Viruses: Essential Agents of Life

Viruses: Essential Agents of Life PDF Author: Günther Witzany
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940074899X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A renaissance of virus research is taking centre stage in biology. Empirical data from the last decade indicate the important roles of viruses, both in the evolution of all life and as symbionts of host organisms. There is increasing evidence that all cellular life is colonized by exogenous and/or endogenous viruses in a non-lytic but persistent lifestyle. Viruses and viral parts form the most numerous genetic matter on this planet.

Environmental Virology and Virus Ecology

Environmental Virology and Virus Ecology PDF Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128144165
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Environmental Virology, Volume 101, the latest in the Advances in Virus Research series, contains new, informative updates on the topic. First published in 1953, this series covers a diverse range of in-depth reviews, providing a valuable overview of the current field of virology. Updates to this release include sections on the host landscape and vector behavior, key determinants of plant virus evolution and emergence, plant virome analysis using spatial metagenomics, host range evolution in generalist viruses, the influence of environment, water-mediated spread and transmission of viruses, viruses transmitted by means other than insect vectors, and more. - Contains contributions from leading authorities in the field of virology - Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field - Features a diverse range of virology topics, including discussions of host landscape and vector behavior and viruses transmitted by means other than insect vectors

Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety

Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety PDF Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251322937
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Climate change is causing unprecedented damage to our ecosystem. Increasing temperatures, ocean warming and acidification, severe droughts, wildfires, altered precipitation patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and amplification of extreme weather events have direct implications for our food systems. While the impacts of such environmental factors on food security are well known, the effects on food safety receive less attention. The purpose of Climate change: Unpacking the burden on food safety is to identify and attempt to quantify some current and anticipated food safety issues that are associated with climate change. The food safety hazards considered in the publication are foodborne pathogens and parasites, harmful algal blooms, pesticides, mycotoxins and heavy metals with emphasis on methylmercury. There is also, a dedicated section on the benefits of forward-looking approaches such as horizon scanning and foresight, which will not only aid in anticipating future challenges in a shifting global food safety landscape, but also help build resilient food systems that can be continually updated as more knowledge is assimilated. By building a more widespread and better understanding of the consequences climate change has on food safety, it is hoped that this document will aid in fostering stronger international cooperation in making our food safer by reducing the global burden of these concerns.

A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs

A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030948538X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA). For the hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food or livelihoods, the thousands of communities that depend on reefs for wave protection, the people whose cultural practices are tied to reef resources, and the many economies that depend on reefs for fisheries or tourism, the health and maintenance of this major global ecosystem is crucial. A growing body of research on coral physiology, ecology, molecular biology, and responses to stress has revealed potential tools to increase coral resilience. Some of this knowledge is poised to provide practical interventions in the short-term, whereas other discoveries are poised to facilitate research that may later open the doors to additional interventions. A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs reviews the state of science on genetic, ecological, and environmental interventions meant to enhance the persistence and resilience of coral reefs. The complex nature of corals and their associated microbiome lends itself to a wide range of possible approaches. This first report provides a summary of currently available information on the range of interventions present in the scientific literature and provides a basis for the forthcoming final report.

Game Changer-Next Generation Sequencing and Its Impact on Food Microbiology

Game Changer-Next Generation Sequencing and Its Impact on Food Microbiology PDF Author: Jennifer Ronholm
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889454630
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) are revolutionizing the field of food microbiology. Microbial whole genome sequencing (WGS) can provide identification, characterization, and subtyping of pathogens for epidemiological investigations at a level of precision previously not possible. This allows for connections and source attribution to be inferred between related isolates that may be overlooked by traditional techniques. The archiving and global sharing of genome sequences allow for retrospective analysis of virulence genes, antimicrobial resistance markers, mobile genetic elements and other novel genes. The advent of high-throughput 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, in combination with the advantages offered by massively parallel second-generation sequencing for metagenomics, enable intensive studies on the microbiomes of food products and the impact of foods on the human microbiome. These studies may one day lead to the development of reliable culture-independent methods for food monitoring and surveillance. Similarly, RNA-seq has provided insights into the transcriptomes and hence the behaviour of bacterial pathogens in food, food processing environments, and in interaction with the host at a resolution previously not achieved through the use of microarrays and/or RT-PCR. The vast un-tapped potential applications of NGS along with its rapidly declining costs, give this technology the ability to contribute significantly to consumer protection, global trade facilitation, and increased food safety and security. Despite the rapid advances, challenges remain. How will NGS data be incorporated into our existing global food safety infrastructure? How will massive NGS data be stored and shared globally? What bioinformatics solutions will be used to analyse and optimise these large data sets? This Research Topic discusses recent advances in the field of food microbiology made possible through the use of NGS.

