Environmental NGOs at a crossroads?

Article published as introduction to the Special Issue 'Environmental Politics at a crossroads', edited by Nathalie Berny & Christopher Rootes, Environmental Politics vol.27.no.6, November 201

Heterologous Expression of Membrane Proteins: Choosing the Appropriate Host

International audienceBACKGROUND: Membrane proteins are the targets of 50% of drugs, although they only represent 1% of total cellular proteins. The first major bottleneck on the route to their functional and structural characterisation is their overexpression; and simply choosing the right system can involve many months of trial and error. This work is intended as a guide to where to start when faced with heterologous expression of a membrane protein. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The expression of 20 membrane proteins, both peripheral and integral, in three prokaryotic (E. coli, L. lactis, R. sphaeroides) and three eukaryotic (A. thaliana, N. benthamiana, Sf9 insect cells) hosts was tested. The proteins tested were of various origins (bacteria, plants and mammals), functions (transporters, receptors, enzymes) and topologies (between 0 and 13 transmembrane segments). The Gateway system was used to clone all 20 genes into appropriate vectors for the hosts to be tested. Culture conditions were optimised for each host, and specific strategies were tested, such as the use of Mistic fusions in E. coli. 17 of the 20 proteins were produced at adequate yields for functional and, in some cases, structural studies. We have formulated general recommendations to assist with choosing an appropriate system based on our observations of protein behaviour in the different hosts. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Most of the methods presented here can be quite easily implemented in other laboratories. The results highlight certain factors that should be considered when selecting an expression host. The decision aide provided should help both newcomers and old-hands to select the best system for their favourite membrane protein

Jeffrey M Berry, The New Liberalism. The Rising Power of Citizen Groups

Berny Nathalie. Jeffrey M Berry, The New Liberalism. The Rising Power of Citizen Groups. In: Revue française de science politique, 51ᵉ année, n°5, 2001. pp. 829-832

Deliberation and Coalition-building: NGOs Attempts to Promote Civil Dialogue within EU Governance

Les théories délibératives ont contribué à des interprétations, à la fois nouvelles et divergentes, de la gouvernance de l’Union européenne et du processus d’intégration européenne. La réalité de la norme délibérative et la logique correspondante d’argumentation font encore débat au sujet des institutions européennes. Ce papier aborde la logique délibérative en centrant l’analyse sur le thème du dialogue civil tel qu’il est promu par les principales organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) de dimension européenne, basées à Bruxelles. Les trois logiques identifiées par Risse -- stratégique, normée, et délibérative -- sont utiles pour retracer les modalités dans lesquelles ces différentes ONG ont coopéré depuis le début des années 2000. Les défis posés par le dialogue civil en termes de significations partagées et de raisons acceptables ont conduit les plus actives d’entre elles à susciter une logique délibérative au sein de leurs alliances. Les résultats des processus délibératifs dans leurs deux coalitions reflètent la difficulté intrinsèque à trouver une définition à la fois opérationnelle et légitime du dialogue civil.Theories of deliberation have generated new and diverging interpretations of the EU governance and integration process. When applied to EU institutions, the accuracy of the deliberative norm and the corresponding logic of arguing is deba-table. This paper focuses on the logic of arguing by addressing the topic of “civil dialogue” as promoted by the main European non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Brussels. The paper analyses the coalition building process that revolves around civil dialogue and the corresponding discursive strategies. The three logics identified by Risse, strategic, norm guided, and argumentative, are useful in ana-lysing how different NGOs have cooperated since the early 2000s. The challenges raised by civil dialogue in terms of shared meanings and acceptable reasons have led the most active NGOs to promote the logic of arguing within their alliance. The results of the deliberative processes in their two coalitions reflect the intrinsic difficulty in finding both an operational and legitimate definition of civil dialogu

Failing to preach by example? The EU and the Aarhus Convention

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Building the Capacity to Play on Multilevel Policy Processes: French Environmental movement Organizations and the European Union

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