Food safety measures should include the control of the illegal use of banned toxic dyes, including Sudan I as one of the most commonly used coloring agents. A procedure was developed for the enzyme immunoassay of Sudan I carried out in the kinetic mode in order to enhance the performance and rapidity of assays. The achieved limit of detection of Sudan I is 0.13 ng/mL, and the detectable concentration range is from 0.24 to 2.32 ng/mL. The assay time is 50 min. The results obtained by enzyme immunoassay and HPLC for food extracts (tomato paste, chili sauce, spices) showed good correlation. Due to high performance, the new procedure holds promise for the screening control of Sudan I in foodstuffs.

Various forms of participation of proteolytic enzymes in pathogenesis and defense in plants are reviewed. Along with extracellular proteinases, phytopathogenic microorganisms produce specific effectors having proteolytic activity and capable of acting on proteins inside plant cells. In turn, for defense against pathogens, plants use both extracellular and intracellular proteinases.

A total of 17 basidiomycete strains causing white rot and growing on oil-contaminated substrates have been screened. Three strains with high (Steccherinum murashkinskyi), average (Trametes maxima), and low (Pleurotus ostreatus) capacities for the colonization of oil-contaminated substrates have been selected. The potential for degrading crude oil hydrocarbons has been assessed with the use of fungi grown on nonsterile soil and peat at low temperatures. Candida sp. and Rhodococcus sp. commercial strains have been used as reference organisms with oil-degrading ability. All microorganisms introduced in oil-contaminated soil have proved to be ineffective, whereas the inoculation of peat with basidiomycetes and oil-degrading microorganisms accelerated the destruction of oil hydrocarbons. The greatest degradation potential of oil-aliphatic hydrocarbons has been found in S. murashlinskyi. T. maxima turned out to be the most successful in degrading aromatic hydrocarbons. It has been suggested that aboriginal microflora contributes importantly to the effectiveness of oil-destructing microorganisms. T. maxima and S. murashkinskyi strains are promising for further study as oil-oxidizing agents during bioremediation of oil-contaminated peat soil under conditions of low temperatures.

Созданы штаммы спиртовых дрожжей, синтезирующие пептиды, подавляющие рост молочнокислых бактерий Lactobacillus sakei, Pediacoccus pentasaceus, Pediacoccus acidilactici и др., которые могут быть использованы при производстве этанола для борьбы с заражением молочнокислыми бактериями. Синтезированы гены, кодирующие антибактериальные пептиды педиоцин и плантарицин, с предпочтительными для Saccharomyces cerevisiae кодонами и создана система их секреторной экспрессии. Показано, что штаммы S. cerevisiae, синтезирующие и секретирующие в среду эти пептиды, подавляют рост молочнокислых бактерий. Использование спиртовых дрожжей, продуцирующих антибактериальные пептиды, увеличивало выход этанола в условиях бактериального инфицирования. Спиртовые дрожжи S. cerevisiae, секретирующие в среду антибактериальные пептиды педиоцин и плантарицин, могут быть рекомендованы для замены существующих промышленных линий дрожжей при производстве этанола.