Community response grids: using information technology to help communities respond to bioterror emergencies

Access to accurate and trusted information is vital in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an emergency. To facilitate response in large-scale emergency situations, Community Response Grids (CRGs) integrate Internet and mobile technologies to enable residents to report information, professional emergency responders to disseminate instructions, and residents to assist one another. CRGs use technology to help residents and professional emergency responders to work together in community response to emergencies, including bioterrorism events. In a time of increased danger from bioterrorist threats, the application of advanced information and communication technologies to community response is vital in confronting such threats. This article describes CRGs, their underlying concepts, development efforts, their relevance to biosecurity and bioterrorism, and future research issues in the use of technology to facilitate community response.     

Recombinant RNA technology: the tRNA scaffold

RNA has emerged as a major player in most cellular processes. Understanding these processes at the molecular level requires homogeneous RNA samples for structural, biochemical and pharmacological studies. So far, this has been a bottleneck, as the only methods for producing such pure RNA have been in vitro syntheses. Here we describe a generic approach for expressing and purifying structured RNA in Escherichia coli, using tools that parallel those available for recombinant proteins. Our system is based on a camouflage strategy, the 'tRNA scaffold', in which the recombinant RNA is disguised as a natural RNA and thus hijacks the host machinery, escaping cellular RNases. This opens the way to large-scale structural and molecular investigations of RNA function.     

Discovery of a natural thiamine adenine nucleotide

Several important cofactors are adenine nucleotides with a vitamin as the catalytic moiety. Here, we report the discovery of the first adenine nucleotide containing vitamin B1: adenosine thiamine triphosphate (AThTP, 1), or thiaminylated ATP. We discovered AThTP in Escherichia coli and found that it accumulates specifically in response to carbon starvation, thereby acting as a signal rather than a cofactor. We detected smaller amounts in yeast and in plant and animal tissues.     

Use of cell cultures in vitro to assess the uptake of long dsRNA in plant cells

In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant - While RNAi approaches based on transgenic plants overexpressing double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) have yielded a number of genetically modified...     

Application of green analytical chemistry to a green chemistry process: Magnetic resonance and Raman spectroscopic process monitoring of continuous ethanolic fermentation

Compact ¹H NMR and Raman spectrometers were used for real-time process monitoring of alcoholic fermentation in a continuous flow reactor. Yeast cells catalyzing the sucrose conversion were immobilized in alginate beads floating in the reactor. The spectrometers proved to be robust and could be easily attached to the reaction apparatus. As environmentally friendly analysis methods, ¹H NMR and Raman spectroscopy were selected to match the resource- and energy-saving process. Analyses took only a few seconds to minutes compared to chromatographic procedures and were, therefore, suitable for real-time control realized as a feedback loop. Both compact spectrometers were successfully implemented online. Raman spectroscopy allowed for faster spectral acquisition and higher quantitative precision, NMR yielded more resolved signals thus higher specificity. By using the software Matlab for automated data loading and processing, relevant parameters such as the ethanol, glycerol, and sugar content could be easily obtained. The subsequent multivariate data analysis using partial linear least-squares regression type 2 enabled the quantitative monitoring of all reactants within a single model in real time.     

Lateral hydrological connectivity differentially affects the community characteristics of multiple groups of aquatic invertebrates in tropical wetland pans in South Africa

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Egg banks in freshwater zooplankton: evolutionary and ecological archives in the sediment

Many representatives of freshwater zooplankton produce at some stage in their life cycle resting stages. A variable portion of the eggs of the previous growing period will hatch at the next occasion while the remaining ones are added to a persistent egg bank, where they can remain viable for decades or longer. The importance of the study of resting eggs and egg banks in general for such different disciplines as taxonomy, ecological biogeography, paleolimnology, nature conservation, evolutionary ecology and community and population ecology is generally appreciated. The major current and expected future developments in this rapidly expanding field of research are presented here. The structure and dynamics of the egg bank are determined by the life history characteristics of the species (or local population), the hatching phenology of their resting stages, and the characteristics of the habitat. The horizontal distribution of dormant stages is generally patchy, with a greater density in the deeper and/or windward parts of a pond or lake. In sediment cores, most viable (responsive) eggs occur in the upper centimeters, although vertical variation related to the history of fish predation or water quality occurs. The accumulation of resting stages of different species, generations and genotypes with variable regeneration niches results in a mixed egg bank with greater potential biodiversity than the active community sampled at any one moment. Through the benthic–pelagic coupling, this dormant reservoir may have considerable impact on the evolutionary potential of the organisms, the ecological dynamics of the community and the distribution of species. Egg banks can be considered the archive of the local habitat, since the pattern of changes in species assemblage and genotypes from the past up to the present reflect changes due to natural or anthropogenic impact that can be used to reconstruct evolutionary processes or even to restore the local habitat. Overlooking the egg bank as an important component of zooplankton communities may lead to erroneous interpretations in the analysis of community and population genetic structure. This review integrates technical and scientific information needed in the study of the structure and function of egg banks in zooplankton with special focus on the fascinating latest developments in the field.