Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard

Priorización, limpieza viral, producción de semilla de calidad básica y devolución de cultivares nativos libres de virus

Ocho instituciones colaboradoras (AGRUCO, CENDA, CPA, ACRA, PIABS, CESA, UTO, COPLA), y las comunidades a las que apoyan, han seleccionado en zonas con características extremas, cultivares de papa nativa cultivados la mayoría en alturas superiores a los 3,500 m. De ellos 24 fueron priorizados con PROINPA para su limpieza viral, en base a sus características sobresalientes de alta rusticidad frente a factores abióticos y por su importancia social en la elaboración de chuño (tubérculo deshidratado negro), tunta (tubérculo deshidratado blanco), waicu (tubérculo cocido con cáscara), y cocido en fresco. Con el uso de anticuerpos apropiados para la detección de variantes andinas de los virus comunes de la papa en DAS-ELISA, se ha limpiado de virus los 24 cultivares de papa nativa, de los cuales se ha producido semilla de calidad básica en la E.E. Toralapa y en condiciones in situ en camas protegidas construidas con materiales rústicos del lugar. Asimismo a la fecha se han producido tubérculossemillas de alta calidad en parcelas semillaras de los mismos agricultores. Los cultivares nativos de papa, limpios, han sido devueltos a sus centros de recolección a través de los sindicatos de agricultores e instituciones involucradas. Se ha realizado lacomparación preliminar de semilla libre de virus con la semilla proveniente de selección positiva y semilla del agricultor, con resultados muy satisfactorios. Se realizaron eventos de capacitación a 282 agricultores para el manejo de los cultivares libres de virus. La demanda al presente por los cultivares nativos limpios contribuirá al mantenimiento de la biodiversidad y apoyará a una agricultura más sostenible

Therapeutic treatment of Zika virus infection using a brain-penetrating antiviral peptide

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne virus that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases, including Guillain-Barre syndrome' and congenital Zika syndrome(2). As Zika virus targets the nervous system, there is an urgent need to develop therapeutic strategies that inhibit Zika virus infection in the brain. Here, we have engineered a brain-penetrating peptide that works against Zika virus and other mosquito-borne viruses. We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of the peptide in a lethal Zika virus mouse model exhibiting systemic and brain infection. Therapeutic treatment protected against mortality and markedly reduced clinical symptoms, viral loads and neuroinflammation, as well as mitigated microgliosis, neurodegeneration and brain damage. In addition to controlling systemic infection, the peptide crossed the blood-brain barrier to reduce viral loads in the brain and protected against Zikavirus-induced blood-brain barrier injury. Our findings demonstrate how engineering strategies can be applied to develop peptide therapeutics and support the potential of a brain-penetrating peptide to treat neurotropic viral infections