Global Loss Research Articles

Identification of Food Spoilage Fungi Using MALDI-TOF MS: Spectral Database Development and Application to Species Complex.

Fungi, including filamentous fungi and yeasts, are major contributors to global food losses and waste due to their ability to colonize a very large diversity of food raw materials and processed foods throughout the food chain. In addition, numerous fungal species are mycotoxin producers and can also be responsible for opportunistic infections. In recent years, MALDI-TOF MS has emerged as a valuable, rapid and reliable asset for fungal identification in order to ensure food safety and quality. In this context, this study aimed at expanding the VITEK® MS database with food-relevant fungal species and evaluate its performance, with a specific emphasis on species differentiation within species complexes. To this end, a total of 380 yeast and mold strains belonging to 51 genera and 133 species were added into the spectral database including species from five species complexes corresponding to Colletotrichum acutatum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium dimerum, Mucor circinelloides complexes and Aspergillus series nigri. Database performances were evaluated by cross-validation and external validation using 78 fungal isolates with 96.55% and 90.48% correct identification, respectively. This study also showed the capacity of MALDI-TOF MS to differentiate closely related species within species complexes and further demonstrated the potential of this technique for the routine identification of fungi in an industrial context.

Rhizoctonia species, anastomosis groups, and pathogenicity isolated from common bean in Lake Van Basin, Turkiye

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important vegetable crop grown in Lake Van Basin. Local genotypes are widely grown in the region. Rhizoctonia root rot induced by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn is an important soilborne plant disease that leads to global economic losses as well as in Turkey. The present study was conducted to determine anastomosis groups and pathogenicity of Rhizoctonia spp. obtained from bean plants in Lake Van Basin in 2013 and 2014. A total of 236 Rhizoctonia isolates in 5 anastomosis groups were obtained from bean plant roots. It was observed that AG- 4 (112) was the most isolated group in beans, followed by AG- 2 (41), AG- 3 (28), AG- 5 (33), and binucleate AG- K (22) isolates. Pathogenicity test conducted in thirty isolates in 5 anastomosis groups was analyzed for A64 (Bitlis/ Adilcevaz), TR68557 genotypes, and Gina (cv.) under growth chamber conditions. The study findings demonstrated that all tested isolates could infect the bean plant with different degrees of severity; however, the most virulent group was AG- 4. It was determined that the most virulent isolate was Isolate No. 19 in the A64 genotype, Isolate No. 2 in TR68557, and Isolate No. 18 in Gina cv. in in vivo tests. The identification and pathogenicity determination of Rhizoctonia isolates are the first steps towards an efficient control strategy for bean diseases caused by Rhizoctonia species. In order to obtain quality and productive products in the Van Lake Basin, where intensive bean production is carried out, precautions should be taken by considering the damage caused by Rhizoctonia spp. on plants.

Predicting the Global Extinction Risk for 6569 Species by Applying the Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method to the Impact of Future Land Use Changes

Land use change is considered to be one of the key direct drivers of ecosystem erosion and biodiversity loss. The Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) serves as a robust tool for environmental impact assessment, featuring an advanced framework and indicators for assessing global biodiversity loss. In this research, we utilized the Species Distribution Model (SDM) to evaluate 6569 species across five taxonomic groups. We simulated habitat change and losses induced by land use changes under sustainable future scenarios from the present to 2100. This enables us to assess spatial extinction risks based on shifts in the global distribution of species. Our findings reveal a global biodiversity extinction risk of approximately 4.9 species/year, equivalent to an extinction rate of 745.9 E/MSY. Notably, higher-risk hotspots have been identified in regions such as South America, South Australia, and New Zealand. Although future sustainable scenarios involving land intensification may mitigate the biodiversity extinction rate, the objective of reaching 10 E/MSY by the end of this century remains a distant goal. By providing a more rational basis for biodiversity loss, the indicators of spatial extinction risk demonstrate the advantage of effectively reflecting regional characteristics.

