Regulation of Gdf5 expression in joint remodelling, repair and osteoarthritis

Funding: Arthritis Research UK (grants no. 20775, 19667, 20865, 21156); European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska Curie grant agreement no. 642414; Medical Research Council (grant MR/L022893/1); A.H.K.R. was supported by the Wellcome Trust through the Scottish Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Initiative (grant no. WT 085664). The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ecosystem Services for Wine Sustainability:A Case in Point of Sustainable Food Systems

This study investigates the concept of ecosystem services in an Australian grape and wine company and explores risks and opportunities to achieve environmental sustainability in this organization. Ecosystem service approach is an emerging paradigm to address natural resource degradation and achieve sustainability in agribusiness organizations. A case study method is used to identify environmental issues at one of the premium wine organizations based in South Australia. This study conducts semi-structured interviews with multiple informants to analyze how this organization integrates ecosystem services approach in their management systems. These semi-structured interviews with multiple informants identified three categories of environmental issues: (1) primary (water use efficiency, soil health, carbon emissions), (2) secondary (energy, water availability), and (3) tertiary (waste water recycling, salinity in soil, loss of biodiversity, impacts due to climate change projections, winery waste management, soil carbon). We used Ecosystem Based Business Risk Analysis Tool (EBBRAT) and found freshwater availability as a major risk for this organization. This tool led to the identification of key areas, such as biological control of insect pests, maintaining biodiversity and management of soil, as an opportunity for the wine company to enhance sustainability. This study highlights ecosystem service approach to achieve sustainability in wine and other agribusiness organizations. This case study is followed by two interactive exercises to illustrate the application of the ideas discussed in the chapter. The chapter concludes with lessons learnt to develop sustainable food systems and some questions that reflect the ideas presented in the chapter and are aimed at shifting the focus toward food sustainability. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. All rights reserved

Separation of peptide fragments of a protein kinase C substrate fused to a β-hairpin by capillary electrophoresis

Synthetic peptides incorporating well-folded β-hairpin peptides possess advantages in a variety of cell biology applications by virtue of increased resistance to proteolytic degradation. In this study, the WKpG β-hairpin peptide fused to a protein kinase C (PKC) substrate was synthesized, and capillary-electrophoretic separation conditions for this peptide and its proteolytic fragments were developed. Fragments of WKpG-PKC were generated by enzymatic treatment with trypsin and Pronase E to produce standards for identification of degradation fragments in a cellular lysate. A simple buffer system of 250 mM H(3)PO(4), pH 1.5 enabled separation of WKpG-PKC and its fragments by capillary electrophoresis in less than 16 min. Using a cellular lysate produced from Ba/F3 cells, the β-hairpin-conjugated substrate and its PKCα-phosphorylated product could be detected and separated from peptidase-generated fragments produced in a cell lysate. The method has potential application for identification and quantification of WKpG-PKC and its fragments in complex biological systems when the peptide is used as a reporter to assay PKC activity

Ecosystem services for wine sustainability : a case in point of sustainable food systems

This study investigates the concept of ecosystem services in an Australian grape and wine company and explores risks and opportunities to achieve environmental sustainability in this organization. Ecosystem service approach is an emerging paradigm to address natural resource degradation and achieve sustainability in agribusiness organizations. A case study method is used to identify environmental issues at one of the premium wine organizations based in South Australia. This study conducts semi-structured interviews with multiple informants to analyze how this organization integrates ecosystem services approach in their management systems. These semi-structured interviews with multiple informants identified three categories of environmental issues: (1) primary (water use efficiency, soil health, carbon emissions), (2) secondary (energy, water availability), and (3) tertiary (waste water recycling, salinity in soil, loss of biodiversity, impacts due to climate change projections, winery waste management, soil carbon). We used Ecosystem Based Business Risk Analysis Tool (EBBRAT) and found freshwater availability as a major risk for this organization. This tool led to the identification of key areas, such as biological control of insect pests, maintaining biodiversity and management of soil, as an opportunity for the wine company to enhance sustainability. This study highlights ecosystem service approach to achieve sustainability in wine and other agribusiness organizations. This case study is followed by two interactive exercises to illustrate the application of the ideas discussed in the chapter. The chapter concludes with lessons learnt to develop sustainable food systems and some questions that reflect the ideas presented in the chapter and are aimed at shifting the focus toward food sustainability. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. All rights reserved

Methyl-Readers and Inhibitors

Due to their prevalent role in epigenetic gene regulation, methyllysine and methylarginine domain readers have emerged as potential drug targets for small-molecule intervention. Within this book chapter, the biological role and the associated development of potent small molecules inhibiting the protein-protein interaction of methyllysine readers (Tudor, malignant brain tumor, chromo-, and PHD domain) will be discussed. The druggability of these readers and thus their potential to serve as targets for small-molecule ligands will be evaluated critically. Those domains (PWWP, WD40, ankyrin repeats, and ADD domains) which are not yet targeted will be evaluated for their biological actions and eventual therapeutic implications. To sum up, a comprehensive review of the state of the art for all relevant methyl-readers and their inhibitors if present will be given from a medicinal chemistry standpoint of view