The Contribution of Agriculture,Forestry and other Land Use activities to Global Warming, 1990–2012

We refine the information available through the IPCC AR5 with regard to recent trends in global GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU), including global emission updates to 2012. Using all three available AFOLU datasets employed for analysis in the IPCC AR5, rather than just one as done in the IPCC AR5 WGIII Summary for Policy Makers, our analyses point to a down‐revision of global AFOLU shares of total anthropogenic emissions, while providing important additional information on subsectoral trends. Our findings confirm that the share of AFOLU emissions to the anthropogenic total declined over time. They indicate a decadal average of 28.7 ± 1.5% in the 1990s and 23.6 ± 2.1% in the 2000s and an annual value of 21.2 ± 1.5% in 2010. The IPCC AR5 had indicated a 24% share in 2010. In contrast to previous decades, when emissions from land use (land use, land use change and forestry, including deforestation) were significantly larger than those from agriculture (crop and livestock production), in 2010 agriculture was the larger component, contributing 11.2 ± 0.4% of total GHG emissions, compared to 10.0 ± 1.2% of the land use sector. Deforestation was responsible for only 8% of total anthropogenic emissions in 2010, compared to 12% in the 1990s. Since 2010, the last year assessed by the IPCC AR5, new FAO estimates indicate that land use emissions have remained stable, at about 4.8 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. Emissions minus removals have also remained stable, at 3.2 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. By contrast, agriculture emissions have continued to grow, at roughly 1% annually, and remained larger than the land use sector, reaching 5.4 Gt CO₂ eq yr^?1 in 2012. These results are useful to further inform the current climate policy debate on land use, suggesting that more efforts and resources should be directed to further explore options for mitigation in agriculture, much in line with the large efforts devoted to REDD+ in the past decade.     

Snake venomics of African spitting cobras: toxin composition and assessment of congeneric cross-reactivity of the pan-African EchiTAb-Plus-ICP antivenom by antivenomics and neutralization approaches

Venomic analysis of the venoms of Naja nigricollis, N. katiensis, N. nubiae, N. mossambica, and N. pallida revealed similar compositional trends. The high content of cytotoxins and PLA(2)s may account for the extensive tissue necrosis characteristic of the envenomings by these species. The high abundance of a type I α-neurotoxin in N. nubiae may be responsible for the high lethal toxicity of this venom (in rodents). The ability of EchiTAb-Plus-ICP antivenom to immunodeplete and neutralize the venoms of African spitting cobras was assessed by antivenomics and neutralization tests. It partially immunodepleted 3FTx and PLA(2)s and completely immunodepleted SVMPs and CRISPs in all venoms. The antivenom neutralized the dermonecrotic and PLA(2) activities of all African Naja venoms, whereas lethality was eliminated in the venoms of N. nigricollis, N. mossambica, and N. pallida but not in those of N. nubiae and N. katiensis. The lack of neutralization of lethality of N. nubiae venom may be of medical relevance only in relatively populous areas of the Saharan region. The impaired activity of EchiTAb-Plus-ICP against N. katiensis may not represent a major concern. This species is sympatric with N. nigricollis in many regions of Africa, although very few bites have been attributed to it.     

pH-responsive polysaccharide-based polyelectrolyte complexes as nanocarriers for lysosomal delivery of therapeutic proteins

Nanopharmaceutics composed of a carrier and a protein have the potential to improve the activity of therapeutical proteins. Therapy for lysosomal diseases is limited by the lack of effective protein delivery systems that allow the controlled release of specific proteins to the lysosomes. Here we address this problem by developing functional polyelectrolyte-based nanoparticles able to promote acidic pH-triggered release of the loaded protein. Trimethyl chitosan (TMC) was synthesized and allowed to form polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) with the lysosomal enzyme α-GAL through self-assembly and ionotropic gelation, with average particle size <200 nm, polydispersity index (PDI) <0.2, ζ potential of ～ 20 mV, and a protein loading efficiency close to 65%. These polyelectrolyte nanoparticles were stable and active under physiological conditions and able to release the enzyme at acidic pH, as demonstrated by in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). These nanoparticles were further functionalized with Atto 647N for single-particle characterization and tracking their cellular uptake and fate using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy. In contrast with their precursor, TMC, PECs were efficiently internalized by human endothelial cells and mostly accumulated in lysosomal compartments. The superior physicochemical characteristics of the TMC/α-GAL PECs together with their excellent cellular uptake properties indicate their enormous potential as advanced protein delivery systems for the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases.     

Recent trends in butterfly populations from north-east Spain and Andorra in the light of habitat and climate change

Although butterfly declines have been reported across Europe, no assessment based on detailed quantitative data has ever been made for any extensive area in the Mediterranean Basin. In 1994, a Butterfly Monitoring Scheme was launched in Catalonia (NE Spain), and in 2005 a similar, albeit much smaller, scheme started in the neighbouring Pyrenean country of Andorra. Here we provide a first thorough assessment of butterfly trends in both areas for the last 15 years. Several patterns emerged, above all a worrying decline of a substantial part of the fauna. It was also evident that habitat specialists are experiencing greater declines than habitat generalists, thereby butterfly communities becoming progressively dominated by common species. However, habitat indicators based on characteristic species also revealed that trends are actually associated with habitat types, grassland and scrub specialists declining strongly but woodland specialists showing a marginal increase. These differences are certainly related to profound landscape changes, mainly a dramatic reduction of semi-natural grasslands and open Mediterranean scrub, and a major increase in woodlands. The general effect of climatic warming on butterfly populations was investigated by using the temperature community index (CTI) approach. The thermal structure of butterfly communities remained very stable over time, except in one case where, contrary to the expectations, a significant negative trend in the CTI was noted. However, this surprising result can be explained by taking into account the above-reported pattern of butterfly communities becoming dominated by common species, characterized by low thermal indices in comparison with declining Mediterranean specialists.     

Analysis of Jak2 catalytic function by peptide microarrays: the role of the JH2 domain and V617F mutation

Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) initiates signaling from several cytokine receptors and is required for biological responses such as erythropoiesis. JAK2 activity is controlled by regulatory proteins such as Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) proteins and protein tyrosine phosphatases. JAK2 activity is also intrinsically controlled by regulatory domains, where the pseudokinase (JAK homology 2, JH2) domain has been shown to play an essential role. The physiological role of the JH2 domain in the regulation of JAK2 activity was highlighted by the discovery of the acquired missense point mutation V617F in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Hence, determining the precise role of this domain is critical for understanding disease pathogenesis and design of new treatment modalities. Here, we have evaluated the effect of inter-domain interactions in kinase activity and substrate specificity. By using for the first time purified recombinant JAK2 proteins and a novel peptide micro-array platform, we have determined initial phosphorylation rates and peptide substrate preference for the recombinant kinase domain (JH1) of JAK2, and two constructs comprising both the kinase and pseudokinase domains (JH1-JH2) of JAK2. The data demonstrate that (i) JH2 drastically decreases the activity of the JAK2 JH1 domain, (ii) JH2 increased the K(m) for ATP (iii) JH2 modulates the peptide preference of JAK2 (iv) the V617F mutation partially releases this inhibitory mechanism but does not significantly affect substrate preference or K(m) for ATP. These results provide the biochemical basis for understanding the interaction between the kinase and the pseudokinase domain of JAK2 and identify a novel regulatory role for the JAK2 pseudokinase domain. Additionally, this method can be used to identify new regulatory mechanisms for protein kinases that provide a better platform for designing specific strategies for therapeutic approaches.