Delicious cultivar have been identified. They are characterized by their low chilling requirements (350–650 Chilling units (CU)) for breaking dormancy, and high flower production. The aim of this study was to determine the bromatological, genetic, and DNA methylation diff...

Coffee pulp is rich in bioactive compounds. Currently, the use of “green methodologies” is being sought that promote cleaner, safer extraction protocols with lower energy consumption. The present study proposes the extraction of polyphenolic compounds from the coffee pulp through the use of methodologies such as ultrasound and microwave. Different...

In Mexico, Agave spp. is traditionally used for many purposes, currently for the production of syrup. Agave syrup can be obtained by thermal concentration of aguamiel sap from certain Agave species. In the present work, aguamiel concentrated at different temperatures (70, 80, 90, and 95°C) and from A. salmiana and A. atrovirens species were charact...

Background Diarrheal diseases caused by protozoa have a great impact on human health around the world. Giardia lamblia is one of the most common flagellates in the intestinal tract. Factors such as adverse effects to first-line drugs or the appearance of drug-resistant strains, make it necessary to identify new treatment alternatives. Agroindustry...

Green tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, its industrial production generates huge amounts of waste, registering 4.8 million tons in 2019, which are a source of environmental pollution. In the present work, a revalorization of green tea residues (GTR) was explored through cellulase production by solid-state fermentation (SSF) usi...

The multiple applications of polymers have made them one of the most widely used materials and a serious source of environmental contamination; however, the forms of biodegradation of this type of materials are being arduously investigated and one of those is the living organisms that can use them as a source of food, as in the case of the Coleopte...

Co-microencapsulation is a growing technique in the food industry because it is a technique that, under the same fundamentals of microencapsulation, allows the generation of microcapsules with a longer shelf life, using a smaller number of encapsulating materials and a smaller amount of active compounds, while having a greater beneficial activity....

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) is a tropical fruit from Asia which has become the main target of many studies involving polyphenolic analysis. Mexico produces over 8 million tons per year of rambutan, generating a huge amount of agro-industrial waste since only the pulp is used and the peel, which comprises around 45% of the fruit’s weight, is l...

Fructans are a polydisperse mixture of fructose polymers generally bound to a glucose molecule, in recent years, interest in their use has grown, either as a potential ingredient in functional foods or for their technological properties. The diversity of its applications lies in its structure and origin. Until now, the scientific approach has been...

Currently, most of the consumed foods are highly processed, some of them are submitted to a heat process to get sterilized, to be cooked, to change its consistency, etc. A large number of food producers want to inoculate probiotics to their products to make them functional foods, with the risk of losing those microorganisms during the heating step,...

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

La producción del garbanzo (Cicer arietinum L.) constantemente está comprometida por un complejo de patógenos que ocasionan la marchitez y pudrición de raíz (MPR). Algunas de las estrategias empleadas para el manejo de esta enfermedad son el uso de variedades resistentes, rotación de cultivos, solarización, retiro de socas y uso de semillas libre d...

The acidic and not very fleshy fruits from Xoconostles (Xo) cacti are undervalued fruits. However, inhabitants of semi-arid regions consume these fruits that may also have a high nutritional value and natural antioxidants because of their content of dietary fiber (DF) and polyphenols. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge about the nutritional an...

Edible films were prepared with whey protein incorporating candelilla wax, and glycerol in aqueous solution. Tarbush polyphenols were added as bioactive agent. An optimization based on the water vapor permeability (WVP) of the formulation was performed using a Box-Behnken design. The films were characterized by the determination of WVP, moisture, s...

The objective of this study was the design and simulation of a single effect evaporator for an agave syrup production line, using as the main raw material, the aguamiel obtained from Agave salmiana produced in the ejido "Las Mangas" municipality of Saltillo Coahuila, Mexico. The design of the single effect evaporator was carried out by evaluating t...

Cervical cancer represents a public health problem, develops resistance to traditional therapies and cost-of-treatment is high. These disadvantages have led to the search for alternative bioactive-compound-based therapies. Said bioactive compounds include phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and tannins. The present study aimed to evaluate the therapeut...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the insecticidal activity of the polyphenolic compounds found in neem on S. frugiperda larvae. Three neem extracts (1:12 (m/v) with 70% ethanol, 1:12 (m/v) with 0% ethanol (only water), and 1:4 (m/v) with 0% ethanol) were employed. Subsequently, the extraction of phytochemical compounds of each extract wa...

