What drives the creation of green jobs, products and technologies in cities and regions? Insights from recent research on green industrial transitions

Given the global imperative to meet ‘net zero’, and growing interest in the potential for green jobs growth, there is an urgent need to better understand the drivers and processes underlying green structural economic transitions. How should we in fact define ‘green’ products, jobs and technologies? How do local economies transition into greener jobs – is this generally an incremental process or does it require more radical innovation? Building on nascent green definitions, recent work emerging from the literature in Evolutionary Economic Geography suggests that there is a degree of path dependency to green transitions, with regions benefiting from existing capabilities which are somehow related to newer green tasks and technologies. On the other hand, having diverse, frequently unrelated, skills and competencies also helps local economies to make the recombinations necessary for the emergence of new green activities. These drivers are moderated by factors such as the local institutional environment, IT skills and the degree of maturity of the local industrial base. This article summarises the recent literature in order to provide an overview of emerging findings of relevance to local policy delivery, while also highlighting future research directions

Local industrial strategy and skills policy in England: Assessing the linkages and limitations – a case study of the Sheffield City Deal

This paper examines changes in local economic development policy which occurred between 2010 and 2015, with a focus on the relationship between industrial strategy and skills policy. Under the Coalition Government, Local Enterprise Partnerships were established and tasked with facilitating local growth, and to do so many identified a set of (potential) growth sectors for industrial strategy to support. These sectors tended to be drawn from a relatively narrow range of industries which therefore often excluded a large proportion of the local economy. An important focus of the support for growth sectors for many has been through an ambition to influence the local skills system. Skills policy more broadly has been an important dimension of devolution, and a number of City Deals have included elements of skills policy. Echoing previous national policy however, the focus of local concerns with skills under devolution has been framed largely with reference to skills gaps and shortages. While specific skills gaps and shortages can be identified, this paper questions whether this default position is reflected widely, and as such, if a narrow focus on skills supply is a sufficient approach. It is argued that to support local growth across a broad base, greater attention needs to be paid to stimulating employer demand for skills through better integrating industrial and innovation policy with skills policymaking across a wider section of the local economy. To support these arguments we present a case study of the Sheffield City Deal

Identification and Phylogenetic Analysis of Tityus pachyurus and Tityus obscurus Novel Putative Na+-Channel Scorpion Toxins

Background: Colombia and Brazil are affected by severe cases of scorpionism. In Colombia the most dangerous accidents are caused by Tityus pachyurus that is widely distributed around this country. In the Brazilian Amazonian region scorpion stings are a common event caused by Tityus obscurus. The main objective of this work was to perform the molecular cloning of the putative Na+-channel scorpion toxins (NaScTxs) from T. pachyurus and T. obscurus venom glands and to analyze their phylogenetic relationship with other known NaScTxs from Tityus species. Methodology/Principal Findings: cDNA libraries from venom glands of these two species were constructed and five nucleotide sequences from T. pachyurus were identified as putative modulators of Na+-channels, and were named Tpa4, Tpa5, Tpa6, Tpa7 and Tpa8; the latter being the first anti-insect excitatory b-class NaScTx in Tityus scorpion venom to be described. Fifteen sequences from T. obscurus were identified as putative NaScTxs, among which three had been previously described, and the others were named To4 to To15. The peptides Tpa4, Tpa5, Tpa6, To6, To7, To9, To10 and To14 are closely related to the a-class NaScTxs, whereas Tpa7, Tpa8, To4, To8, To12 and To15 sequences are more related to the b-class NaScTxs. To5 is possibly an arthropod specific toxin. To11 and To13 share sequence similarities with both a and b NaScTxs. By means of phylogenetic analysis using the Maximum Parsimony method and the known NaScTxs from Tityus species, these toxins were clustered into 14 distinct groups. Conclusions/Significance: This communication describes new putative NaScTxs from T. pachyurus and T. obscurus and their phylogenetic analysis. The results indicate clear geographic separation between scorpions of Tityus genus inhabiting the Amazonian and Mountain Andes regions and those distributed over the Southern of the Amazonian rainforest. Based on the consensus sequences for the different clusters, a new nomenclature for the NaScTxs is proposed

Body weight, metabolism and clock genes

Biological rhythms are present in the lives of almost all organisms ranging from plants to more evolved creatures. These oscillations allow the anticipation of many physiological and behavioral mechanisms thus enabling coordination of rhythms in a timely manner, adaption to environmental changes and more efficient organization of the cellular processes responsible for survival of both the individual and the species. Many components of energy homeostasis exhibit circadian rhythms, which are regulated by central (suprachiasmatic nucleus) and peripheral (located in other tissues) circadian clocks. Adipocyte plays an important role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, the signaling of satiety and cellular differentiation and proliferation. Also, the adipocyte circadian clock is probably involved in the control of many of these functions. Thus, circadian clocks are implicated in the control of energy balance, feeding behavior and consequently in the regulation of body weight. In this regard, alterations in clock genes and rhythms can interfere with the complex mechanism of metabolic and hormonal anticipation, contributing to multifactorial diseases such as obesity and diabetes. The aim of this review was to define circadian clocks by describing their functioning and role in the whole body and in adipocyte metabolism, as well as their influence on body weight control and the development of obesity

