Integrated management of invasive cattails (Typha spp.) for wetland habitat and biofuel in the Northern Great Plains of the United States and Canada: A review

On many public lands in the Great Plains region of the USA and Canada, cattail (Typha spp.) growth has far exceeded the 50:50 distribution recommended for optimum wetland wildlife habitat. Excessive cattail growth is the primary concern of wetland managers and its integrated management is reviewed here. The coverage of this mostly hybrid cattail (T. latifolia × T. angustifolia) is often over 90 % and if partially removed for habitat enhancement represents a substantial biomass resource in sites such as conservation wetlands, water retention basins and roadside drainage ditches. Available biomass is estimated to be 3,000 kg/ha assuming a 50 % harvest rate. Cattail control using mowing, herbicides, and burning is expensive, therefore if harvest logistics can be improved along with developing biomass markets, harvest management would become much more viable. Energy values of cattails are comparable to wood pellets at 20 MJ/kg. Cattails can be simultaneously managed for wetland wildlife, harvested for biofuel, serve as a partial substitute for coal, generate carbon credits, and remove phosphorus from the watershed. Cattails extract nitrogen and phosphorous from runoff water that enters rivers and lakes that could be used for agricultural fertiliser while reducing eutrophication. Additionally, rural economies could be boosted by harvesting a renewable energy resource, especially in areas with little fossil fuels or unsustainable biomass practices

Highly potent bispecific sybodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented global health crisis. Here, we report the identification of a synthetic nanobody (sybody) pair (Sb#15 and Sb#68) that can bind simultaneously to the SARS-CoV-2 spike-RBD and efficiently neutralize pseudotyped and live-viruses by interfering with ACE2 interaction. Two spatially-discrete epitopes identified by cryo-EM translated into the rational design of bispecific and tri-bispecific fusions constructs, exhibiting up to 100- and 1000-fold increase in neutralization potency. Cryo-EM of the sybody-spike complex further revealed a novel up-out RBD conformation. While resistant viruses emerged rapidly in the presence of single binders, no escape variants were observed in presence of the bispecific sybody. The multivalent bispecific constructs further increased the neutralization potency against globally-circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Our study illustrates the power of multivalency and biparatopic nanobody fusions for the development of clinically relevant therapeutic strategies that mitigate the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 escape mutants