Tūhoe Tuawhenua mātauranga of kererū (

Indigenous peoples? knowledge on changes in wildlife populations and explanations for these changes can inform current conservation and wildlife management systems. In this study, Tūhoe Tuawhenua interviewees provided mātauranga (traditional knowledge) about a repertoire of visual (e.g. decreasing flock size), audible (e.g. less noise from kererū in the forest canopy), and harvest-related (e.g. steep decline in harvests since the 1950) indicators used to assess kererū (New Zealand pigeon; Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae) abundance and condition in Te Urewera, New Zealand over the last 100 years. Metaphorical explanations for the decline in kererū included the loss of mana (authority and prestige) by the iwi (tribe) over the kererū and forest, and the retraction of the kererū?s mauri (life force) by Tāne Mahuta (God of the Forest). Interviewees reported that predation and interspecific competition with introduced species, variability in food supply, and loss of habitat were the principal biophysical mechanisms to have caused declines in kererū abundance. Long-term qualitative monitoring by Tūhoe Tuawhenua has the potential to guide the restoration of kererū and wider environmental management in Te Urewera. Allowing iwi the self-determination to make management decisions according to their mātauranga (or science, if desired) is likely to lead to greater application of results and altered practices where required for sustainability.     

Von Vogelkot zu grünen Teppichen

This study tested whether potash tailing piles can be restored with biological soil crusts using an additive of the company upi. A biocrust community consists of different organisms, such as microalgae, lichens, and mosses. An established biocrust stabilizes the ground and traps rain water, which could in return reduce salt leachate into the environment. This pioneer community promotes formation of a new habitat that can be recolonized by higher plants. For this study microalgae were isolated from biological soil crusts collected at potash tailing pile sites. We characterized their salt tolerance and established first artificial biocrusts on the heap material. Upcoming experiments will focus on the establishment of artificial biocrusts in selected heap areas.     

Der Beitrag der Grünen Gentechnik

Yield increase: the contribution of plant biotechnology Modern plant breeding is facing increasing challenges to meet future needs caused by global climate changes, decreasing reserves of fossil fuels, an increasing world population as well as an aging society. Therefore, besides input traits, breeding aims focus on renewable resources and to ensure production of sufficient high quality food and feed. In particular, the world‐wide rising in energy demand harbors the risk that more and more agricultural land will be used for industrial purposes instead for food production. Therefore, breeding of highly productive crop plants for the production of valuable biological materials is of great importance. To optimize the production of valuable compounds a profound molecular and biochemical knowledge of the underlying metabolic pathways and the availability of technologies for the transfer of these findings into crop plants are needed. Plant biotechnology can be a key technology being important for deciphering molecular relationships as well as being required for the implementation of these findings into breeding programs.     

塞拉利尼转基因“致癌”研究:从试验方法到结论

法国学者塞拉利尼的转基因致癌论文在学术界和国际社会引起了极大关注与争议。在对塞拉利尼论文发表的各界反应及相关研究文献追溯的基础上,对其试验材料、试验设计、数据统计等进行了分析。研究结果表明,塞拉利尼的研究,存在试验材料无法确保其结论的唯一性、试验样本不能保证其研究结论的可重现性,以及试验结果存在多种解读等问题。研究结果也对塞拉利尼论文所发杂志的审稿制度提出了质疑,认为这是塞拉利尼论文目前仍是影响国际社会对转基因安全性争议的原因之一。此外,在其施引文献中,有试验数据支撑的研究结果均表明了转基因作物饲喂动物未显著影响动物的健康。因此,"转基因致癌"是非科学研究的结论,学者和公众有必要回归科学理性的轨道探讨和解决有争议的问题。     

