Irapuato, Gto., April 23, 2017.- Researchers from the University of Guanajuato (UG) analyze the biochemical and biological activity of present organisms in insect intestines, to know the processes that allow to degrade toxic or polluting substances. This knowledge could be applied in producing useful compounds for the food, pharmaceutical, pollution diminishing industries or produce environment friendly fuels.

Dr. Gustavo Hernández Guzmán, of the Division of Life Sciences (DICIVA) at Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, who oversees a project financed by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) where he has identified biochemical activity in Chrysoperia carnea's secretions, known as crisp, which is a plague controlling insect.

Dr. Hernández Guzmán, told that when he began working inside UG, they asked him to design a strategy that would impact in the fuel area, so, through microbiology, he focused in isolating bacteria capable of degrading the cell wall of microalgae, which is the most important step of an efficient production of biodiesel.

Then, using the mantis as a study model and moved by the interest on knowing which bacteria are present in these insect's intestines, he obtained financing from the Program of Improvement for Professors (PROMEP) in collaboration with Dr. Salas Araiza, UG researcher expert in Entomology, together found that the intestinal bacteria community in females is much higher and more diverse that in the male, which is a reflex of the insect's behavior; "the female eats more, and even eats the male after mating".

UG's researcher explained that the microorganisms that colonize the intestines of some insects may help to degrade toxic compounds (such as insecticides) or fix some heavy metals, "we can use all these new biochemical activities to develop and optimize biotechnological processes. Hence, the importance of financing the Basic Science projects, since they are the first step of all applied research."

In this CONACYT supported project, scholars from UG participate such as Dr. José Eleazar Barboza Corona and Dr. Darío Salas Araiza; from the Research and Advanced Studies Center (CINVESTAV) Irapuato, Dr. Gertrud Lund, Dr. Domancar Orona and Dr. Juan Caballero-, all of them are renowned researchers.

Regarding the crisp feeding strategy, we know that when they bite their preys, they inject an enzymatic cocktail that makes the insect dissolve (like the one used by spiders), from which only the exoskeleton is left, mentioned Dr. Gustavo Hernández. The crisp is voracious, it feeds from different plague insects, among them aphids, reason why it is also known as "The lion of the aphids".

Dr. Hernández Guzmán mentions its relevance: "The project is promising since it can use the crisp as a model to study polysaccharide and protein degrading enzymes", and explains that even when the research is Basic Science, it has trends of technological application. The validity of the project is from October 2016 to October 2019, thesis holders can participate with a scholarship from CONACYT and it summons postgraduate students to participate in the project, which contributes to generate high quality human resources in the scientific ambience.

Dr. Gustavo Hernández Guzmán belongs to the institution's academic body for four and a half years, institution he came to through a program of retention of SNI. He chose to be part of the University of Guanajuato "for its prestige and its contributions to science in Mexico, many of them make high level research with international recognition", he affirmed.

Chemist Pharmacist Biologist (FES Cuautitlán, UNAM) and Doctor in Science with specialty in Biotechnology in Plants (CINVESTAV Irapuato), made a postdoctoral residency in Dr. Carol L. Bender's Laboratory in the Entomology and Plant Pathology Department (Oklahoma State University, US) and in LANGEBIO (now Advanced Genomics Unit of CINVESTAV Irapuato) working with genomics and informatics. Today, he is a professor at the Food Department and member of the Academic Body of Agricultural Biotechnology to which was recently awarded with "Consolidated with indefinite validity" for the quality of its scientific products.