In this work, three lignocellulosic residues, coconut fiber, sugarcane bagasse, and fique bagasse, were used as a carbon source for fungal colonization had been proposed to form a composite material. The lignocellulosic residues presented a high percentage of carbon. The lignocellulosic residues had been conditioned and characterized morphologicall...

Polyphenols may be an effective therapy for both the prevention and treatment of cancer. Previous studies have found that these compounds may inactive Hela cells, which may even be converted into a normal cells post-treatment. The present study extracted phenolic compounds from pomegranate peel, with the polyphenols then purified using different so...

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are metabolites produced by many microorganisms. These extracellular metabolites are responsible for conferring some specific characteristics to fermented products, such as increasing organoleptic properties in the final stage of the products. The EPS can be found easily in the dairy industry, where they confer rheological...

The objective of this study was the design and simulation of a single effect evaporator for an agave syrup production line, using as the main raw material, the aguamiel obtained from Agave salmiana produced in the ejido "Las Mangas" municipality of Saltillo Coahuila, Mexico. The design of the single effect evaporator was carried out by evaluating t...

Bioactive peptides are biomolecules derived from proteins. They contain anywhere from 2 to 20 amino acids and have different bioactivities. For example, they have antihypertensive activity, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity, etc. However, bioactive peptides are encrypted and inactive in the parental protein, so it is necessary to release...

Both the nopal cactus (Opuntia spp.) and its fruit (prickly pear) have an interesting nutritional composition since it has been reported that they are rich in phenolic compounds, sugars, betalains, ascorbic acid, and fiber. These compounds are related to functional properties of interest to human health. Fiber is associated with the prevention of v...

In this study, proximal composition, mineral analysis, polyphenolic compounds identification, and antioxidant and functional activities were determined in green bean (GBF), mesquite (MF), and pea (PF) flours. Different mixtures of legume flour and wheat flour for bread elaboration were determined by a simplex-centroid design. After that, the proxim...

One of the relevant problems in today's agriculture is related to phytopathogenic microorganisms that cause between 30–40% of crop losses. Synthetic chemical pesticides and antibiotics have brought human and environmental health problems and microbial resistance to these treatments. So, the search for natural alternatives is necessary. The genus St...

Gluten-free foods are products that have become relevant today due to the prevalence of diseases related to the consumption of gluten proteins. This study developed a gluten-free cookie based on buckwheat flour and corn, reduced in fat with symbiotic properties. Several formulations were tested, the best cookies were selected based on texture, colo...

The role and mechanism of elagitannase is misunderstood because it exhibited different activities due to the low purity or complexity of substrates, and there is no available information about the biochemical, physicochemical and molecular characteristics of the enzyme. This study was aimed to obtain enzymatic extracts by Aspergillus niger GH1 in s...

In the present chapter, a comparative study about the polyphenolic contents and antibacterial capacity against Erwinia amylovora of plant extracts obtained by three methodologies extraction (reflux, infusion, and ultrasound-assisted extraction) from damiana (Turnera diffusa), eucalyptus (Eucalytus globulus Labill), marjoram (Origanum majorana), ros...

El aguamiel se extrae desde tiempos prehispánicos del género Agave (maguey) pero se conoce poco sobre su rentabilidad económica. Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron estimar la rentabilidad de la producción de aguamiel y realizar un análisis FODA para conocer las fuerzas internas (fortalezas y debilidades) y externas (amenazas y oportunidades)...

Cervical cancer is classified as the fourth most common malignancy in women. Natural compounds are a therapeutic alternative in cancer therapy. The aim of the study is to isolate, fractionate, and characterize extracts obtained from soursop leaves (Annona muricata L.) and determine their cytotoxic effect against HeLa cervical cancer cells and non-c...

Fructosyltransferase (FTase) catalyzes the transfer of a fructosyl group to a sucrose molecule or a fructooligosaccharide (FOS) when a FOS with a longer chain is formed. Production of FTase by two Aspergillus species and its mixture was exploited using solid-state fermentation (SSF) and employing agave sap as substrate. The maximum FTase activity (...

