Abstract: An electrostatic centrifugal spraying system for direct electrification includes a tank configured to store liquid. The tank includes an internal dielectric surface and an external conducting surface, wherein when the liquid is stored in the tank, the tank is configured to act as a capacitor storing electrical energy for electrostatic spraying. The spraying system further includes a power supply, configured to electrify liquid drops of the stored liquid, and a spray nozzle, comprising a spray disk for blowing the electrified liquid drops unto a target.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel transgenic maize event expressing the truncated or modified Cry1Da insecticidal protein designated as Event ME240913. The invention relates to nucleic acids that are unique to Event ME240913. Primers, amplicon, methods and kits for detecting the presence of Event ME240913 are also defined. The invention further relates to maize plants containing said event, uses thereof, methods and compositions for controlling lepidopteran insect pests. The invention describes a maize event that has shown a high level of plant protection against feeding damage caused by Lepidoptera, including S. frugirperda, as well as Cry1F resistant insects. The event of the invention was shown to be highly toxic to S. frugirperda.

Abstract: An induction device for electrification of droplets of hydraulic nozzles comprises: an electrode comprising one or more attachment legs; and an induction electrode holder configured to receive the electrode, wherein the one or more attachment legs are fixed within tubular structures of the induction electrode holder, and wherein a finite distance is formed between an outer surface of each attachment leg in the one or more attachment legs and an inner surface of each tube of the tubular structures.

Abstract: A process for obtaining compositions constituted by propolis nanoparticles is disclosed. The nanoparticles are optionally associated to a substance of interest such as active ingredients, and, optionally, substances of secondary effect such as synergists and adjuvants. The process includes preparing a fraction A, which consists of propolis extract dissolved in an organic solvent, to which stabilizer and/or emulsifier may be added, and, optionally, substances of interest and/or of secondary effect; ii) preparing a fraction B, aqueous phase, constituted by: (ii.1) water; or (ii.2) an aqueous solution or dispersion, to which stabilizer and/or emulsifier may be added; (iii) dropping the fraction A onto the fraction B or vice versa; iv) homogenizing the mixture by stirring and spontaneous formation of nanoparticles with average size from 1 to 1000 nm in a dispersion; and v) optionally (v-1) removing organic solvent and/or (v-2) drying the nanodispersion.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method for obtaining castor-oil plants deprived of the ricin/RCA protein, through the insertion of gene constructs into plant cells, particularly castor-oil plant ones, with the consequent production of ricin/RCA-free castor-oil plant seeds. An aspect of the invention consists in providing castor-oil plants and parts thereof containing said gene construct. The method disclosed herein appeared to be efficient to the generation of castor-oil plants deprived of ricin protein or showing low expression levels of this protein, thus allowing the use of the seed thereof to the production of detoxified cakes, both for animal nutrition and for fertilizers, not to mention its possible production in countries that set restrictions to this substance, due to ricin toxicity. Therefore, this invention also provides a method and a kit to the identification of transformed plants containing the gene constructs disclosed herein.

Abstract: The present invention relates to new codon-optimized cry1Da nucleic acid molecules from a gene sequence isolated from bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. These molecules are used in the preparation of nucleic acid constructs, vectors and host cells, allowing the production of transgenic plants, such as corn, resistant to invertebrate pests, such as insects from the order Lepidoptera, particularly Spodoptera frugiperda (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) and Diatrea saccharalis (Crambidae, Lepidoptera). Plant cells and transgenic plants comprising the molecules or constructs of the invention are also objects of the present invention. In particular, the transgenic plants according to the present invention are able to control caterpillars of the cited species that have become resistant to plants containing the cry1F gene.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing chitosan nanoparticles. The chitosan nanoparticles have dsRNAst adhered onto the surface of the particles. The dsRNAst is selected to have the property to gene silencing of AgraChSII. The invention does also relate to the chitosan nanoparticle, its use in pest-control, as pesticide, and a concentrated suspension containing the chitosan nanoparticles.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a promoter sequence from the lipid transfer protein 1 gene of Coffea arabica. The present disclosure further describes DNA constructs that contain the promoter, as well as methods of producing transgenic plants, plant cells or protoplasts, using such constructs.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the control of pest infestation by inhibiting or reducing the expression of genes of the family of chitin synthase and of vitellogenin, as well as through the expression of the toxin Cry8ka5. The invention further provides method and compositions for controlling pests, by feeding the pest with one or more double-stranded RNA molecules provided by the present invention, as well as double-stranded RNA molecule provided by the present invention, as well as through the action of the toxin Cry8ka5 on the target insect. The invention further describes a method of obtaining transgenic plants that express double-stranded RNA molecules and the toxin protein Cry8ka5. The present invention is preferably used for cotton plants.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a new promoter of the expression of genes in plants. More specifically, the invention relates to regulatory sequences of polynucleotides that are isolated from soy plants and can initiate and activate polynucleotide transcription, and to the use of these regulatory sequences to modify the transcription of endogenous and/or heterologous polynucleotides and to produce polypeptides. The invention further describes DNA constructs that contain the promoter of the gene of the supposed flavonol-sulfotransferase protein in soy plants, which promoter is functionally linked to a heterologous and/or endogenous gene. Moreover, the invention relates to the use of these constructs in the form of expression cassettes, expression vectors, recombinant vectors and in plants, plant cells or transgenic protoplasts.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of insect pests control, using methods and compositions which comprise of alpha-amylase analogous mutant inhibitors (?AIs). More specifically, the invention provides new ?AIs analogous mutant molecules for controlling insect pests, in particular boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis), partially or totally presenting reduction of the amylolytic activity of the digestive enzymes in the intestinal lumen of the insect. Other aspects of the invention include gene constructs containing the nucleic acid molecules that code for the alpha-amylase inhibitors, heterologous expression methods of the new molecules in the active form, and the use of these molecules for controlling insect pests. The invention also provides analogous synthetic genes optimized for their transformation and expression in plants.

