Assessing the Environmental Impact of Water Consumption by Energy Crops Grown in Spain

The environmental impact of the water consumption of four typical crop rotations grown in Spain, including energy crops, was analyzed and compared against Spanish agricultural and natural reference situations. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used for the assessment of the potential environmental impact of blue water (withdrawal from water bodies) and green water (uptake of soil moisture) consumption. The latter has so far been disregarded in LCA. To account for green water, two approaches have been applied: the first accounts for the difference in green water demand of the crops and a reference situation. The second is a green water scarcity index, which measures the fraction of the soil‐water plant consumption to the available green water. Our results show that, if the aim is to minimize the environmental impacts of water consumption, the energy crop rotations assessed in this study were most suitable in basins in the northeast of Spain. In contrast, the energy crops grown in basins in the southeast of Spain were associated with the greatest environmental impacts. Further research into the integration of quantitative green water assessment in LCA is crucial in studies of systems with a high dependence on green water resources.     

Chemoselective Deprotection of Triethylsilyl Ethers

An efficient and selective method was developed for the deprotection of triethylsilyl (TES) ethers using formic acid in methanol (5–10%) or in methylene chloride 2–5%) with excellent yields. TES ethers are selectively deprotected to the corresponding alcohols in high yields using formic acid in methanol under mild reaction conditions. Other hydroxyl protecting groups like t-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS) remain unaffected.     

The utility of epithelial-cell micronuclei in the assessment of intermittent exposures

Epithelial-cell micronuclei (MN) are potentially useful markers of occupational exposure to genotoxicants. With intermittent exposures, cells sampled either before or after a specific time interval, reflecting the time it takes for damaged cells to become available at the epithelial surface, are unlikely to be exposure-related. It may then be important to conduct an exposure-window analysis, with the goal of identifying the relevant exposures.We re-analysed individual exposure data from a previous study (Suruda et al. 1993) of MN formation in 22 male mortuary science students exposed to formaldehyde during a 90-day embalming class. We conducted an exposurewindow analysis and compared the results with those obtained with 90-day cumulative exposure. The window widths varied between 7 and 25 days, in 1 day increments, assuming a constant 7-day cell-cycle. We assessed the fit (likelihood-ratio test) of a linear regression model, regressing the change in buccal MN prevalence on formaldehyde exposure, using both asymptotic and non-asymptotic methods. Exposures defined from 7-15 to 7-18 days before specimen collection provided a slightly better fit than the 90-day cumulative exposure, with a doubling of the regression coefficient for the exposure effect (for the 7-16-days window LR = 5.32, p = 0.032, coefficient = 0.088 MN per 1000 cells per ppm-hr; 95% CI = 0.014, 0.16; for the 90-day cumulative exposure LR = 4.44, p = 0.048, coefficient = 0.045 MN per 1000 cells per ppm-hr, 95% CI = 0.0038, 0.086). Although hampered by the small number of subjects, these results reinforce the potential importance of exposure timing.     

Landscape context modulates alien plant invasion in Mediterranean forest edges

Natural habitats in human-altered landscapes are especially vulnerable to biological invasions, especially in their edges. We aim to understand the influence of landscape and local characteristics on biological invasions by exploring the level of plant invasion and alien species traits in forest edges in highly urbanized landscapes. We identified all plant species in 73 paired plots in the edge and 50 m towards the interior of the forest. We explored the association between alien species richness and similarity in species composition between edge and interior plots with landscape and local variables, using generalized linear models and variance partitioning techniques. Then, we performed Fourth-corner analyses to explore the association between alien plant traits and local and landscape variables. In contrast to native species richness, alien species richness was more affected by the surrounding landscape than by the local characteristics of the edge. Road proximity was positively associated with alien species richness and proportion and was its most important correlate, whereas disturbance was negatively associated with native species richness and was its most influential factor. Alien plant traits were also primarily associated with landscape characteristics. For instance, species of Mediterranean origin and introduced for agriculture were associated with higher agriculture use in the landscape. Our findings suggest that risk analyses of habitat vulnerability to invasion must consider the landscape context in order to successfully predict highly invaded areas and identify potentially successful invaders.     

Evidence of current impact of climate change on life: a walk from genes to the biosphere

We review the evidence of how organisms and populations are currently responding to climate change through phenotypic plasticity, genotypic evolution, changes in distribution and, in some cases, local extinction. Organisms alter their gene expression and metabolism to increase the concentrations of several antistress compounds and to change their physiology, phenology, growth and reproduction in response to climate change. Rapid adaptation and microevolution occur at the population level. Together with these phenotypic and genotypic adaptations, the movement of organisms and the turnover of populations can lead to migration toward habitats with better conditions unless hindered by barriers. Both migration and local extinction of populations have occurred. However, many unknowns for all these processes remain. The roles of phenotypic plasticity and genotypic evolution and their possible trade‐offs and links with population structure warrant further research. The application of omic techniques to ecological studies will greatly favor this research. It remains poorly understood how climate change will result in asymmetrical responses of species and how it will interact with other increasing global impacts, such as N eutrophication, changes in environmental N : P ratios and species invasion, among many others. The biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks on climate of all these changes in vegetation are also poorly understood. We here review the evidence of responses to climate change and discuss the perspectives for increasing our knowledge of the interactions between climate change and life.     

Interferon Induced IFIT Family Genes in Host Antiviral Defense

Secretion of interferons (IFNs) from virus-infected cells is a hallmark of host antiviral immunity and in fact, IFNs exert their antiviral activities through the induction of antiviral proteins. The IFN-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFITs) family is among hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes. This family contains a cluster of duplicated loci. Most mammals have IFIT1, IFIT2, IFIT3 and IFIT5; however, bird, marsupial, frog and fish have only IFIT5. Regardless of species, IFIT5 is always adjacent to SLC16A12. IFIT family genes are predominantly induced by type I and type III interferons and are regulated by the pattern recognition and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. IFIT family proteins are involved in many processes in response to viral infection. However, some viruses can escape the antiviral functions of the IFIT family by suppressing IFIT family genes expression or methylation of 5'' cap of viral molecules. In addition, the variants of IFIT family genes could significantly influence the outcome of hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy. We believe that our current review provides a comprehensive picture for the community to understand the structure and function of IFIT family genes in response to pathogens in human, as well as in animals.     

Postgenomic futures: translations across the machine-nature border in systems biology

Abstract

This article discusses the production of new “postgenomic” knowledges that aim to be more ecological and “wholistic” than the reductionist genetics of the last forty years. It examines systems biology and, briefly, developmental systems theory, which are two approaches that attempt to model complexities in biology. System biological metaphors and languages have been in part taken from engineering models of automobiles, airplanes and robots and then applied to complex living systems. Systems biology is only the most recent example and perhaps an excellent case in which to study this movement back and forth across the machine-living organism border in Euro-American biology to track how what we know to be nature and machine is constituted. This article argues for a careful analysis of this historical production specifically around the question of what is lost in translation at these border crossings and their potential consequences.