Inclusive Place-Making in Spartanburg, SC: Amplifying Latinx Voices through Community-Based Research

In response to a growing local interest in “place-making” work, our team developed and carried out a research project centered on the ideas of inclusive place, community, and health, with a focus on the inclusion of the growing Latinx community in the Spartanburg area. The project is a first step in what we imagine to be a long arc of community-based research and is in response to the desire of community collaborators for better information to inform their decision-making, particularly with regard to inclusion of Latinx residents. The long-term arc of the research will be shaped by ideas from community partners related to inclusivity; thriving and welcoming community spaces; health equity; and food access and is adaptable to a focus on particular areas or demographics within Spartanburg County. The goal of the present phase of research was to generate qualitative data (1) to inform the implementation of upcoming community projects; (2) to be available to community leaders as a complement to existing quantitative data about areas related to the research focus; (3) to inform the scope, design, and methods of other groups interested in doing related research work, including program evaluation or assessment. Our qualitative approach has sought to respect the “Don’t do anything for us without us” imperative for inclusive community work and aims to create a way to include and amplify the voices of those who will be affected by coming community projects, in informing the implementation of those projects

Contextualizing Kindergarten Readiness Data: A Qualitative Research Study of Forest Park Neighborhood in Spartanburg, South Carolina

This project was undertaken as a result of conversations initiated by members of the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) about the desirability of qualitative data to contextualize quantitative data generated by the use of a validated national instrument in Spartanburg County Schools. SAM is a nonprofit and community movement that facilitates the discussion of shared information and intentional, collaborative, and strategic work by cross-sector partnerships in order to foster high levels of academic attainment for all children in Spartanburg County. As part of data-gathering efforts by SAM, the Early Development Instrument (EDI) was implemented to gather data about kindergarten readiness first in Spartanburg School District 7, then in 2017, across all seven Spartanburg County school districts. The EDI is a validated, population-based measure of early child development in five key domains (physical health, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive skills, and communications skills and general knowledge).1 Kindergarten teachers respond to the questions on the EDI for each child in a kindergarten clas

Climate Stories: South Carolina, Volume 1

In this volume, you will hear from South Carolina residents about how they have been sensing climate change throughout their lifetimes. All stories have been anonymized with the use of pseudonyms, except where participants asked for their story to be associated with their name

Plant-symbiotic fungi as chemical engineers: multi-genome analysis of the Clavicipitaceae reveals dynamics of alkaloid Loci

The fungal family Clavicipitaceae includes plant symbionts and parasites that produce several psychoactive and bioprotective alkaloids. The family includes grass symbionts in the epichloae clade (Epichloë and Neotyphodium species), which are extraordinarily diverse both in their host interactions and in their alkaloid profiles. Epichloae produce alkaloids of four distinct classes, all of which deter insects, and some—including the infamous ergot alkaloids—have potent effects on mammals. The exceptional chemotypic diversity of the epichloae may relate to their broad range of host interactions, whereby some are pathogenic and contagious, others are mutualistic and vertically transmitted (seed-borne), and still others vary in pathogenic or mutualistic behavior. We profiled the alkaloids and sequenced the genomes of 10 epichloae, three ergot fungi (Claviceps species), a morning-glory symbiont (Periglandula ipomoeae), and a bamboo pathogen (Aciculosporium take), and compared the gene clusters for four classes of alkaloids. Results indicated a strong tendency for alkaloid loci to have conserved cores that specify the skeleton structures and peripheral genes that determine chemical variations that are known to affect their pharmacological specificities. Generally, gene locations in cluster peripheries positioned them near to transposon-derived, AT-rich repeat blocks, which were probably involved in gene losses, duplications, and neofunctionalizations. The alkaloid loci in the epichloae had unusual structures riddled with large, complex, and dynamic repeat blocks. This feature was not reflective of overall differences in repeat contents in the genomes, nor was it characteristic of most other specialized metabolism loci. The organization and dynamics of alkaloid loci and abundant repeat blocks in the epichloae suggested that these fungi are under selection for alkaloid diversification. We suggest that such selection is related to the variable life histories of the epichloae, their protective roles as symbionts, and their associations with the highly speciose and ecologically diverse cool-season grasses

Phylogenies of <i>rpbA</i> from sequenced isolates and other Clavicipitaceae.

