Genetically modified plants, in the following referred to as genetically modified organisms or GMOs, have been commercially grown for almost two decades. In 2010 approximately 10% of the total global ...crop acreage was planted with GMOs (James, 2011). More than 30 countries have been growing commercial GMOs, and many more have performed field trials. Although the majority of commercial GMOs both in terms of acreage and specific events belong to the four species: soybean, maize, cotton and rapeseed, there are another 20+ species where GMOs are commercialized or in the pipeline for commercialization. The number of GMOs cultivated in field trials or for commercial production has constantly increased during this time period. So have the number of species, the number of countries involved, the diversity of novel (added) genetic elements and the global trade. All of these factors contribute to the increasing complexity of detecting and correctly identifying GMO derived material. Many jurisdictions, including the European Union (EU), legally distinguish between authorized (and therefore legal) and un-authorized (and therefore illegal) GMOs. Information about the developments, field trials, authorizations, cultivation, trade and observations made in the official GMO control laboratories in different countries around the world is often limited, despite several attempts such as the OECD BioTrack for voluntary dissemination of data. This lack of information inevitably makes it challenging to detect and identify GMOs, especially the un-authorized GMOs. The present paper reviews the state of the art technologies and approaches in light of coverage, practicability, sensitivity and limitations. Emphasis is put on exemplifying practical detection of un-authorized GMOs. Although this paper has a European (EU) bias when examples are given, the contents have global relevance.
Abstract
Background
The role of linear transportation infrastructures (roads, railways, oil and gas pipelines, power lines, rivers and canals) in fragmenting natural habitats is fully acknowledged. ...Up to now, the potential of linear transportation infrastructures verges (road and railway embankments, strips of grass under power lines or above buried pipelines, or waterway banks) as habitat or corridor for biodiversity, remains controversial. In a context of decreasing natural habitats, the opportunities of anthropogenic areas for contributing to wildlife conservation have to be considered. The present paper is the first synthesis of evidence about the potential of linear transportation infrastructure verges as corridor and/or habitat for insects in temperate landscapes.
Methods
A systematic literature survey was made using two online publication databases, a search engine and by sending a call for literature to subject experts. Identified articles were successively screened for relevance on titles, abstracts and full texts using criteria detailed in an a priori protocol. We then used six specific questions to categorize and to critically appraise the retained studies. These questions encompassed the potential of verges as habitats and corridors for insects, and the effects of management and landscape context on these potentialities. A user-friendly database was created to sort the studies with low and medium susceptibility to bias. We used these studies to synthesize results of each specific question in a narrative synthesis. Finally, studies that met the meta-analysis requirements were used for a quantitative synthesis.
Results
Our searches identified 64,206 articles. After critical appraisal, 91 articles that reported 104 studies were included in our review. Almost all of them had “control-impact” design, only two studies used “before-after-control-impact” design, and one study used “before-after” design. In some cases, artificialization of transportation infrastructures lowered insect biodiversity while vegetation restoration had a moderate positive effect; the trend remained unclear for mowing/grazing practices. Urbanization and agriculture in the surroundings tended to lower the biodiversity hosted by verges, while natural and forested areas tended to promote it. No study dealt with the influence of management or surrounding landscape on insect dispersal along the verge. The small number of studies that compared the dispersal along verges and in habitats away from transportation infrastructures, together with the inconsistencies of their results, prevented us from drawing conclusions. Meta-analyses were performed on 709 cases from 34 primary studies that compared biodiversity in verges vs. other habitats. Overall insect species richness did not differ between LTI verges and compared habitats. Globally, insect abundance seemed higher on LTI verges than in compared habitats, a result driven by the higher abundance of pollinators and primary consumers on non-highway road verges than in habitats away from roads.
Conclusions
A major knowledge gap regarding the potential of linear transportation infrastructure verges as corridors for insects has been identified. Thus, we encourage more research on this topic. Infrastructure practitioners could benefit from our results about linear transportation infrastructure verges as habitat for certain taxa and about the impact of their management practices on insect abundance and species richness.
The guarantee of food safety and quality along the food chain is a principal demand of the citizen. Fundamental aspects in food safety and quality, such as the presence of pathogens and their ...potential risk, are important consumer concerns. Other questions such as the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production are also subjects where society demands total transparency. To guarantee food safety and quality and satisfy the requirements of the consumer, it is necessary to ensure that efficient analytical methodologies are possessed by the food industry. This review discusses current status and future challenges in two areas of analytical methodology in food safety and quality: the monitoring of microorganisms and the detection of GMOs. Current strategies for developing methods will be discussed. Lessons learnt through activities in method development and validation of leading research groups will be described. The review will also discuss the necessary requirements for the standardization of analytical tools in food safety monitoring.
