China’s Food Security: Is it a National, Regional or Global Issue?

The maintenance of high levels of food security (with over 95 per cent self-sufficiency in grains is a policy that was officially introduced in 1996 and has been implemented thereafter) is a political imperative in China, but not a physical or economic issue now nor in the period to 2030 and probably longer. Supply projections by the Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) and FAO projections suggest that on average China could continue to be self-sufficient for rice and wheat until 2030. Only soya bean and maize imports for livestock feed will continue to rise. Soya bean and maize imports may increase from the current nearly 60 Mt to 100Mt and to 30 Mt per annum respectively by 2030, which will require a major yet feasible expansion in production in its traditional sources (USA, Brazil and Argentina) or new ones. But this will not be an economic issue. Such imports will require a minute fraction (considerably less than 1 per cent) of China’s more than £2 trillion foreign exchange reserves (using an exchange rate of 9.5 yuan to the £ here and elsewhere in the chapter)

Pharmacogenetics of the g protein-coupled receptors

Pharmacogenetics investigates the influence of genetic variants on physiological phenotypes related to drug response and disease, while pharmacogenomics takes a genome-wide approach to advancing this knowledge. Both play an important role in identifying responders and nonresponders to medication, avoiding adverse drug reactions, and optimizing drug dose for the individual. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the primary target of therapeutic drugs and have been the focus of these studies. With the advance of genomic technologies, there has been a substantial increase in the inventory of naturally occurring rare and common GPCR variants. These variants include single-nucleotide polymorphisms and insertion or deletions that have potential to alter GPCR expression of function. In vivo and in vitro studies have determined functional roles for many GPCR variants, but genetic association studies that define the physiological impact of the majority of these common variants are still limited. Despite the breadth of pharmacogenetic data available, GPCR variants have not been included in drug labeling and are only occasionally considered in optimizing clinical use of GPCR-targeted agents. In this chapter, pharmacogenetic and genomic studies on GPCR variants are reviewed with respect to a subset of GPCR systems, including the adrenergic, calcium sensing, cysteinyl leukotriene, cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors, and the de-orphanized receptors such as GPR55. The nature of the disruption to receptor function is discussed with respect to regulation of gene expression, expression on the cell surface (affected by receptor trafficking, dimerization, desensitization/downregulation), or perturbation of receptor function (altered ligand binding, G protein coupling, constitutive activity). The large body of experimental data generated on structure and function relationships and receptor-ligand interactions are being harnessed for the in silico functional prediction of naturally occurring GPCR variants. We provide information on online resources dedicated to GPCRs and present applications of publically available computational tools for pharmacogenetic studies of GPCRs. As the breadth of GPCR pharmacogenomic data becomes clearer, the opportunity for routine assessment of GPCR variants to predict disease risk, drug response, and potential adverse drug effects will become possible