Current Research Topics in Plant Virology

Current Research Topics in Plant Virology PDF Author: Aiming Wang
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319329197
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Topics covered in this book include RNA silencing and its suppression in plant virus infection, virus replication mechanisms, the association of cellular membranes with virus replication and movement, plant genetic resistance to viruses, viral cell-to-cell spread, long distance movement in plants, virus induced ER stress, virus diversity and evolution, virus-vector interactions, cross protection, geminiviruses, negative strand RNA viruses, viroids, and the diagnosis of plant viral diseases using next generation sequencing. This book was anticipated to help plant pathologists, scholars, professors, teachers and advanced students in the field with a comprehensive state-of-the-art knowledge of the subject.

Insect-Plant Biology

Insect-Plant Biology PDF Author: Louis M. Schoonhoven
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019852594X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
"Half of all insect species are dependent on living plant tissues, consuming about 10% of plant annual production in natural habitats and an even greater percentage in agricultural systems, despite sophisticated control measures. Plants are generally remarkably well-protected against insect attack, with the result that most insects are highly specialized feeders. The mechanisms underlying plant resistance to invading herbivores on the one side, and insect food specialization on the other, are the main subjects of this book. For insects these include food-plant selection and the complex sensory processes involved, with their implications for learning and nutritional physiology, as well as the endocrinological aspects of life cycle synchronization with host plant phenology. In the case of plants exposed to insect herbivores, they include the activation of defence systems in order to minimize damage, as well as the emission of chemical signals that may attract natural enemies of the invading herbivores and may be exploited by neighbouring plants that mount defences as well." "Insect-Plant Biology discusses the operation of these mechanisms at the molecular and organismal levels, in the context of both ecological interactions and evolutionary relationships. In doing so, it uncovers the highly intricate antagonistic and mutualistic interactions that have evolved between plants and insects. The book concludes with a chapter on the application of our knowledge of insect-plant interactions to agricultural production." "This multidisciplinary approach will appeal to students in agricultural entomology, plant sciences, ecology, and indeed anyone interested in the principles underlying the relationships between the two largest groups of organisms on earth: plants and insects."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Prokaryotes

The Prokaryotes PDF Author: Edward F. DeLong
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783642301421
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description
The Prokaryotes is a comprehensive, multi-authored, peer reviewed reference work on Bacteria and Achaea. This fourth edition of The Prokaryotes is organized to cover all taxonomic diversity, using the family level to delineate chapters. Different from other resources, this new Springer product includes not only taxonomy, but also prokaryotic biology and technology of taxa in a broad context. Technological aspects highlight the usefulness of prokaryotes in processes and products, including biocontrol agents and as genetics tools. The content of the expanded fourth edition is divided into two parts: Part 1 contains review chapters dealing with the most important general concepts in molecular, applied and general prokaryote biology; Part 2 describes the known properties of specific taxonomic groups. Two completely new sections have been added to Part 1: bacterial communities and human bacteriology. The bacterial communities section reflects the growing realization that studies on pure cultures of bacteria have led to an incomplete picture of the microbial world for two fundamental reasons: the vast majority of bacteria in soil, water and associated with biological tissues are currently not culturable, and that an understanding of microbial ecology requires knowledge on how different bacterial species interact with each other in their natural environment. The new section on human microbiology deals with bacteria associated with healthy humans and bacterial pathogenesis. Each of the major human diseases caused by bacteria is reviewed, from identifying the pathogens by classical clinical and non-culturing techniques to the biochemical mechanisms of the disease process. The 4th edition of The Prokaryotes is the most complete resource on the biology of prokaryotes. The following volumes are published consecutively within the 4th Edition: Prokaryotic Biology and Symbiotic Associations Prokaryotic Communities and Ecophysiology Prokaryotic Physiology and Biochemistry Applied Bacteriology and Biotechnology Human Microbiology Actinobacteria Firmicutes Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria Gammaproteobacteria Deltaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria Other Major Lineages of Bacteria and the Archaea

Plant Virus Evolution

Plant Virus Evolution PDF Author: Marilyn J. Roossinck
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540757635
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive look at the field of plant virus evolution. It is the first book ever published on the topic. Individual chapters, written by experts in the field, cover plant virus ecology, emerging viruses, plant viruses that integrate into the host genome, population biology, evolutionary mechanisms and appropriate methods for analysis. It covers RNA viruses, DNA viruses, pararetroviruses and viroids, and presents a number of thought-provoking ideas.

Artificial Intelligence in Society

Artificial Intelligence in Society PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264545190
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape has evolved significantly from 1950 when Alan Turing first posed the question of whether machines can think. Today, AI is transforming societies and economies. It promises to generate productivity gains, improve well-being and help address global challenges, such as climate change, resource scarcity and health crises.