Background Linear transportation infrastructures (roads, railways, oil and gas pipelines, powerlines and waterways) are recognized as important contributors to the fragmentation of species habitats. ...On the other hand, verges of linear transportation infrastructures (road and railway embankments, strips of grass under power lines or above buried pipelines, or waterway banks) form vast networks of continuous habitats. While the loss of natural habitats still poses a significant threat to biodiversity, verges can provide habitats or corridors in anthropogenic areas, although this potential for conservation remains controversial. The current paper is the first synthesis of evidence addressing this topic for vascular plants (except strictly aquatic species) in temperate ecosystems. We asked the following question: can linear transportation infrastructure verges constitute habitats and/or corridors for vascular plants in temperate ecosystems? Methods We conducted a systematic literature survey using two online bibliographic databases, three search engines, specialist websites, and by sending a call for literature to subject experts. We also integrated studies from a previous systematic review with an overlapping scope. We successively screened the articles for relevance on titles, abstracts and full texts using criteria detailed in an a priori protocol. We then used six specific questions to categorize the selected studies and critically assess them. These questions encompassed the potential of verges as habitats and corridors for vascular plants, and the effects of landscape and management on these potentialities. We created a database of the studies with low and medium risk of bias. We synthesized results for specific questions in narrative syntheses. Finally, studies about the habitat role of verges that met the criteria for a meta-analysis were used for quantitative syntheses. Review findings Our systematic literature survey yielded 101,524 search results. After critical appraisal, we included in our systematic review 294 articles that reported 316 studies. Most studies were conducted along road verges or waterway banks, with only a handful of studies involving powerlines, railways or pipelines. We were not able to draw conclusions on the role of verges as corridors for vascular plants as too few relevant studies were obtained. Regarding the habitat function of verges however, meta-analyses were conducted based on 205 cases from 47 primary studies that compared abundance and/or species richness in verges vs habitats away from transportation infrastructure for exotic, native or all species together. For non-highway road verges, both the abundance and richness of exotic species were higher on non-highway road verges, but we found no significant differences among species in general, or for native species specifically, which implies that alien species would often add but not subtract species. A wide variety of management practices were also represented in the evidence base. Overall, systematic impacts on species richness or abundance rarely emerged, but human interventions were seldom neutral and usually altered, at least temporarily, the balance between the native and exotic flora or among various functional groups. Conclusions We identified a major knowledge gap regarding the potential of linear transportation infrastructure verges as corridors for vascular plants. Thus, we call for more research on this particular topic, especially as the evidence synthesis underlined the potential of verges as habitat for exotic and invasive flora. Keywords: Green infrastructure, Tracheophytes, Movement, Right of way, Roadside, Waterway bank, Pipeline, Powerline, Railways embankment, Invasion
Background Linear transportation infrastructures (roads, railways, oil and gas pipelines, powerlines and waterways) generate well documented fragmenting effects on species habitats. However, the ...potential of verges of linear transportation infrastructures (road and railway embankments, strips of grass under power lines or above buried pipelines, or waterway banks) as habitat or corridor for biodiversity, remains controversial. In a context of constant loss of natural habitats, the opportunities of anthropogenic areas for compensating the loss of biodiversity they generated have to be considered. This paper is the first synthesis of evidence addressing this topic for vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles) in temperate ecosystems. Methods We conducted a systematic literature survey using two online publication databases, three search engines, specialist websites, and by sending a call for literature to subject experts. We successively screened the articles for relevance on titles, abstracts and full texts using criteria detailed in an a priori protocol. We then used six specific questions to categorize the retained studies and to critically appraise them. These questions encompassed the potential of verges as habitats and corridors for vertebrates, and the effects of landscape and management on these potentialities. We critically appraised all studies to assess their risk of bias and created a database of the studies with low and medium risk of bias. We synthesized results for each specific question in narrative syntheses. Finally, studies that met meta-analysis requirements were used for quantitative syntheses. Results Our initial searches identified 83,565 documents. After critical appraisal, we retained 119 documents that reported 128 studies. Most studies were conducted in Europe (49%) and in the United States of America (22%), and were about mammals (61%) and birds (20%). Results from the narrative synthesis and meta-analyses converged and revealed that the potential of linear transportation infrastructures verges to constitute a habitat for vertebrate species varies according to the infrastructure and the biological group considered. Especially, highway verges may be a refuge for small mammals but seems detrimental to birds. The potential also varied depending on the landscape considered, with urbanisation being related to lower biodiversity hosted by verges. We found a wide variety of verge management practices with few studies on each practice, which prevented us from drawing general conclusions. Likewise, we