The complex role of Rcor2: Regulates mesenchymal stromal cell differentiation in vitro but is dispensable in vivo

Recent research has revealed several important pathways of epigenetic regulation leading to transcriptional changes in bone cells. Rest Corepressor 2 (Rcor2) is a coregulator of Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (Lsd1), a demethylase linked to osteoblast activity, hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and malignancy of different neoplasms. However, the role of Rcor2 in osteoblast differentiation has not yet been examined in detail. We have previously shown that Rcor2 is highly expressed in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) and particularly in the osteoblastic lineage. The role of Rcor2 in osteoblastic differentiation in vitro was further characterized and we demonstrate here that lentiviral silencing of Rcor2 in MC3T3-E1 cells led to a decrease in osteoblast differentiation. This was indicated by decreased alkaline phosphatase and von Kossa stainings as well as by decreased expression of several osteoblast-related marker genes. RNA-sequencing of the Rcor2-downregulated MC3T3-E1 cells showed decreased repression of Rcor2 target genes, as well as significant upregulation of majority of the differentially expressed genes. While the heterozygous, global loss of Rcor2 in vivo did not lead to a detectable bone phenotype, conditional deletion of Rcor2 in limb-bud mesenchymal cells led to a moderate decrease in cortical bone volume. These findings were not accentuated by challenging bone formation by ovariectomy or tibial fracture. Furthermore, a global deletion of Rcor2 led to decreased white adipose tissue in vivo and decreased the capacity of primary cells to differentiate into adipocytes in vitro. The conditional deletion of Rcor2 led to decreased adiposity in fracture callus. Taken together, these results suggest that epigenetic regulation of mesenchymal stromal cell differentiation is mediated by Rcor2, which could thus play an important role in defining the MSC fate.

Accelerated farmland bird population declines in European countries after their recent EU accession

Agricultural intensification is a major driver of global biodiversity loss. In Europe, intensification progressed over the 20th century and was accelerated by instruments of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries standing outside the EU until the beginning of the 21st century employed less intensive farming and are considered one of the continent's farmland biodiversity strongholds. Their recent EU accession might be either viewed as a threat to farmland biodiversity due to the availability of funds to increase agricultural production or as an opportunity to implement conservation measures aimed to preserve biodiversity. Here we assessed these possibilities using long-term monitoring data on farmland bird populations in seven CEE countries. We tested whether mean relative abundance and population trends changed after countries' EU accession, and whether such changes also occurred in agricultural management and conservation measures. Both agricultural intensity and spending for agri-environmental and climatic schemes increased when the CEE countries joined the EU. At the same time, farmland bird populations started to decline and their relative abundance was lower after than before EU accession. In addition, increases in fertilizer application were negatively associated with annual changes in relative farmland bird population sizes, indicating a negative impact of intensive agriculture. Taken together, these results indicate that despite the great power of the EU's environmental legislation to improve the population status of species at risk, this does not apply to farmland birds. In their case, the adverse impacts of agricultural intensification most likely overrode the possible benefits of conservation measures. To secure this region as one of the continent's farmland biodiversity strongholds, policy and management actions are urgently needed.

Visual function and retinal thickness in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

ABSTRACT Clinical Relevance The possibility that changes in blue–yellow visual thresholds and some retinal thickness measures in children with diabetes mellitus may be observed before any visible fundus changes points to the possibility of these measures being a useful predictor that the risks of diabetic retinopathy are higher in some children than in others. Introduction Previous studies showed mixed results on chromatic and achromatic contrast sensitivity early in the course of diabetes mellitus, and the findings of these studies may have been influenced by a lack of experimental sensitivity to visual deficits, a bias towards tritan-like errors or the cognitive demands of the tests and variations in sample composition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate colour and contrast thresholds and retinal thickness in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus compared with age-matched controls. Methods A prospective case–control study was carried out on 9–14-year-old children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (49 cases) and age matched controls (49) in which isoluminant red–green and blue–yellow and achromatic luminance contrast thresholds were measured. Fundus photography was used to grade diabetic retinopathy. Retinal thickness parameters were measured using optical coherence tomography. Data on the duration of diabetes mellitus, glycaemic control (HbA1c), blood glucose level, body mass index, blood pressure and blood oxygenation at the time of testing were obtained. Results The cases mostly had poorly controlled diabetes, HbA1c 8.6% (6.4–12.8%), for an average (range) duration of 5 (0.4–12) years. The cases had significantly higher blue–yellow thresholds (p = 0.02) and greater total retinal and inner retinal thickness (p < 0.05) than controls. No cases had diabetic retinopathy. Within the cases, poorer visual function and systemic health measures were associated with thinner retinal structures and greater global loss volume percentage in the ganglion cell complex. Conclusion Blue–yellow thresholds of cases were raised compared to normal. Within the cases, higher luminance contrast thresholds were also associated with, mostly, ganglion cell complex reductions.

