National-Level Wetland Policy Specificity and Goals Vary According to Political and Economic Indicators.

Growing recognition of the importance of wetlands to human and ecosystem well-being has led countries worldwide to implement wetland protection policies. Different countries have taken different approaches to wetland protection by implementing various policies, including territorial exclusion, market-based offsetting, and incentive programs for land users. Our objective was to describe the relationship between components of national-level wetland protection policies and national characteristics, including natural resource, economic, social, and political factors. We compiled data on the wetland policies of all 193 countries recognized by the U.N. and described the relationships among wetland policy goals and wetland protection mechanisms using non-metric multidimensional scaling. The first non-metric multidimensional scaling axis strongly correlated with whether a country had a wetland-specific environmental policy in place. Adoption of a comprehensive, wetland-specific policy was positively associated with degree of democracy and a commitment to establishing protected areas. The second non-metric multidimensional scaling axis defined a continuum of policy goals and mechanisms by which wetlands are protected, with goals to protect wetland ecosystem services on one end of the spectrum and goals to protect biodiversity on the other. Goals for protecting ecosystem services were frequently cited in policy documents of countries with agriculture-based economies, whereas goals associated with wetland biodiversity tended to be associated with tourism-based economies. We argue that the components of a country's wetland policies reflect national-level resource and economic characteristics. Understanding the relationship between the type of wetland policy countries adopt and national-level characteristics is critical for international efforts to protect wetlands.

Pathogenicity of dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride-resistant Salmonella enterica.

Salmonella infection causes a self-limiting gastroenteritis in humans but can also result in a life-threatening invasive disease, especially in old, young, and/or immunocompromised patients. The prevalence of antimicrobial and multidrug-resistant Salmonella has increased worldwide since the 1980s. However, the impact of antimicrobial resistance on the pathogenicity of Salmonella strains is not well described. In our study, a microarray was used to screen for differences in gene expression between a parental strain and a strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis with reduced susceptibility (SRS) to the widely used antimicrobial sanitizer dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC). Three of the genes, associated with adhesion, invasion, and intracellular growth (fimA, csgG, and spvR), that showed differences in gene expression of 2-fold or greater were chosen for further study. Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (real-time RT-PCR) was used to confirm the microarray data and to compare the expression levels of these genes in the parental strain and four independently derived SRS strains. All SRS strains showed lower levels of gene expression of fimA and csgG than those of the parental strain. Three of the four SRS strains showed lower levels of spvR gene expression while one SRS strain showed higher levels of spvR gene expression than those of the parental strain. Transmission electron microscopy determined that fimbriae were absent in the four SRS strains but copiously present in the parental strain. All four SRS strains demonstrated a significantly reduced ability to invade tissue culture cells compared to the parental strains, suggesting reduced pathogenicity of the SRS strains.

Plant-produced human growth hormone shows biological activity in a rat model.

Plants have been shown to be efficient systems for expressing a wide range of recombinant proteins from various origins. Here, using a plant virus-based expression vector to produce human growth hormone (hGH) in Nicotiana benthamiana plants, we demonstrate, for the first time, that the plant-produced hGH (pphGH) is biologically active in a hypophysectomized rat model. We observed an average weight gain of approximately 17 g per animal in a group of 10 animals that were injected subcutaneously with pphGH with 60 microg/dose for 10 days. With the increasing demand for hGH, accompanied with the need to make this recombinant protein available to a wider population at a more reasonable cost, plants provide a feasible alternative to current production platforms.

Immunogenicity of a subunit vaccine against Bacillus anthracis.

The current approved vaccine against anthrax is based on protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis, requires six injections over an 18-month period and has a known history of side effects. Therefore, there is significant effort towards developing an improved vaccine against B. anthracis. Here we separately engineered and expressed domain 4 of PA (PAD4) and domain 1 of lethal factor (LFD1) as fusions to lichenase (LicKM), a thermostable enzyme from Clostridium thermocellum, and transiently expressed these fusions in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant-produced antigens were combined and immunogenicity was evaluated in mice. All animals that received the experimental vaccine developed high antibody titers that were predominantly IgG1 and were able to neutralize the effects of LeTx in vitro.