Use of Natural Antimicrobial Peptides and Bacterial Biopolymers for Cultured Pearl Production

Cultured pearls are the product of grafting and rearing of Pinctada margaritifera pearl oysters in their natural environment. Nucleus rejections and oyster mortality appear to result from bacterial infections or from an inappropriate grafting practice. To reduce the impact of bacterial infections, synthetic antibiotics have been applied during the grafting practice. However, the use of such antibiotics presents a number of problems associated with their incomplete biodegradability, limited efficacy in some cases, and an increased risk of selecting for antimicrobial resistant bacteria. We investigated the application of a marine antimicrobial peptide, tachyplesin, which is present in the Japanese horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus, in combination with two marine bacterial exopolymers as alternative treatment agents. In field studies, the combination treatment resulted in a significant reduction in graft failures vs. untreated controls. The combination of tachyplesin (73 mg/L) with two bacterial exopolysaccharides (0.5% w/w) acting as filming agents, reduces graft-associated bacterial contamination. The survival data were similar to that reported for antibiotic treatments. These data suggest that non-antibiotic treatments of pearl oysters may provide an effective means of improving oyster survival following grafting procedures.     

Optimization of a solid-phase extraction method using centrifugation for the determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water

A fast and reliable method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples by solid-phase extraction (SPE) using centrifugation has been developed and optimized. A silica-based C18 cartridge was used; parameters affecting the extraction procedure such as type and volume of the elution solvent, breakthrough volume of the percolated water sample, drying of the sorbent, and evaporation of the elute have been studied. The innovation of this work was the examination of the use of a centrifugation technique in both the drying and elution steps. When combined with centrifugation, the volume of the elution solvent was reduced to 1 mL and the time for sorbent drying decreased also to 10 min under vacuum. Under optimal conditions, recoveries for the 16 U.S. EPA PAHs were between 70 and 85% and the relative standard deviation varied between 1 and 14%. Surrogate standard recoveries were similarly between 61 and 94% with a relative standard deviation between 2 and 15%. The simplicity of the described method, use of less of organic solvent, short procedure time, and good recoveries demonstrate the advantages of this environmentally friendly approach for routine analysis of numerous samples.     

Flowering and fruiting phenology,and physico-chemical characteristics of 2-year-old plants of six species of Opuntia from eight regions of Morocco

SUMMARY

We have described the flowering and fruiting phenology of 14 accessions of six Opuntia species grown in Morocco: O. ficus-indica, O. robusta, O. aequatorialis, O. dillenii, O. leucotricha, and O. stricta. We also determined the physicochemical characteristics of their cladodes. For each accession, we used four-to-20 plants. Two systems were used to measure phenology: the extended Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und Chemische Industrie (BBCH)-scale and the National Phenology Monitoring System. Five principal stages were described: the development of vegetatively-propagated organs (vegetative buds), the development of flower buds, flowering, fruit development, and fruit maturity. The number of vegetative buds varied significantly among the 14 accessions, while only four accessions produced flower buds. After reaching their final size, fruit lengths varied from 3.40–6.40 cm, while fruit diameters varied from 1.93–3.90 cm. The average cladode number differed significantly among genotypes and varied from 1.75–7.75. There were also significant differences in cladode length (13.75–30.63 cm), width (6.25–17.33 cm), thickness (0.65–1.38 cm), fresh weight (FW; 67.50–766.00 g), and dry weight (DW; 8.75–67.15 g) between species. Water content and ash content, as well as total protein and total sugar concentrations, showed significant differences and were within the ranges of 86.67–92.04% (w/w), 12.97–22.08g 100 g^?1 DW, 4.64–11.56g 100 g^?1 DW, and 3.22–12.51 g 100 g^?1 DW, respectively. Our results will help in the development of agronomic management practices and improve the characterisation, valorisation, and use of cactus pear species grown in Morocco.