<p>The phylogenetic tree is based on nucleotide alignment for a portion of the RNA polymerase II largest subunit gene, <i>rpbA</i>. This tree is rooted with <i>Fusarium graminearum</i> as the outgroup. Epichloae are indicated in green, <i>Claviceps</i> species are indicated in blue, <i>Periglandula</i> species are indicated in red, and <i>Aciculosporium take</i> is in black. Species for which genomes were sequenced in this study are shown in bold type, and asterisks indicate plant-associated fungi. Alkaloids listed are the major pathway end-products predicted from the genome sequences, abbreviated as shown in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen-1003323-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>, <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen-1003323-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3</a>, <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen-1003323-g004" target="_blank">Figure 4</a>. Other abbreviations: (−) = some genes or remnants present, but not predicted to make alkaloids of this class, – = no genes present for this alkaloid class, EA = ergot alkaloids may be produced; IDT = indole-diterpenes may be produced, (ΔR*) = deletion of terminal reductase domain of <i>perA</i>.</p

Alkaloid profiles of sequenced isolates.^a

a<p>Strains are abbreviated as follow: <i>Cpu</i> = <i>Claviceps purpurea</i> 20.1, <i>Cfu</i> = <i>C. fusiformis</i> PRL 1980, Cpa = <i>C. paspali</i> RRC-1481, <i>Eam</i> = <i>Epichloë amarillans</i> E57, <i>Ebe</i> = <i>E. brachyelytri</i> E4804, <i>Eel</i> = <i>E. elymi</i> E56, <i>Ef</i>1 = <i>E. festucae</i> Fl1, <i>Ef</i>2 = <i>E. festucae</i> E2368, <i>Egl</i> = <i>E. glyceriae</i> E2772, <i>Et</i>8 = <i>E. typhina</i> E8, <i>Et</i>5 = <i>E. typhina</i> E5819, <i>Nga</i> = <i>N. gansuense</i> E7080, <i>Ngi</i> = <i>N. gansuense</i> var. <i>inebrians</i> E818, <i>Nun</i> = <i>N. uncinatum</i> E167, <i>Pip</i> = <i>P. ipomoeae</i> IasaF13. Symbols: + = present, (+) = intermediate inferred to be synthesized because downstream product is present, − = not predicted and not detected, (−) = predicted but not detected, nt = predicted but not tested, ERA = ergotamine, ERB = ergobalansine, ERC = ergocryptine, ERV = ergovaline. Blank cells indicate compounds not predicted from genotype, and not tested.</p>b<p>Identification of IDT-436 and terpendoles E, I, J, K, M, M, and A are tentative because authentic standards are unavailable.</p

Summary of loline alkaloid-biosynthesis pathway.

<p>Arrows indicate one or more steps catalyzed by products of the genes indicated. Arrows and genes in blue indicate steps in synthesis of the first fully cyclized intermediate (NANL). Arrows and genes in red indicate steps in modification of NANL to give the variety of lolines found in the epichloae. Asterisks indicate <i>LOL</i> genes that were newly discovered in the genome sequence of <i>E. festucae</i> E2368.</p

Structures of the indole-diterpene biosynthesis loci (<i>IDT/LTM</i>) in sequenced genomes.

<p><i>IDT/LTM</i> genes are indicated by single letters, whereby <i>Q = idtQ</i> or <i>ltmQ</i> (in <i>E. festucae</i>), and so forth. Tracks from top to bottom of each map represent the following: genes, repeats, MITEs, and graphs of AT (red) and GC (blue) contents. Each gene is represented by a filled arrow indicating its direction of transcription. Closed circles indicate telomeres, and distances from the telomere on the <i>E. festucae</i> map are indicated in kilobasepairs (kb). Cyan bars representing repeat sequences are labeled with names or numbers to indicate relationships between repeats in the different species. Vertical bars beneath the repeat maps indicate MITEs. Genes for the first fully cyclized intermediate, paspaline, are indicated in blue, those for subsequent chemical decorations are shown in red, and <i>idt/ltmS</i>, with undetermined function, is in purple. Identifiable genes flanking the clusters are indicated in gray, and unfilled arrows indicate pseudogenes. The major pathway end-product for each strain is listed at the right of its map, abbreviated as indicated in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen-1003323-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3</a>, and in bold for those confirmed in this study.</p

Ergot alkaloids and summary of biosynthesis pathway.

<p>(A) Ergoline alkaloid biosynthesis pathways in the Clavicipitaceae. Arrows indicate one or more steps catalyzed by products of genes indicated. Arrows and genes in blue indicate steps in synthesis of the first fully cyclized intermediate (skeleton). Variation in the <i>easA</i> gene (underlined) determines whether the ergoline skeleton is festuclavine or agroclavine. Arrows and genes in red indicate steps in decoration of the skeleton to give the variety of ergolines in the Clavicipitaceae. Asterisks indicate genes newly discovered in the genome sequences of <i>C. paspali</i>, <i>N. gansuense</i> var. <i>inebrians</i> and <i>P. ipomoeae</i>. (B) Ergopeptines produced by strains in this study.</p

Peramine biosynthesis loci (<i>PER</i>) in epichloae and the homologous loci in other Clavicipitaceae.

<p>On each map <i>perA</i> is color-coded blue for a complete gene and as an open box for <i>perA-</i>ΔR*. Domains of <i>perA</i> are indicated as A (adenylation), T (thiolation), C (condensation), M (<i>N</i>-methylation) and R* (reduction). Subscripts indicate postulated specificity of adenylation domains for 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate (A_P) and arginine (A_R) <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen.1003323-Tanaka1" target="_blank">[16]</a>. Other features are indicated as in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323#pgen-1003323-g007" target="_blank">Figure 7</a>.</p