Understanding the Physiological and Molecular Mechanism of Persistent Organic Pollutant Uptake and Detoxification in Cucurbit Species (Zucchini and Squash)

Cucurbita pepo ssp pepo (zucchini) roots phytoextract significant amounts of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from soil, followed by effective translocation to aboveground tissues. The closely related C. pepo ssp ovifera (squash) does not have this ability. In a DDE-contaminated field soil, zucchini roots and stems contained 3.6 and 6.6-fold greater contaminant than did squash tissues, respectively, and zucchini phytoextracted 12-times more DDE from soil than squash. In batch hydroponics, squash was significantly more sensitive to DDE (2−20 mg/L) exposure; 4 mg/L DDE significantly reduced squash biomass (14%) whereas for zucchini, biomass reductions were observed at 20 mg/L (20%). PCR select Suppression Subtraction Hybridization was used to identify differentially expressed genes in DDE treated zucchini relative to DDE treated squash or non-treated zucchini. After differential screening to eliminate false positives, unique cDNA clones were sequenced. Out of 40 shoot cDNA sequences, 34 cDNAs have homology to parts of phloem filament protein 1 (PP1). Out of 6 cDNAs from the root tissue, two cDNAs are similar to cytochrome P450 like proteins, and one cDNA matches a putative senescence associated protein. From the DDE exposed zucchini seedlings cDNA library, out of 22 differentially expressed genes, 14 cDNAs were found to have homology with genes involved in abiotic stresses, signaling, lipid metabolism, and photosynthesis. A large number of cDNA sequences were found to encode novel unknown proteins that may be involved in uncharacterized pathways of DDE metabolism in plants. A semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis of isolated genes confirmed up-regulation in response to DDE exposure

MOESM2 of Transcriptome profiling of Camelina sativa to identify genes involved in triacylglycerol biosynthesis and accumulation in the developing seeds

Additional file 2: Table S2. List of Camelina genes with the highest RPKM values

MOESM7 of Transcriptome profiling of Camelina sativa to identify genes involved in triacylglycerol biosynthesis and accumulation in the developing seeds

Additional file 7: Table S7. GO information for the DEGs differentially regulated in Cs-21

What are the social impacts of land use restrictions on local communities? Empirical evidence from Costa Rica

Global efforts to reduce deforestation rely heavily on protected areas and land use restrictions. The effect of these restrictions on local communities is currently the subject of heated debate among conservation and development experts. Measuring the social impacts of protected areas is difficult because the effects cannot be isolated from other factors, given the nonrandom placement of protection. We address this problem by applying a quasi-experimental approach to establish the counterfactual (“what would have been the socioeconomic outcome if a protected area had not been established?”). We use matching methods to measure the impacts of pre-1980 protected areas in Costa Rica on socioeconomic outcomes in 2000. In 2000, neighboring communities near protected areas were substantially poorer than average. However, after controlling for pre-protection characteristics associated with both protection and economic growth, the results indicate that poverty declined as a result of protection. Although the statistical significance of this decline is moderately sensitive to potential hidden bias, the results emphatically do not support a hypothesis that ecosystem protection, on average, exacerbates poverty. In contrast, conventional empirical methods implied erroneously that protection had negative social impacts, suggesting that failure to control for confounding factors or baselines can lead to substantially inaccurate estimates