Spectroscopy to Reach Applications for Food Quality Control and Safety

Jose S. Torrecilla^1*, John C. Cancilla², Albertina Torreblanca-Zanca¹, Regina Aroca-Santos¹, Miguel Lastra-Mejias¹ and Manuel Izquierdo¹

¹Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
²Scintillon Institute, USA

Controlling the quality of foods and locating adulterated products is a relevant issue not only for the economy of a country but also its general health. In this sense, the equipment used to determine quality and detect fraudulent activities should be developed in a straightforward, fast, and cost-efficient fashion.

In this work, spectroscopic equipment combined with powerful nonlinear algorithms, including machine learning-based algorithms, are used for the quality control in real-time of products such as extra virgin olive oils, honey, Spanish wine, vinegar, and more. The main components of the analytical equipment area light source (LEDs and laser diodes), a cuvette and a spectrophotometer.

The main results are comparable to commonly employed approaches in the field (by regulating authorities or other research groups), which are typically more sophisticated and expensive. This opens a door to the production ofeconomic and simple equipment to easily control the quality of foods and detect fraudulent activities like adulterations.

Biography:
Dr. Jose S. Torrecilla is a Professor of Chemical Engineering Department of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). He completed his Ph.D with honors in Chemical Engineering from UCM in 2000. Advanced Technician in Occupational Risk Prevention and Integrated Management Degrees were achieved in 2005. In 2017, he got his MBA degree with honors. Modeling complex systems for many fields such as health, chemistry, and food technology is his main line of research, which is done in collaborations at national and international levels. The quality of his work has resulted in the publication of his results in a high number of prestigious scientific journals.

Comparative Genomics Studies Revealed the Effect of Artificial Selection on the Genome of Ustilago esculenta

Zihong Ye^1*, Yafen Zhang¹, Haifeng Cui¹, Xiaoping Yu¹, Longjiang Fan², Yao Pan³, Gulei Jin² and Alice Carolyn McHardy³

¹China Jiliang University, China
²Zhejiang University, China
³Heinrich Heine University, Germany

Ustilago esculenta, a smut fungus, infects Zizania latifolia to form galls named Jiaobai in China. Their differentiation induced Z. latifolia to form edible white Jiaobai (MT strains) and harmful grey Jiaobai (T strains). Studies showed a growth and infection defect in MT strains, which displayed an absolutely stable endophytic life in the host without an infection cycle, while T strains are phytopathogens. It is the long-standing artificial selection that maximizes the occurrence of favorable white Jiaobai, and thus maintaining the plant-fungi interaction and modulating the fungus evolving from plant pathogen to entophyte. The 20.2 Mb U. esculenta draft genome of 6,654 predicted genes including mating, primary metabolism, secreted proteins was identified through whole genome sequencing analysis, sharing a high similarity to related Smut fungi, but lost some surface sensors, important virulence factors and host range related effectors, especially in the MT strains. Besides, some immune response genes to PAMPs and PRRs are mutated in Z. latifolia. These attenuated pathogenicity-resistance relationship make for the economic endophytic life of U. esculenta. Additionally, U. esculenta prefers RNA silencing not RIP in defense and has more introns per gene, indicating relatively slow evolution rate. The fungus also lacks some genes in amino acid biosynthesis pathway which were filled by up-regulated host genes, and developed distinct amino acid response mechanism to balance the infection-resistance interaction. These findings can not only contribute to more comprehensive insights into the molecular mechanism underlying artificial selection but also into smut fungi-host interactions.

Biography:
Zihong Ye has been Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences at China Jiliang University, China, since 2009. She got her Diploma in Agronomy, her Ph.D. as well as her habilitation in breeding and genetics at Zhejiang University, China, at 2002. From 2002-2005, she worked as associate professor at Department of Agronomy at Zhejiang. University. Since 2005, her research has had a special emphasis on the interaction between Z. latifolia and U. esculenta interaction. Her research has been mainly funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China.