Beamforming optimization of meta-learning algorithm based on gradient descent in RIS-assisted ISAC system

In this paper, we study an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system assisted by reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). Our goal is to minimize the transmit power of the BS by jointly optimizing the active beamforming and the passive beamforming under the constraints of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of users, the Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) of sensing and the unit-modulus of RIS reflection elements. The optimization problem is difficult to solve because the objective function is non-convex and the variables are coupled. In addition, a large number of base station (BS) antennas lead to high-dimensional transmit beamforming vectors. We first prove that the optimization variables in the optimization problem are low-dimensional coefficient matrices and passive beamforming, rather than active and passive beamforming, which reduces the complexity compared with the original problem. In addition, when the sensing channel space belongs to the communication channel space, the dedicated sensing signal is not needed. Inspired by the meta-learning technology that can solve non-convex problems, we propose a meta-learning algorithm based on gradient descent (MLAGD) to design beamforming, which tends to learn dynamic optimization strategies and iteratively update optimization variables. Specifically, we first introduce Lagrangian multipliers to transform the constrained optimization problem into the Lagrangian dual domain, and the manifold-based optimization is employed to handle the unit-modulus constraint. The meta-learning neural networks are constructed to update optimization variables through local loss function, and then network parameters are updated through global loss function. The numerical results show the effectiveness of the algorithm.

SpaceLight: A Framework for Enhanced On-Orbit Navigation Imagery

In the domain of space rendezvous and docking, visual navigation plays a crucial role. However, practical applications frequently encounter issues with poor image quality. Factors such as lighting uncertainties, spacecraft motion, uneven illumination, and excessively dark environments collectively pose significant challenges, rendering recognition and measurement tasks during visual navigation nearly infeasible. The existing image enhancement methods, while visually appealing, compromise the authenticity of the original images. In the specific context of visual navigation, space image enhancement’s primary aim is the faithful restoration of the spacecraft’s mechanical structure with high-quality outcomes. To address these issues, our study introduces, for the first time, a dedicated unsupervised framework named SpaceLight for enhancing on-orbit navigation images. The framework integrates a spacecraft semantic parsing network, utilizing it to generate attention maps that pinpoint structural elements of spacecraft in poorly illuminated regions for subsequent enhancement. To more effectively recover fine structural details within these dark areas, we propose the definition of a global structure loss and the incorporation of a pre-enhancement module. The proposed SpaceLight framework adeptly restores structural details in extremely dark areas while distinguishing spacecraft structures from the deep-space background, demonstrating practical viability when applied to visual navigation. This paper is grounded in space on-orbit servicing engineering projects, aiming to address visual navigation practical issues. It pioneers the utilization of authentic on-orbit navigation images in the research, resulting in highly promising and unprecedented outcomes. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate SpaceLight’s superiority over state-of-the-art low-light enhancement algorithms, facilitating enhanced on-orbit navigation image quality. This advancement offers robust support for subsequent visual navigation.

Intestinal retinol saturase is implicated in the development of obesity and epithelial homeostasis upon injury.

