Improving the availability of biopesticides : an interdisciplinary research project

There is a need for new, biologically-based crop protection products to serve as alternatives to or to complement synthetic chemical pesticides. An interdisciplinary research team from the natural and social sciences considered whether regulatory barriers were preventing more biopesticides reaching the market. The research coincided with a realisation by policy makers that more needed to be done to facilitate biopesticide registration, exemplified by the UK's Biopesticides Scheme. However, important differences remain between the UK and other countries such as the USA. Changes in regulatory arrangements need careful handling. The scientific work undertaken in the project provided a better understanding of the population biology of microbial control agents. Interdisciplinary work permitted a contribution to the policy debate

Sequencing, Mapping, and Analysis of 27,455 Maize Full-Length cDNAs

Full-length cDNA (FLcDNA) sequencing establishes the precise primary structure of individual gene transcripts. From two libraries representing 27 B73 tissues and abiotic stress treatments, 27,455 high-quality FLcDNAs were sequenced. The average transcript length was 1.44 kb including 218 bases and 321 bases of 5′ and 3′ UTR, respectively, with 8.6% of the FLcDNAs encoding predicted proteins of fewer than 100 amino acids. Approximately 94% of the FLcDNAs were stringently mapped to the maize genome. Although nearly two-thirds of this genome is composed of transposable elements (TEs), only 5.6% of the FLcDNAs contained TE sequences in coding or UTR regions. Approximately 7.2% of the FLcDNAs are putative transcription factors, suggesting that rare transcripts are well-enriched in our FLcDNA set. Protein similarity searching identified 1,737 maize transcripts not present in rice, sorghum, Arabidopsis, or poplar annotated genes. A strict FLcDNA assembly generated 24,467 non-redundant sequences, of which 88% have non-maize protein matches. The FLcDNAs were also assembled with 41,759 FLcDNAs in GenBank from other projects, where semi-strict parameters were used to identify 13,368 potentially unique non-redundant sequences from this project. The libraries, ESTs, and FLcDNA sequences produced from this project are publicly available. The annotated EST and FLcDNA assemblies are available through the maize FLcDNA web resource (www.maizecdna.org)

Aspects of microbial communities in peatland carbon cycling under changing climate and land use pressures

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Finnish Peatland Society via the DOI in this record. Globally, major efforts are being made to restore peatlands to maximise their resilience to anthropogenic climate change, which puts continuous pressure on peatland ecosystems and modifies the geography of the environmental envelope that underpins peatland functioning. A probable effect of climate change is reduction in the waterlogged conditions that are key to peatland formation and continued accumulation of carbon (C) in peat. C sequestration in peatlands arises from a delicate imbalance between primary production and decomposition, and microbial processes are potentially pivotal in regulating feedbacks between environmental change and the peatland C cycle. Increased soil temperature, caused by climate warming or disturbance of the natural vegetation cover and drainage, may result in reductions of long-term C storage via changes in microbial community composition and metabolic rates. Moreover, changes in water table depth alter the redox state and hence have broad consequences for microbial functions, including effects on fungal and bacterial communities especially methanogens and methanotrophs. This article is a perspective review of the effects of climate change and ecosystem restoration on peatland microbial communities and the implications for C sequestration and climate regulation. It is authored by peatland scientists, microbial ecologists, land managers and non-governmental organisations who were attendees at a series of three workshops held at The University of Manchester (UK) in 2019–2020. Our review suggests that the increase in methane flux sometimes observed when water tables are restored is predicated on the availability of labile carbon from vegetation and the absence of alternative terminal electron acceptors. Peatland microbial communities respond relatively rapidly to shifts in vegetation induced by climate change and subsequent changes in the quantity and quality of below-ground C substrate inputs. Other consequences of climate change that affect peatland microbial communities and C cycling include alterations in snow cover and permafrost thaw. In the face of rapid climate change, restoration of a resilient microbiome is essential to sustaining the climate regulation functions of peatland systems. Technological developments enabling faster characterisation of microbial communities and functions support progress towards this goal, which will require a strongly interdisciplinary approach.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Investigating the structure of natural populations of Beauveria bassiana occurring in different habitats

Poor understanding of the population biology of anamorphic Ascomycete entomopathogenic fungi may well be acting as a barrier to the development of new and more effective ways of exploiting them for biological control. It also impacts on bio-prospecting and risk assessment studies for fungal biocontrol agents. We have been investigating the structure of natural Beauveria bassiana populations sampled in England, inspired by the insights of Bidochka and others on the relationship between habitat type and fungal population structure. Isolates of B. bassiana (and other entomopathogenic fungal species) were obtained from c. 4000 soil samples collected from woodlands or grass pastures in a broad transect from southwest to mid-west England. Frequency of occurrence of B. bassiana and other species increased with more northerly latitudes. Multi locus sequence data were obtained for a total of 120 B. bassiana isolates from each sample location. The amount of recombination within clades, evidenced from network analysis, differed markedly depending on the habitat association of the clade. In a second experiment, the same structural pattern was observed for isolates sampled from a complex of fields and hedgerows on the University farm, with hedgerow acting as a substitute for woodland

