ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to evaluate the transmissibility of F. verticillioides, in corn seeds, when inoculated in different phenological stages. The plants were inoculated with the pathogen at the following stages: V7, V9, R1, R2, R4, and R6. The experiments were conducted in pots, in a completely randomized design, with six replications. The fungus infection rate in the seeds was verified through the health test (Blotter Test). The significance of the contrast between the phenological stages and in the two experiments (rainy season and dry season), and productivity showed plant-seed transmission of F. verticillioides in all phenological stages. The PCR technique was able to reveal up to the lowest level, 1% incidence of F. verticillioides in corn seeds. There was a significant difference between the times of plant inoculation and the incidence of the fungus in the seeds. Plants inoculated in the reproductive phase transmitted F. verticillioides for seeds with the highest rate of infection, in the two experiments, in the rainy season (V7 - 48; V9 - 46; R1 - 77.33; R2 - 84; R4 - 96; R6 - 96.67; and Test - 14.67%), and dry season (V7 - 46.67; V9 - 66; R1 - 75.33; R2 - 95.33; R4 - 98; and R6 - 97.33%). In this way, the present work demonstrated that in the reproductive phenological stages R2, R4, and R6, the corn plant was more susceptible to infection with F. verticillioides, and that it also resulted in a decrease in grain productivity.

Urogenital infections affect millions of people every year worldwide. The treatment of these diseases usually requires the use of antimicrobial agents, and more recently, the use of probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) cultures for the management of vaginal infections has been extensively studied. In this work, 11 vaginal lactobacilli isolates, previously obtained from healthy patients, were studied to screen microorganisms with probiotic properties against Candida spp. The LAB were tested for their ability of auto-aggregation, coaggregation with C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei, and C. tropicalis, adhesion to Caco-2 epithelial cells and production of lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). All lactobacilli isolates tested were able to auto-aggregate (ranging from 25.3% to 75.4% assessed at 4 hours of incubation) and to co-aggregate with the four Candida species into different degrees; among them L. crispatus showed the highest scores of coaggregation. The highest amount of lactic acid was produced by L. salivarius (13.9 g/l), followed by L. johnsonii (6.5 g/l), L. acidophilus (5.5 g/l), and L. jensenii (5.4 g/l). All isolates produced H2O2 , but the highest levels (3 -10 mg/l) were observed for L. acidophilus, L. crispatus, L. gasseri, L. johnsonii, and L. vaginalis. Only L. agilis, L. jensenii, L. johnsonii and L. ruminus were able to adhere to epithelial Caco-2 cells. Among the isolates evaluated, L agilis, L. jensenii, L. johnsonii, and L. ruminus exhibited simultaneously several desirable properties as potential probiotic strains justifying future studies to evaluate their technological properties in different pharmaceutical preparations for human use.