Retinol saturase (RetSat) is an oxidoreductase involved in lipid metabolism and the cellular sensitivity to peroxides. RetSat is highly expressed in metabolic organs like the liver and adipose tissue and its global loss in mice increases body weight and adiposity. The regulation of RetSat expression and its function in the intestine are unexplored. Here, we show that RetSat is present in different segments of the digestive system, localizes to intestinal epithelial cells, and is upregulated by feeding mice high-fat diet (HFD). Intestine-specific RetSat deletion in adult mice did not affect nutrient absorption and energy homeostasis basally, but lowered body weight gain and fat mass of HFD-fed mice, potentially via increasing locomotor activity. Moreover, jejunal expression of genes related to β-oxidation and cholesterol efflux was decreased, and colonic cholesterol content was reduced upon RetSat deletion. In colitis, which we show to downregulate intestinal RetSat expression in humans and mice, RetSat ablation improved epithelial architecture of the murine colon. Thus, intestinal RetSat expression is regulated by dietary interventions and inflammation, and its loss reduces weight gain upon HFD feeding and alleviates epithelial damage upon injury.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Retinol saturase (RetSat) is an oxidoreductase with unknown function in the intestine. We found that RetSat localizes in intestinal epithelial cells and that its deletion reduced weight gain and fat mass in obese mice. In colitis, which decreased intestinal RetSat expression in humans and mice, RetSat ablation improved the epithelial architecture of the murine colon, presumably by decreasing ROS production, thus rendering RetSat a novel target for metabolic and inflammatory bowel disease.

EPEN-11. CHARACTERIZING EPIGENETIC MODULATIONS AND EZHIP DOWNSTREAM TARGETS IN PFA EPENDYMOMA

Abstract BACKGROUND Ependymomas can arise from all compartments of the central nervous system and ten distinct molecular groups have been identified in children and adults. In children, the most aggressive group is posterior fossa group A ependymoma (PFA). In PFA ependymomas, the aberrant overexpression of EZHIP (EZH inhibitory protein) has been implicated as a relevant driver of the disease. EZHIP suppresses the installing and spreading of the repressive epigenetic mark H3K27me3 via disturbing PRC2 (polycomb repressive complex 2) activity through inhibiting EZH2 (enhancer of zeste 2), which causes overall low levels of H3K27me3 in PFA. METHODS To get a better understanding how EZHIP may drive the disease, how it affects the epigenetic landscape and what the downstream targets of EZHIP are, we performed DNA sequencing, RNA expression profiling and ChIP-seq experiments of H3K27me3, H3K27ac, EZH2, and EZHIP in PFA, PFB, and ST-ZFTA ependymomas (n = 3 tumor cases each). RESULTS After validating the high levels of EZHIP and global reduction of H3K27me3 in PFA, we characterized the epigenetic landscape and EZHIP chromatin binding characteristics in PFA compared to PFB and ST-ZFTA ependymoma. Transcriptome analysis showed that overall more genes are up-regulated in PFA compared with PFB and ZFTA, which might be caused by its relatively high accessibility with a global loss of H3K27me3. EZHIP knockdown experiments confirmed direct changes on H3K27me3, H3K27ac and gene expression. We also found that PLAG1 (pleomorphic adenoma gene 1) expression linearly correlated with EZHIP expression in PFA tumors. ChIP-seq data indeed showed the PLAG1 locus to be bound by EZHIP and marked with increased H3K27ac and decreased H3K27me3 signals in PFA. CONCLUSIONS We identified PLAG1 as a potential downstream target of EZHIP in PFA tumors. Currently, more experiments on PLAG1 are being performed to further explore its role as a potential vulnerability in PFA ependymoma.

