Biological warfare, bioterrorism, biodefence and the biological and toxin weapons convention

Biological warfare is the intentional use of micro-organisms, and toxins, generally of microbial, plant or animal origin to produce disease and death in humans, livestock and crops. The attraction of bioweapons in war, and for use in terroristic attacks is attributed to easy access to a wide range of disease-producing biological agents, to their low production costs, to their non-detection by routine security systems, and to their easy transportation from one place to another. In addition, novel and accessible technologies give rise to proliferation of such weapons that have implications for regional and global security. In counteraction of such threats, and in securing the culture and defence of peace, the need for leadership and example in devising preventive and protective strategies has been emphasised through international consultation and co-operation. Adherence to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention reinforced by confidence-building measures sustained by use of monitoring and verification protocols, is indeed, an important and necessary step in reducing and eliminating the threats of biological warfare and bioterrorism

Island Communities and Biotechnology

In the run-up to the year 2000 and beyond, several island countries, especially in the Caribbean and Pacific regions, are confronted by the challenges and threats of globalization. In response, several island countries are initiating self-reliant strategies aimed at national and regional endogenous development. Amongst these strategies, the potential of biotechnology for economic development and technological growth is being tapped

Medicinal plants: a re-emerging health aid

Interest in medicinal plants as a re-emerging health aid has been fuelled by the rising costs of prescription drugs in the maintenance of personal health and well-being, and the bioprospecting of new plant-derived drugs. Several issues as well as a range of interests and activities in a number of countries are dealt with. Based on current research and financial investments, medicinal plants will, seemingly, continue to play an important role as an health aid

Biotechnology and the developing world

The life sciences offer opportunities for revolutionizing human welfare activities. Enriched by inputs from genomic research, biotechnology is a major force for development in all countries. Entwined with culture and socio-ethical values, biotechnology contributes to solving problems like food and water insecurity that impede national development and threaten peace in the developing world. The lack of facilities and professional skills in biotechnology limits R & D initiatives in the developing and the least developed countries (LDCs); and, restricts their full participation in take-off activities in national and self-reliant regional ventures in sustainable development. The practice of biotechnology different in many developing countries is nevertheless impressive. The establishment of biotechnology parks and medicinal plant farms in several developing countries is indicative of biotechnology being accorded high policy status in national development; of its significance in the eradication of poverty; and of its use in the empowerment of women in applying the technology for human and social welfare. This review provides several examples of different types of biotech activities that are being employed for development in the developing world

Plant biotechnology: a tool for development in Africa

Africa is, paradoxically, a continent rich in resources, and yet, lacking and lagging in overall development. When the wealth of Africa's people is compared with that of other continents a contrasting picture of poverty, stunted growth and famine resulting from inadequate food production is revealed. Applying plant biotechnology alone cannot solve the agricultural and food security problems in Africa. Five key factors seem to be necessary for the improvement of crop production: they are the use of agrochemicals, irrigation, plant breeding, farm management, and, of course, plant biotechnology. In this context, biotechnology can play a role in commercializing crops, creating new jobs and earning foreign exchange. The goals of national and regional development in Africa are attainable through proper planning and active participation in technical networks involving regional and international scientific cooperation that emphasize the use of plant and microbial genetic resources for economic development and progress

Neighbours of cancer-related proteins have key influence on pathogenesis and could increase the drug target space for anticancer therapies

Even targeted chemotherapies against solid cancers show a moderate success increasing the need to novel targeting strategies. To address this problem, we designed a systems-level approach investigating the neighbourhood of mutated or differentially expressed cancer-related proteins in four major solid cancers (colon, breast, liver and lung). Using signalling and protein–protein interaction network resources integrated with mutational and expression datasets, we analysed the properties of the direct and indirect interactors (first and second neighbours) of cancer-related proteins, not found previously related to the given cancer type. We found that first neighbours have at least as high degree, betweenness centrality and clustering coefficient as cancer-related proteins themselves, indicating a previously unknown central network position. We identified a complementary strategy for mutated and differentially expressed proteins, where the affect of differentially expressed proteins having smaller network centrality is compensated with high centrality first neighbours. These first neighbours can be considered as key, so far hidden, components in cancer rewiring, with similar importance as mutated proteins. These observations strikingly suggest targeting first neighbours as a novel strategy for disrupting cancer-specific networks. Remarkably, our survey revealed 223 marketed drugs already targeting first neighbour proteins but applied mostly outside oncology, providing a potential list for drug repurposing against solid cancers. For the very central first neighbours, whose direct targeting would cause several side effects, we suggest a cancer-mimicking strategy by targeting their interactors (second neighbours of cancer-related proteins, having a central protein affecting position, similarly to the cancer-related proteins). Hence, we propose to include first neighbours to network medicine based approaches for (but not limited to) anticancer therapies

Identifying candidate genes affecting developmental time in Drosophila melanogaster: pervasive pleiotropy and gene-by-environment interaction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Understanding the genetic architecture of ecologically relevant adaptive traits requires the contribution of developmental and evolutionary biology. The time to reach the age of reproduction is a complex life history trait commonly known as developmental time. In particular, in holometabolous insects that occupy ephemeral habitats, like fruit flies, the impact of developmental time on fitness is further exaggerated. The present work is one of the first systematic studies of the genetic basis of developmental time, in which we also evaluate the impact of environmental variation on the expression of the trait.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed 179 co-isogenic single <it>P[GT1]-</it>element insertion lines of <it>Drosophila melanogaster </it>to identify novel genes affecting developmental time in flies reared at 25°C. Sixty percent of the lines showed a heterochronic phenotype, suggesting that a large number of genes affect this trait. Mutant lines for the genes <it>Merlin </it>and <it>Karl </it>showed the most extreme phenotypes exhibiting a developmental time reduction and increase, respectively, of over 2 days and 4 days relative to the control (a co-isogenic <it>P</it>-element insertion free line). In addition, a subset of 42 lines selected at random from the initial set of 179 lines was screened at 17°C. Interestingly, the gene-by-environment interaction accounted for 52% of total phenotypic variance. Plastic reaction norms were found for a large number of developmental time candidate genes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified components of several integrated time-dependent pathways affecting egg-to-adult developmental time in <it>Drosophila</it>. At the same time, we also show that many heterochronic phenotypes may arise from changes in genes involved in several developmental mechanisms that do not explicitly control the timing of specific events. We also demonstrate that many developmental time genes have pleiotropic effects on several adult traits and that the action of most of them is sensitive to temperature during development. Taken together, our results stress the need to take into account the effect of environmental variation and the dynamics of gene interactions on the genetic architecture of this complex life-history trait.</p