Preceding crop and seasonal effects influence fungal, bacterial and nematode diversity in wheat and oilseed rape rhizosphere and soil

Crop rotation can have major influences on yield, which may be the result of changes in the composition of the rhizosphere microbiome. In particular there is evidence that yields of both oilseed rape and wheat can be influenced by the frequency in which they are grown in rotation with each other. In the current study we investigated the effect of preceding crops (either wheat or oilseed rape) on wheat and oilseed rape yield, with associated changes in the rhizosphere and bulk soil communities of fungi, bacteria and nematodes using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of rRNA genes. Yield of wheat and oilseed rape were reduced by 11 and 10% respectively when grown two years consecutively. Rhizosphere populations were significantly different to bulk soil populations for all groups of organisms. Seasonal shifts in the communities were observed in the rhizosphere for all groups. Communities of fungi, bacteria and nematodes were all significantly influenced by the preceding crop in the wheat rhizosphere, while just the nematode population was affected by preceding crop in the oilseed rape rhizosphere. In particular when two consecutive crops of oilseed rape were grown, relative abundance of members of nematodes within the genus Eumonhystera increased markedly. The fungal foliar pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola, the teleomorph of Zymoseptoria tritici which causes septoria leaf blotch in wheat, was identified in the rhizosphere of wheat and was significantly more abundant in wheat grown after oilseed rape. We conclude that overall, preceding crop had less impact on community composition than season or crop type, but that specific changes in communities at particular plant growth stages may have substantive impacts on crop growth

Relationships between yield, rotation length, and abundance of Olpidium brassicae and Pyrenochaeta sp. in the rhizosphere of oilseed rape

Oilseed rape yields in the UK have been found to decline with more frequent cropping in a rotation. Previously, two soil-borne organisms (Olpidium brassicae (Chytridiomycota) and Pyrenochaeta sp. (Ascomycota)) were identified as having high relative abundance in rhizosphere fungal communities associated with oilseed rape crops where yield decline had been recorded. In order to better understand these organisms' association with the oilseed rape crop, the current study was designed to investigate the fungal rhizosphere microbiome of oilseed rape grown in a wide range of rotational frequencies. Samples collected from a long-term rotation trial site at three time points through the growing season were used to determine fungal community composition, and quantification of O. brassicae and Pyrenochatea sp. Analyses showed the combined root and rhizosphere fungal communities were similar across all oilseed rape rotations, largely due to the high relative abundance of O. brassicae, irrespective of cropping frequency. Olpidium brassicae abundance peaked in March (mid-season) in all rotations, before declining in abundance by June (pre-harvest). In contrast, Pyrenochaeta sp. increased in abundance throughout the season, with significantly higher levels reached in June than earlier in the season. Pyrenochaeta sp. had a greater abundance early in the season (January) in continuously grown and alternate oilseed rape (grown one year in two) than in rotations with longer gaps between oilseed rape crops This study concludes that O. brassicae cannot be solely associated with yield decline of OSR observed in short rotation cropping due to its prevalence in the extended rotations examined (up to 6-year gap)

Meeting the demand for crop production : the challenge of yield decline in crops grown in short rotations

There is a trend world-wide to grow crops in short rotation or in monoculture, particularly in conventional agriculture. This practice is becoming more prevalent due to a range of factors including economic market trends, technological advances, government incentives, and retailer and consumer demands. Land-use intensity will have to increase further in future in order to meet the demands of growing crops for both bioenergy and food production, and long rotations may not be considered viable or practical. However, evidence indicates that crops grown in short rotations or monoculture often suffer from yield decline compared to those grown in longer rotations or for the first time. Numerous factors have been hypothesised as contributing to yield decline, including biotic factors such as plant pathogens, deleterious rhizosphere microorganisms, mycorrhizas acting as pathogens, and allelopathy or autotoxicity of the crop, as well as abiotic factors such as land management practices and nutrient availability. In many cases, soil microorganisms have been implicated either directly or indirectly in yield decline. Although individual factors may be responsible for yield decline in some cases, it is more likely that combinations of factors interact to cause the problem. However, evidence confirming the precise role of these various factors is often lacking in field studies due to the complex nature of cropping systems and the numerous interactions that take place within them. Despite long-term knowledge of the yield-decline phenomenon, there are few tools to counteract it apart from reverting to longer crop rotations or break crops. Alternative cropping and management practices such as double-cropping or inter-cropping, tillage and organic amendments may prove valuable for combating some of the negative effects seen when crops are grown in short rotation. Plant breeding continues to be important, although this does require a specific breeding target to be identified. This review identifies gaps in our understanding of yield decline, particularly with respect to the complex interactions occurring between the different components of agro-ecosystems, which may well influence food security in the 21st Century

Biopesticides : pest management and regulation

Biological controls that utilize natural predation, parasitism or other natural mechanisms, is an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticide methods are becoming less readily available due to increasing resistance problems and the prohibition of some substances. This book addresses the challenges of insufficient information and imperfectly understood regulatory processes in using biopesticides. It takes an interdisciplinary approach providing internationally comparative analyses on the registration of biopesticides and debates future biopesticide practices