DIPG-26. H3.3K27M ENHANCES SENSITIVITY TO ATR INHIBITION IN PEDIATRIC GLIOMA

Abstract BACKGROUND Diffuse midline glioma (DMG) is an aggressive, uniformly fatal childhood brain tumor. Radiation remains the standard of care but provides limited survival benefit. The most prevalent driver mutation in DMG is lysine to methionine mutation at position 27 (K27M) of histone H3.3, resulting in global loss of H3K27 trimethylation and remodeled chromatin, thus promoting DMG tumorigenesis. We have previously shown that inhibition of de novo pyrimidine synthesis induces replication stress that enhances DMG dependency on ATR. In this study, we sought to explore the contribution of H3K27M to basal replication stress in DMGs and vulnerability to ATR inhibition. METHODS To investigate ATR sensitivity of DMG, we employed ART0380, a potent and selective ATR inhibitor currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in adults. Using isogenic models and a panel of patient tumor-derived DMG cell lines we perform viability assays, immunoblotting, microscopy and flow cytometry-based assays to determine various endpoints/measures of ATR inhibition in DMGs. RESULTS Our data show that H3K27M histone oncoproteins enhance dependency on ATR and ATR inhibition synergizes with radiation to induce DMG cell death. After ART0380 treatment, H3K27M oncoproteins result in greater induction in apoptosis and accumulation of DNA damage (as measured by g-H2AX) compared with their histone H3 wild-type isogenic counterparts. Inhibition of ATR by ART0380 is confirmed by effects on phosphorylation of bona fide ATR targets-CHK1 and RPA. To gain mechanistic insights into how H3K27M modulates dependency on ATR, we have evaluated accumulation of chromatin-bound RPA, R-loops, and frequency of transcription and replication collisions (TRC) in isogenic cells. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate a heightened sensitivity of H3K27M mutated DMG to ATR inhibition thus identifying a therapeutic window for DMG treatment with ATR inhibitor as monotherapy or in combination with radiotherapy.

The Relative Importance of Antarctic Sea Ice Loss within the Response to Greenhouse Warming

Abstract The response to Antarctic sea ice loss within a coupled modeling framework is examined in comparison to the response to Arctic sea ice loss and within the context of general greenhouse warming. Sea ice loss responses are found to be linear (particularly in response to Antarctic or global sea ice loss) with respect to the degree of imposed perturbation and additive when perturbations are applied in hemispheres separately and concurrently. Globally, and in the tropical Pacific in particular, Antarctic sea ice loss plays a relatively larger role than Arctic sea ice loss in both the atmosphere and the ocean, within the parameters of our experiments. The pattern of response to Antarctic sea ice loss is also found to more closely resemble that of greenhouse warming, again particularly in the tropics. An extension to multiparameter pattern scaling is developed to include a scaling factor for Antarctic change in addition to those for tropical warming and Arctic sea ice loss. The decomposition is applied to the modeled response to Antarctic sea ice loss to break it down into component partial responses that scale with Antarctic, tropical, and Arctic changes. This reveals the aspects of the response that are directly related to Antarctic change, such as an equatorward intensification of tropical precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere, and those that are modified via the induced changes in the tropics and Arctic, such as Northern Hemisphere temperature change. With this, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the role of each of these changes for the development of physical mechanisms of the response.

Tree species richness improves soil net nitrogen mineralization rates in a young biodiversity-ecosystem function experiment

Forest ecosystems are facing declining plant species diversity. However, the effects of reduced tree species diversity on soil nutrient supply and tree productivity remain poorly understood. We conducted a biodiversity-ecosystem function experiment with a range of subtropical tree species richness (1, 4, 8, 16, and 32) to investigate the impacts of tree species diversity on soil net nitrogen (N) mineralization rates and its regulation on tree productivity in a young subtropical forest experiment. Our findings indicate a log-linear trend between soil net N mineralization rates and tree species richness, potentially suggesting an improvement in soil N supply capacity with greater species richness. Leaf N content, soil water content and peroxidase enzyme activity were identified as primary positive predictors influencing soil net N mineralization rates. In monoculture forests, soil net N mineralization rates were negatively correlated with litter production and tree basal area, while no such correlation was observed in mixed forests. This implies that soil net N mineralization rates play a critical role in tree productivity for monoculture forests. Together, these results provide strong evidence that the rate of decrease in soil nutrient supply capacity potential accelerates with the loss of tree species diversity in young tree communities, and highlights the importance of increasing tree species diversity to mitigate nutrient limitations. Therefore, preserving tree species diversity is crucial for the future functionality of ecosystems amidst global biodiversity loss.