found too few studies assessing the corridor potential of verges to be able to fully conclude although this potential seems to exist. We did not find any study assessing the effect of landscape context or management on the role of corridor of verges. Conclusions We identified a major knowledge gap regarding the potential of linear transportation infrastructure verges as corridors for vertebrates, and when they exist studies rarely directly measured movements on verges. We thus encourage more research on this topic and the development of protocols that enable direct measures of vertebrate movements. The effect of management practices on the role of habitat of verges also deserves further investigations, and research efforts should be coordinated to focus on one specific practice (e.g. vegetation management). Keywords: Amphibians, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Green infrastructure, Mammals, Refuge, Reptiles, Right of way, Roadside
A multiplex DNA microarray chip was developed for simultaneous identification of nine genetically modified organisms (GMOs), five plant species and three GMO screening elements, i.e. the 35S ...promoter, the nos terminator and the nptII gene. The chips also include several controls, such as that for the possible presence of CaMV. The on-chip detection was performed directly with PCR amplified products. Particular emphasis was placed on the reduction of the number of PCR reactions required and on the number of primers present per amplification tube. The targets were biotin labelled and the arrays were detected using a colorimetric methodology. Specificity was provided by specific capture probes designed for each GMO and for the common screening elements. The sensitivity of the assay was tested by experiments carried out in five different laboratories. The limit of detection was lower than 0.3% GMO for all tests and in general around 0.1% for most GMOs. The chip detection system complies with the requirements of current EU regulations and other countries where thresholds are established for the labelling of GMO.
The labeling of products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO) is linked to their quantification since a threshold for the presence of fortuitous GMOs in food has been established. This ...threshold is calculated from a combination of two absolute quantification values: one for the specific GMO target and the second for an endogenous reference gene specific to the taxon. Thus, the development of reliable methods to quantify GMOs using endogenous reference genes in complex matrixes such as food and feed is needed. Plant identification can be difficult in the case of closely related taxa, which moreover are subject to introgression events. Based on the homology of β-fructosidase sequences obtained from public databases, two couples of consensus primers were designed for the detection, quantification, and differentiation of four Solanaceae: potato (Solanum tuberosum), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), pepper (Capsicum annuum), and eggplant (Solanum melongena). Sequence variability was studied first using lines and cultivars (intraspecies sequence variability), then using taxa involved in gene introgressions, and finally, using taxonomically close taxa (interspecies sequence variability). This study allowed us to design four highly specific TaqMan-MGB probes. A duplex real time PCR assay was developed for simultaneous quantification of tomato and potato. For eggplant and pepper, only simplex real time PCR tests were developed. The results demonstrated the high specificity and sensitivity of the assays. We therefore conclude that β-fructosidase can be used as an endogenous reference gene for GMO analysis.
Detection of nonauthorized genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has always presented an analytical challenge because the complete sequence data needed to detect them are generally unavailable ...although sequence similarity to known GMOs can be expected. A new approach, differential quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), for detection of nonauthorized GMOs is presented here. This method is based on the presence of several common elements (e.g., promoter, genes of interest) in different GMOs. A statistical model was developed to study the difference between the number of molecules of such a common sequence and the number of molecules identifying the approved GMO (as determined by border-fragment-based PCR) and the donor organism of the common sequence. When this difference differs statistically from zero, the presence of a nonauthorized GMO can be inferred. The interest and scope of such an approach were tested on a case study of different proportions of genetically modified maize events, with the P35S promoter as the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus common sequence. The presence of a nonauthorized GMO was successfully detected in the mixtures analyzed and in the presence of (donor organism of P35S promoter). This method could be easily transposed to other common GMO sequences and other species and is applicable to other detection areas such as microbiology.
The use of phylogenetic tools and studies has strongly increased in the last two decades especially in conservation biology and community ecology. Phylogenetic trees are essential to understand the ...processes of community or network assembly, to identify centers of diversification, and to help protect Earth’s evolutionary heritage. Despite two decades of research and syntheses, there are still many discussions on how phylogenetic diversity (PD) methods should be effectively applied to those fields. In particular, conservation approaches based on PD have become similar to these used in community ecology. Thus, the main benefit of using PD calculations in conservation biology may have been ignored or misinterpreted. Our goal is to discuss and provide guidelines to the use of PD in biodiversity conservation so that its benefits are not hidden or lost in the approaches employed. We also aim that benefits and uses are better recognized and more easily understood by researchers or practitioners who would like to include PD in their studies and conservation planning.
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