This review aims to bring a more general view of the technological and biological challenges regarding production and use of probiotic bacteria in promoting human health. After a brief description of the current concepts, the challenges for the production at an industrial level are presented from the physiology of the central metabolism to the ability to face the main forms of stress in the industrial process. Once produced, these cells are processed to be commercialized in suspension or dried forms or added to food matrices. At this stage, the maintenance of cell viability and vitality is of paramount for the quality of the product. Powder products requires the development of strategies that ensure the integrity of components and cellular functions that allow complete recovery of cells at the time of consumption. Finally, once consumed, probiotic cells must face a very powerful set of physicochemical mechanisms within the body, which include enzymes, antibacterial molecules and sudden changes in pH. Understanding the action of these agents and the induction of cellular tolerance mechanisms is fundamental for the selection of increasingly efficient strains in order to survive from production to colonization of the intestinal tract and to promote the desired health benefits.

Endophytic fungi comprise a group of polyphyletic microorganisms of great diversity, which can be modulated by biotic and abiotic factors. In the present study, we analyzed the diversity and distribution of the endophytic fungal community associated with leaves of Sorghum bicolor crops in two areas of Brazilian forests and inferred the in uence of climate and host phenology on their occurrence. The results obtained in this study showed that S. bicolor has a rich and diverse community of endophytic fungi distributed in Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Mucoromycota, with members of Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes as dominant groups. The community of endophytic fungi was in uenced by two factors: rainfall and plant phenological stage. Filamentous fungi colonization increases as the post-blooming stage, and the fungal response is relative to its growth form. Further researches are needed to better understand the implications of endophytic-host association with sorghum crops.

The diversity of endophytic fungi in healthy coconut palm leaves (Cocos nucifera) was assessed by analyzing fungal isolates from three coconut cultivars (yellow dwarf, green dwarf, and a hybrid cultivar PB121) used agriculturally in Brazil. The influence of season (rainy or dry) on the endophytic fungal community was also analyzed. Overall, 318 fungal isolates were obtained from 972 coconut leaf fragments. The rDNA ITS region was sequenced from representative species of the isolated endophytic fungi and the most common species identified were Nigrospora oryzae, Pestalotiopsis sp., and Zasmidium musae. The alpha diversity of the endophytic fungi was also calculated. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination and permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed significant seasonal effects on the composition of the endophyte community. However, practically no influence was observed on the fungal communities for the different cultivars of coconut.

A considerable investment is being experienced worldwide in the production of artisanal beers of different styles, such as wheat-based Weizen beer. The challenge is to reduce production costs while maintaining the commercially accepted quality. Thus, the improvement of the production process involves the possibility of shortening the fermentation time by reusing the yeast biomass without affecting the yeast vitality and the quality of the end product. In this study, the fermentation parameters of a Weizen beer were measured directly from a scaled-up process in a microbrewing in order to identify the optimum point at which the process might be ended without compromising the final characteristics. The results were confirmed by laboratory studies that compared three different yeast strains in a wheat-based industrial substrate. The results led to the conclusion that the fermentation time was reduced by more than 50% from 7 to 3 days, with less variation in the concentration of the investigated metabolites. By reducing the time of fermentation, the yeast biomass was maintained active to be used up to six consecutive cycles of fermentation. All these improvements might help in reducing the cost of beer processing, which is of paramount interest to microbreweries worldwide.

Endophytic fungi comprise a group of polyphyletic microorganisms of great diversity, which can be modulated by biotic and abiotic factors. In the present study, we analyzed the diversity and distribution of the endophytic fungal community associated with leaves of Sorghum bicolor crops in two areas of Brazilian forests and inferred the influence of climate and host phenology on their occurrence. The results obtained in this study showed that S. bicolor has a rich and diverse community of endophytic fungi distributed in Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Mucoromycota, with members of Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes as dominant groups. The community of endophytic fungi was influenced by two factors: rainfall and plant phenological stage. Filamentous fungi colonization increases as the post-blooming stage, and the fungal response is relative to its growth form. Further researches are needed to better understand the implications of endophytic-host association with sorghum crops.