Cascade effects of global supply chains induced by regional conflicts increase global inequality

Regional conflicts have become prominent in triggering shocks on supply chains and cascade effects on resource management. Reliable assessments of the cascading pattern of production resources among sectors globally are missing. Here, we modeled global multisectoral production losses and the cascading pattern of a grain supply shock in the Russia–Ukraine regional conflict by utilizing a geographic input–output approach. We find that the most cascading losses emerged in the textile (17.04 % ± 0.72 %, 95 % confidence intervals) and food-processing sectors (16.85 % ± 0.5 %). The shock propagated in a “grain–processed food/livestock” direct chain and a “light manufacturing–heavy manufacturing/textile” indirect chain. Prolonged conflict and disrupted resource allocation decreased the efficiency of production recovery in low-income countries and amplified inequality of production resources. Our approach presents a quantitative framework for unexpected supply chain shocks. The findings support the case for production aid to low-income countries and circular supply chains for sustainable development.

Novel Machine Learning Based Credit Card Fraud Detection Systems

This research deals with the critical issue of credit card fraud, a problem that has escalated in the last decade due to the significant increase in credit card usage, largely driven by advances in international trade, e-commerce, and FinTech. With global losses projected to exceed USD 400 billion in the next decade, the urgent need for effective fraud detection systems is apparent. Our study leverages the power of machine learning (ML) and presents a novel approach to credit card fraud detection. We used the European cardholders dataset for model training, addressing the data imbalance issue that often hinders the effectiveness of the learning process. As a key innovative element, we introduce compact data learning (CDL), a powerful tool for reducing the size and complexity of the training dataset without sacrificing the accuracy of the ML system. Comparative experiments have shown that our CDL-adapted feature reduction outperforms various ML algorithms and feature reduction methods. The findings of this research not only contribute to the theoretical foundations of fraud detection but also provide practical implications for the financial sector, which can benefit immensely from the enhanced fraud detection system.

Federated continual representation learning for evolutionary distributed intrusion detection in Industrial Internet of Things

As a promising paradigm, Federated Learning (FL)-based distributed intrusion detection offers potent protection for the network security of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems. Nonetheless, the practical deployment of IIoT systems occurs in a highly-complex and dynamic distributed environment. The ever-growing and dynamically-evolving cyber attacks will render the FL-based intrusion detection model inefficient, since FL cannot gracefully learn from the dynamic traffic data streams to identify new attacks. To address this issue, we propose the evolutionary distributed intrusion detection system based on federated continual representation learning, designed to continually capture effective feature representations of emerging attacks from dynamic traffic data streams. Specifically, we develop the supervised contrastive loss and the global information-aware regularization loss to alleviate the catastrophic forgetting on the previously observed attacks and mitigate the data heterogeneity across clients. Besides, we propose the prototype variance-based memory update strategy to ensure the effective memory replay data. Extensive experimental results demonstrate our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods by 13.3%–31.5% in terms of average accuracy on a real energy intrusion detection dataset.

Investigation of the effect of dimensional and non-dimensional parameters on the performance of pitch-varied staggered arranged dimple solar air heaters

In this study, the efficacy of a single pass, single glazed, five different types of absorber plate incorporated solar air heater (SAH) was experimentally examined in outdoor test conditions on alternative days. The experiment was carried out for flat plate solar air heater (FPSAH) and staggered arranged dimple imprinted absorber plate solar air heater (SDPSAH) maintained at four different pitch ratios (Pt/Pl: 1.0, 1.11, 1.25, and 1.67) by varying the air mass flow rate (ma) from 0.01-0.05 kg/s (corresponding Re range: 1971.66–10466.45). The results show that the performance of both FPSAH and SDPSAH improves when the ma increases. For the tested range of ma, SDPSAH outperforms FPSAH regardless of pitch ratio. SDPSAH, with a pitch ratio of 1.25, on the other hand, has a greater air temperature difference, efficiencies, heat removal factor, collector efficiencies, and averaged Nusselt number (Nuavg) while having a lower global heat loss coefficient and top loss. The Nuavg of SDPSAH at a pitch ratio of 1.25 is 1.01–1.17, 1.16–1.24, 1.26–1.57, and 1.44–1.88 times higher than SDPSAH at pitch ratios 1.0, 1.11, 1.67, and FPSAH, respectively. The higher averaged friction factor (favg) of 0.0443 is attained for SDPSAH at a pitch ratio of 1.25 due to the presence of the largest number of dimples. The ηth and ηd of SDPSAH at a pitch ratio of 1.25 are 34.5 and 35.5 % higher than those of FPSAH. The global heat loss coefficient of SDPSAH at pitch ratios 1.11, 1.0, and 1.67 is 1.05–1.84, 1.09–2.15, and 1.11–2.92 times higher, respectively, than that of SDPSAH at a pitch ratio of 1.25.