Abstract: The present invention refers to the use of AT(n) insertions in promoter elements for controlling the expression levels of coding sequences in plants. The expression levels of the heat shock protein (Gmhsp17.6-L), when compared in resistant and susceptible individuals in the population, demonstrated that the largest expression levels per quantitative PCR were present in the individuals that contained the largest AT insertions in the promoter region. The invention also refers to gene expression cassettes containing promoter regions of the gene with different numbers of AT insertions fused to the GUS protein, for transforming soybean embryos.

Abstract: The Present invention relates to molecules isolated from the nucleic acid that encodes spider web proteins or fragments of these or other derivatives of these. The invention also refers to a chimerical gene and an expression vector containing molecules isolated from the nucleic acid that codes for proteins related to the webs of Nephilengys, cruentata, Avicularia juruensis and Parawixia bistriata spiders. Another embodiment of the present invention are transformed cells containing a chimerical gene or an expression vector of the present invention. Yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for obtaining genetically modified organisms containing inventive chimerical genes or expression vectors and a method for obtaining recombinant proteins from the silks of Nephilengys, cruentata, Avicularia juruensis and Parawixia bistriata spiders. Finally, the invention describes products, such as biofilaments and compositions, using the recombinant proteins of the present invention.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the control of infestation of pests by inhibiting or reducing the expression of genes of the family of chitin synthase. The invention further provides methods and compositions for controlling pests by feeding them with one or more double-strand RNA molecules provides by the present invention. The invention further describes a method of obtaining transgenic plants that express double-strand RNA molecules. The present invention is preferably used for cotton-plants.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an opioid peptide represented by general formula TyrGlyGly-X1-X2-X3-X4, wherein: X1 is represented by Thr or Glu; X1 is represented by Gly or Thr or Ala; X3 is represented by Ala or Val or Gly or Glu; and X4 is represented by His or Gln or Thr or SEQ ID NO:1, or HisTyr or GlnTyr or ThrTyr. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical and food compositions comprising the peptide and to the use of the same for analgesic purposes, and/or for providing a feeling of satiety to a subject.

Abstract: The proposed innovation relates to the biotechnological improvement of plant species of commercial interest. More specifically, the present invention relates to the production of transgenic plants biotechnological with greater tolerance to water deficit and salt stress by means of the expression of a new gene of coffee (of the Coffea Arabica species), belonging to the HD-Zip family, and characterized by a homeodomain associated with a leucine zipper. The expression of this transcriptional factor is induced in leaves and roots of coffee plants subjected to various water deficit conditions (both moderate and severe); transgenic plants that over-express this gene inhibiting greater tolerance both to differ drought intensities and to high salt concentrations.

Abstract: The present application relates generically to compositions used for controlling agricultural pests and, in a particular, to compositions usable for combating nematodes. The application presents a feasible alternative to the use of nematotoxic compounds that are harmful to the environment and that may damage human health. This alternative includes a nematotoxic composition for controlling nematodes that may be used on plants, parts of plants and on the soil. The respective technology results from unexpected results achieved from experiments carried out with extracts of the plant Canavalia ensiformis, resulting in an unheard-of nematotoxic composition comprising a specific combination of substances that are naturally found in the extract and that act synergistically.

Abstract: The present invention presents a method for obtaining female inbred lines from Asteracea hybrids, using the species Helianthus annuus as a model. The method of the invention is based on the modification of lines with the fertility restorer gene (Rf), obtained from self-pollination of hybrids, in lines presenting normal cytoplasm and not containing the Rf gene. Further, derived male sterile lines were developed. Through the use of this methodology it was possible to obtain female lines from commercial hybrids of sunflower.

Abstract: The present invention belongs to an insecticide compound derived from a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis and refers to the field of controlling plant pests, particularly to the control of the boll weevil—Anthonomus grandis. More specifically, the object of the invention refers to a new gene for the new delta-endotoxin designated Cry8Ha and to the cloning and expression of the gene that encodes for the protein Cry8Ha in Escherichia coli. There is provided the nucleotide sequence and encoding protein of the new delta-endotoxin, recombinant vectors and host cells. There is also provided processes and means for recombinant production and the use of the new delta-endotoxin for application in the control of the boll weevil. Additionally, the invention also provides an optimized synthetic gene for expression in cotton plants. Using the gene described herein, it is possible to transform plants based on techniques known by specialists in the art, for the expression of the endotoxin active against the boll weevil.

Abstract: The present invention relates to bacterial formulation in vegetable fiber materials, which can be employed by incorporation into soils and by treating seeds, as well as in nutrient in hydroponic systems, for the promotion of plant growth and/or the biologic control of diseases. Preferably, the formulation of the present invention employs coconut fiber. An advantage of the present invention is the possible replacement of turf and other organic or inorganic materials employed in the formulation of inoculants and of agents for the biologic control of bacteria and fungi by coconut fiber.