In this study, an orange sweet potato‐apple based snack supplemented with agavins was developed for children's consumption, in order to obtain a functional product. The consumer acceptability, physicochemical, mechanical properties and the presence of flavonoids and phenolic acids were determined using chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (U...

Sotol is an alcoholic beverage obtained after the spontaneous fermentation of the sotol plant (Dasylirion spp), commonly known as a pineapple. However, the microorganisms and chemical changes involved during this fermentation process are unknown. The objectives of this research were to identify the cultivable and non-cultivable microorganisms invol...

Penicillin acylases (penicillin amidohydrolase, EC 3.5.1.11) are a group of enzymes with many applications within the pharmaceutical industry, and one of them is the production of semi-synthetic beta-lactam antibiotics. This enzyme is mainly produced by bacteria but also by some fungi. In the present study, the filamentous fungus Mucor griseocyanus...

It is recognized that lactic acid bacteria (LAB) provide a wide range of benefits primarily in host health and food, which is why they are considered to be probiotics; i.e., living microorganisms that administered in adequate amounts confer benefits on the host health. The most representative probiotic strains of LAB include members of the genus Pe...

This chapter provides an overview of different processes assisted by ultrasonic energy, starting with the basic concepts of ultrasonic energy as well as the industrial applications by sonochemistry in different areas. Ultrasound is a type of emerging energy based on cavitation, it is considered a type of alternative energy within “Green Chemistry.”...

During the last decade, an increase in the incidence of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum in aloe [Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f.] plants has been observed, reducing the national production by 14%. A study was conducted to evaluate five native strains of Trichoderma against F. oxysporum in A. vera plants, under greenhouse and field conditions. The experiment i...

The study presents the design of a magnetic nanosystem functionalised with Escherichia coli for bacteriophage isolation. The chitosan-coated nanoparticles (C-MNP) were synthesised by coprecipitation, then functionalised with E. coli cells. Different concentrations of C-MNP and incubation times were tested. The immobilisation kinetics and adsorption...

Polyphenolic compounds constitute one of the largest and most important groups of plant secondary metabolites because of their widespread occurrence in nature, with more than 8000 identified phenolic structures. Polyphenols are compounds with one or more hydroxyl groups attached to the benzene ring. One of the main properties of polyphenols is the...

Tagetes lucida Cav. (Asteraceae=Compositae) is used for treating stomach infections. The study focused on evaluating the composition and antimicrobial effect of an extract of T. lucida Cav. The plant extracted with ethanol at 10% w/v, and the extract composition analyzed by Rp-HPLC-MS. The antibacterial effect was evaluated against Staphylococcus a...

It is estimated that only in USA, foodborne pathogens cause 48 million illnesses, with 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year. The growing global emergence of multi-drug-resistant infections raises the need to find alternative methods for the effective treatment of infectious illnesses. Phages possess properties that make them interest...

Huanglongbing (HLB) reduces the growth and development of citrus and induces changes in secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, limonoids, and polyamines. Likewise, infected plants have a deficient absorption of nutrients such as zinc, potassium, manganese, and copper. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of differ...

Background: Ellagitannase (Ellagitannin acyl hydrolase) is an inducible enzyme with great potential use in food industry since allows the ellagic acid release from ellagitannins. Objective: In this work, ellagitannase was produced by the fungus Aspergillus niger GH1 in solid state fermentation using polyurethane foam as solid support and pomegra...

The improvement of the postharvest quality of tomato fruits was evaluated using an edible coating functionalized with an Flourensia cernua extract evaluating the antifungal, structural, barrier, and optical properties. The formulation and evaluation of an edible coating and its application on tomato was evaluated using a response surface methodolog...

Moringa oleifera is a rich source of polyphenols, but its content and profile may vary according to environmental conditions, harvest season, and plant tissue. This study was carried out in order to determine the phenolic compounds by HPLC/MS, as well as, the in vitro antioxidant activity of extracts from leaflets and petioles of Moringa oleifera p...

Resumen Los insectos plaga, son una de las principales limitantes en la producción del cultivo de maíz. Por lo cual, provocan daño en el desarrollo de la planta y por ende reducen el rendimiento. El gusano cogollero Spodoptera fugiperda J. E. Smith y Heliothis zea (Boddie), (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) son las de mayor presencia en el cultivo de maíz....