Nonlinear country-heterogenous impact of the Indian Ocean Dipole on global economies

A positive Indian Ocean Dipole features an anomalously high west-minus-east sea surface temperature gradient along the equatorial Indian Ocean, affecting global extreme weathers. Whether the associated impact spills over to global economies is unknown. Here, we develop a nonlinear and country-heterogenous econometric model, and find that a typical positive event causes a global economic loss that increases for further two years after an initial shock, inducing a global loss of hundreds of billion US dollars, disproportionally greater to the developing and emerging economies. The loss from the 2019 positive event amounted to US$558B, or 0.67% in global economic growth. Benefit from a negative dipole event is far smaller. Under a high-emission scenario, a projected intensification in Dipole amplitude causes a median additional loss of US$5.6 T at a 3% discount rate, but likely as large as US$24.5 T. The additional loss decreases by 64% under the target of the Paris Agreement.

Divergent impacts of fertilization regimes on below-ground prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities in the Tibetan Plateau

Chemical nutrient amendment by human activities can lead to environmental impacts contributing to global biodiversity loss. However, the comprehensive understanding of how below- and above-ground biodiversity shifts under fertilization regimes in natural ecosystems remains elusive. Here, we conducted a seven-year field experiment (2011–2017) and examined the effects of different fertilization on plant biodiversity and soil belowground (prokaryotic and eukaryotic) communities in the alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau, based on data collected in 2017. Our results indicate that nitrogen addition promoted total plant biomass but reduced the plant species richness. Conversely, phosphorus enrichment did not promote plant biomass and exhibited an unimodal pattern with plant richness. In the belowground realm, distinct responses of soil prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities were observed under fertilizer application. Specifically, soil prokaryotic diversity decreased with nitrogen enrichment, correlating with shifts in soil pH. Similarly, soil eukaryotic diversity decreased with increased phosphorous inputs, aligning with the equilibrium between soil available and total phosphorus. We also established connections between these soil organism communities with above-ground plant richness and biomass. Overall, our study contributes to a better understanding of the sustainable impacts of human-induced nutrient enrichment on the natural environment. Future research should delve deeper into the long-term effects of fertilization on soil health and ecosystem functioning, aiming to achieve a balance between agricultural productivity and environmental conservation.

RNAi-mediated pest control targeting the Troponin I (wupA) gene in sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius.

The sweet potato weevil (Cylas formicarius) is a critical pest producing enormous global losses in sweet potato crops. Traditional pest management approaches for sweet potato weevil, primarily using chemical pesticides, causes pollution, food safety issues, and harming natural enemies. While RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising environmentally friendly approach to pest control, its efficacy in controlling the sweet potato weevil has not been extensively studied. In this study, we selected a potential target for controlling C. formicarius, the Troponin I gene (wupA), which is essential for musculature composition and crucial for fundamental life activities. We determined that wupA is abundantly expressed throughout all developmental stages of the sweet potato weevil. We evaluated the efficiency of double-stranded RNAs in silencing the wupA gene via microinjection and oral feeding of sweet potato weevil larvae at different ages. Our findings demonstrate that both approaches significantly reduced the expression of wupA and produced high mortality. Moreover, the 1st instar larvae administered dswupA exhibited significant growth inhibition. We assessed the toxicity of dswupA on the no-target insect silkworm and assessed its safety. Our study indicates that wupA knockdown can inhibit the growth and development of C. formicarius and offer a potential target gene for environmentally friendly control.