Disease Outbreaks and Agricultural Trade: The Case of Potatoes

This study analyzed the impact of PVYn and potato wart disease outbreaks in PEI on the potato industry. These disease outbreaks resulted in the loss of the US seed export market to PEI producers. The effects of the disease outbreaks were mitigated through value-added processing. Price premiums for processed potatoes allowed PEI potato producers to abandon seed exports without incurring losses. Evidence is presented to suggest that other countries have also used this approach when export restrictions were placed on domestic agricultural industries. Policy response to the two disease outbreaks include: i) development of a zones policy that helped to reopen markets into the US; and ii) financial compensation to producers above the minimum levels required under the Seeds Act and Regulations. Implementation of the zones policy had beneficial impacts on the potato industry and is mirrored in other disease outbreaks. In contrast, compensation above minimum requirements may set a costly precedent for future disease outbreaks and may have caused moral hazard problems.disease, trade, potatoes, Canada, food, safety, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Disease Outbreaks and Agricultural Trade: The Case of Potatoes

This study analyzed the impact of PVYn and potato wart disease outbreaks in PEI on the potato industry. These disease outbreaks resulted in the loss of the US seed export market to PEI producers. The effects of the disease outbreaks were mitigated through value-added processing. Price premiums for processed potatoes allowed PEI potato producers to abandon seed exports without incurring losses. Evidence is presented to suggest that other countries have also used this approach when export restrictions were placed on domestic agricultural industries. Policy response to the two disease outbreaks include: i) development of a zones policy that helped to reopen markets into the US; and ii) financial compensation to producers above the minimum levels required under the Seeds Act and Regulations. Implementation of the zones policy had beneficial impacts on the potato industry and is mirrored in other disease outbreaks. In contrast, compensation above minimum requirements may set a costly precedent for future disease outbreaks and may have caused moral hazard problems

PVYn and Potato Wart Disease Outbreaks in Prince Edward Island: Policy Response and Analysis

"This study analyzed the impact of PVYn and potato wart disease outbreaks in PEI on the potato industry. The two disease outbreaks resulted in loss of the U.S. seed export market to PEI producers. The effects of the disease outbreaks were mitigated through value-added processing. Price premiums for processed potatoes allowed PEI potato farmers to abandon seed export and helped to sustain financial viability potato production. Policy responses to the two disease outbreaks include (i) development of zones policies, which helped to reopen markets into the United States, and (ii) compensation to producers above the minimum levels required under the federal Seeds Act and Regulations. Implementation of the zones policy had beneficial impacts on the potato industry. In contrast, compensation above minimum requirements may set a costly precedent for future disease outbreaks." Copyright 2007 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.

Two sisters with cardiac‐urogenital syndrome secondary to pathogenic splicing variant in the MYRF gene with unaffected parents: A case of gonadal mosaicism?

Abstract Background Cardiac‐urogenital syndrome [MIM # 618280] is a newly described very rare syndrome associated with pathogenic variants in the myelin regulatory factor (MYRF) gene that leads to loss of protein function. MYRF is a transcription factor previously associated only with the control of myelin‐related gene expression. However, it is also highly expressed in other tissues and associated with various organ anomalies. The clinical picture is primarily dominated by complex congenital cardiac developmental defects, pulmonary hypoplasia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and urogenital malformations. Case Presentation We present case reports of two siblings of unrelated parents in whom whole‐exome sequencing was indicated due to familial occurrence of extensive developmental defects. A new, previously undescribed splicing pathogenic variant c.1388+2T>G in the MYRF gene has been identified in both patients. Both parents are unaffected, tested negative, and have another healthy daughter. The identical de novo event in siblings suggests gonadal mosaicism, which can mimic recessive inheritance. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first published case of familial cardiac‐urogenital syndrome indicating gonadal mosaicism

Structure-Function Analysis of Inositol Hexakisphosphate-induced Autoprocessing of the Vibrio cholerae Multifunctional Autoprocessing RTX Toxin*S⃞

Vibrio cholerae secretes a large virulence-associated multifunctional autoprocessing RTX toxin (MARTXVc). Autoprocessing of this toxin by an embedded cysteine protease domain (CPD) is essential for this toxin to induce actin depolymerization in a broad range of cell types. A homologous CPD is also present in the large clostridial toxin TcdB and recent studies showed that inositol hexakisphosphate (Ins(1,2,3,4,5,6)P6 or InsP6) stimulated the autoprocessing of TcdB dependent upon the CPD (Egerer, M., Giesemann, T., Jank, T., Satchell, K. J., and Aktories, K. (2007) J. Biol. Chem. 282, 25314–25321). In this work, the autoprocessing activity of the CPD within MARTXVc is similarly found to be inducible by InsP6. The CPD is shown to bind InsP6 (Kd, 0.6 μm), and InsP6 is shown to stimulate intramolecular autoprocessing at both physiological concentrations and as low as 0.01 μm. Processed CPD did not bind InsP6 indicating that, subsequent to cleavage, the activated CPD may shift to an inactive conformation. To further pursue the mechanism of autoprocessing, conserved residues among 24 identified CPDs were mutagenized. In addition to cysteine and histidine residues that form the catalytic site, 2 lysine residues essential for InsP6 binding and 5 lysine and arginine residues resulting in loss of activity at low InsP6 concentrations were identified. Overall, our data support a model in which basic residues located across the CPD structure form an InsP6 binding pocket and that the binding of InsP6 stimulates processing by altering the CPD to an activated conformation. After processing, InsP6 is shown to be recycled, while the cleaved CPD becomes incapable of further binding of InsP6