Bovine telomere dynamics and the association between telomere length and productive lifespan

Average telomere length (TL) in blood cells has been shown to decline with age in a range of vertebrate species, and there is evidence that TL is a heritable trait associated with late-life health and mortality in humans. In non-human mammals, few studies to date have examined lifelong telomere dynamics and no study has estimated the heritability of TL, despite these being important steps towards assessing the potential of TL as a biomarker of productive lifespan and health in livestock species. Here we measured relative leukocyte TL (RLTL) in 1,328 samples from 308 Holstein Friesian dairy cows and in 284 samples from 38 female calves. We found that RLTL declines after birth but remains relatively stable in adult life. We also calculated the first heritability estimates of RLTL in a livestock species which were 0.38 (SE = 0.03) and 0.32 (SE = 0.08) for the cow and the calf dataset, respectively. RLTL measured at the ages of one and five years were positively correlated with productive lifespan (p < 0.05). We conclude that bovine RLTL is a heritable trait, and its association with productive lifespan may be used in breeding programmes aiming to enhance cow longevity

Molecular Signatures Reveal Circadian Clocks May Orchestrate the Homeorhetic Response to Lactation

Genes associated with lactation evolved more slowly than other genes in the mammalian genome. Higher conservation of milk and mammary genes suggest that species variation in milk composition is due in part to the environment and that we must look deeper into the genome for regulation of lactation. At the onset of lactation, metabolic changes are coordinated among multiple tissues through the endocrine system to accommodate the increased demand for nutrients and energy while allowing the animal to remain in homeostasis. This process is known as homeorhesis. Homeorhetic adaptation to lactation has been extensively described; however how these adaptations are orchestrated among multiple tissues remains elusive. To develop a clearer picture of how gene expression is coordinated across multiple tissues during the pregnancy to lactation transition, total RNA was isolated from mammary, liver and adipose tissues collected from rat dams (n = 5) on day 20 of pregnancy and day 1 of lactation, and gene expression was measured using Affymetrix GeneChips. Two types of gene expression analysis were performed. Genes that were differentially expressed between days within a tissue were identified with linear regression, and univariate regression was used to identify genes commonly up-regulated and down-regulated across all tissues. Gene set enrichment analysis showed genes commonly up regulated among the three tissues enriched gene ontologies primary metabolic processes, macromolecular complex assembly and negative regulation of apoptosis ontologies. Genes enriched in transcription regulator activity showed the common up regulation of 2 core molecular clock genes, ARNTL and CLOCK. Commonly down regulated genes enriched Rhythmic process and included: NR1D1, DBP, BHLHB2, OPN4, and HTR7, which regulate intracellular circadian rhythms. Changes in mammary, liver and adipose transcriptomes at the onset of lactation illustrate the complexity of homeorhetic adaptations and suggest that these changes are coordinated through molecular clocks

Distinct Pathogenesis and Host Responses during Infection of C. elegans by P. aeruginosa and S. aureus

The genetically tractable model host Caenorhabditis elegans provides a valuable tool to dissect host-microbe interactions in vivo. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus utilize virulence factors involved in human disease to infect and kill C. elegans. Despite much progress, virtually nothing is known regarding the cytopathology of infection and the proximate causes of nematode death. Using light and electron microscopy, we found that P. aeruginosa infection entails intestinal distention, accumulation of an unidentified extracellular matrix and P. aeruginosa-synthesized outer membrane vesicles in the gut lumen and on the apical surface of intestinal cells, the appearance of abnormal autophagosomes inside intestinal cells, and P. aeruginosa intracellular invasion of C. elegans. Importantly, heat-killed P. aeruginosa fails to elicit a significant host response, suggesting that the C. elegans response to P. aeruginosa is activated either by heat-labile signals or pathogen-induced damage. In contrast, S. aureus infection causes enterocyte effacement, intestinal epithelium destruction, and complete degradation of internal organs. S. aureus activates a strong transcriptional response in C. elegans intestinal epithelial cells, which aids host survival during infection and shares elements with human innate responses. The C. elegans genes induced in response to S. aureus are mostly distinct from those induced by P. aeruginosa. In contrast to P. aeruginosa, heat-killed S. aureus activates a similar response as live S. aureus, which appears to be independent of the single C. elegans Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) protein. These data suggest that the host response to S. aureus is possibly mediated by pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Because our data suggest that neither the P. aeruginosa nor the S. aureus–triggered response requires canonical TLR signaling, they imply the existence of unidentified mechanisms for pathogen detection in C. elegans, with potentially conserved roles also in mammals