Reduced HRASG12V-Driven Tumorigenesis of Cell Lines Expressing KRASC118S

In many different human cancers, one of the HRAS, NRAS, or KRAS genes in the RAS family of small GTPases acquires an oncogenic mutation that renders the encoded protein constitutively GTP-bound and thereby active, which is well established to promote tumorigenesis. In addition to oncogenic mutations, accumulating evidence suggests that the wild-type isoforms may also be activated and contribute to oncogenic RAS-driven tumorigenesis. In this regard, redox-dependent reactions with cysteine 118 (C118) have been found to promote activation of wild-type HRAS and NRAS. We sought to determine if this residue is also important for the activation of wild-type KRAS and promotion of tumorigenesis. Thus, we mutated C118 to serine (C118S) in wild-type KRAS to block redox-dependent reactions at this site. We now report that this mutation reduced the level of GTP-bound KRAS and impaired RAS signaling stimulated by the growth factor EGF. With regards to tumorigenesis, we also report that oncogenic HRAS-transformed human cells in which endogenous KRAS was knocked down and replaced with KRAS^C118S exhibited reduced xenograft tumor growth, as did oncogenic HRAS-transformed Kras^C118S/C118S murine cells in which the C118S mutation was knocked into the endogenous Kras gene. Taken together, these data suggest a role for redox-dependent activation of wild-type KRAS through C118 in oncogenic HRAS-driven tumorigenesis.     

Why arguments against infanticide remain convincing: A reply to Räsänen

In ‘Pro‐life arguments against infanticide and why they are not convincing’ Joona Räsänen argues that Christopher Kaczor's objections to Giubilini and Minerva's position on infanticide are not persuasive. We argue that Räsänen's criticism is largely misplaced, and that he has not engaged with Kaczor's strongest arguments against infanticide. We reply to each of Räsänen's criticisms, drawing on the full range of Kaczor's arguments, as well as adding some of our own.     

New Phytologist 140 (1998), 363–383

In the November 1998 issue of New Phytologist , we published the Tansley review 'Gibberellins: regulating genes and germination' by Sian Ritchie and Simon Gilroy ( New Phytol. (1998) 140 , 363–383). Since its publication, it has come to our attention that text associated with Fig. 4 was omitted during production. The correct figure is reprinted here in full.
We apologise to the author and to our readers for this mistake.
Figure 4. Promoter sequences of various genes expressed in the cereal aleurone and shown to be regulated by GA. The position of each sequence is indicated relative to the start codon. Regions identified as being involved in regulation of the genes are highlighted, as are similar regions in other genes. Sites at which protein has been shown to bind are also indicated. ( a ) Barley Amy 32b (Sutcliff et al ., 1993; Whittier et al ., 1987); wheat Amy 2/54 (Huttley et al ., 1992; Rushton et al ., 1992; Rushton et al ., 1995); barley Amy 46 (Khursheed & Rogers, 1988); barley Amy 2/p155 (Knox et al ., 1987); barley aleurain (Whittier et al ., 1987); barley β-glucanase II (Wolf, 1992); wheat cathepsin B-like (Cejudo et al ., 1992); rice ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (Chen et al ., 1995). ( b ). Wheat Amy 1/18 (Rushton et al ., 1992); barley Amy pHV 19 (Jacobsen & Close, 1991; Gubler & Jacobsen, 1992)/ Amy 1 / 6-4 (Khursheed & Rogers, 1988; Rogers, Lanahan & Rogers 1994); rice OSamy-a / Amy 3c (Ou-Lee et al ., 1988; Sutcliff et al ., 1991; Yu et al ., 1992; Goldman et al ., 1994); rice Amy 3B (Sutcliffe et al ., 1991); rice OSamy-c (Kim et al ., 1992; Kim & Wu, 1992; Tanida et al ., 1994); rice Amy 1A (Huang et al ., 1990; Itoh et al ., 1995).
Figure 4 ( b ). For legend see facing page.     

Hightech aus der grünen Apotheke. Biopharmazeutika aus Pflanzen

Hightech from Natures Pharmacy Plants produce a plethora of valuable natural products, many of which are used as pharmaceuticals. Today, a large fraction of the novel pharmaceuticals entering the market are biomolecules of proteinaceous nature (antibodies, hormones, cytokines, vaccines) and they are produced in transgenic organisms like bacteria, yeast, or mammalian cell cultures. Plants are also capable to serve as a production host for novel therapeutics like monoclonal antibodies, hormones like insulin, or subunit vaccines. Transgenic plants and plant cell cultures are already modified to produce protein biopharmaceuticals and vaccines on a large scale basis and in some aspects they have clear advantages over conventional production hosts (e.g. cost of goods, speed of production, or posttranslational modification of therapeutic proteins). Therefore, plant biotechnology could create entirely novel medicinal plants with applications not known before.