Celiac disease is an intestinal ailment that apparently afflicts more than 1 in 150 people in the US and is the reason behind many individuals avoiding food with gluten. A few years ago I had a senior design team develop a biosensor to detect some of the offending proteins in foods which cause celiac flare ups. The problem is substantial and has few practical solutions for celiac sufferers who want to eat in restaurants or other settings in which they cannot fully control the ingredients in their food.
The guilty parties in celiac disease appear to be three protein fragments which are the part of gluten in wheat, rye and barley that triggers the immune systems of celiac patients, damaging the small intestine. An Australian research team reports the new findings in the July 21 Science Translational Medicine.
Pinpointing these peptides has opened the way for development of a therapeutic vaccine that might help celiac patients tolerate these foods. The research team is pursuing that line of work now, led by study coauthor Robert Anderson, a gastroenterologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville, Australia. The authors find that most celiac patients make a response to the three gluten peptides. Most people digest these cereals effortlessly, but people with celiac disease have a genetic predisposition that causes an aberrant immune response to gluten. That in turn damages the walls of the small intestine and sabotages their ability to absorb food. Celiac disease can cause painful bloating, diarrhea, constipation, lethargy and other problems. Its genetic underpinnings are poorly understood.
In contrast, the cereal side of the equation is now becoming clearer. Scientists fingered gluten in the 1950s as the celiac trigger, but the gluten protein is complex, and the scanning technology needed to sort out its offending components has become available only recently.
The Australian team put that technology to use. First they gave more than 200 celiac patients in Australia and Britain wheat, barley and rye in foods for three days. This mobilized immune T cells to mount an attack on gluten. The researchers used these T cells to measure the patients’ immune reactions to 2,700 compounds found in gluten. Using the new scanning technology to narrow the field, they found that while dozens of peptides elicited some immune response, three stood apart from the rest. One appears in a type of wheat gluten. Another is found in rye gluten. And a third peptide shows up on certain gluten proteins in all three cereals.
The Australian team has begun an early-stage clinical trial using these peptides in a vaccine that aims to desensitize celiac patients and make them tolerant of the compounds. The group expects to report preliminary safety results later this year.
More info can be found at: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61321/title/Separating_wheat_from_chaff_in_celiac_disease
The interior of a cell is known to be tremendously crowded with macromolecules, dissolved salts and small molecules, and rigid support structures. Due to this high level of crowding, the viscosity inside a cell is many fold higher than that of water; however molecules in the cell tend to move at high rates, at some times much faster than in water alone. A longstanding question of fundamental biology has been what are the mechanisms driving this high rate of transport.
Some of this effect can be explained by active transport mechanisms that operate upon the cytoarchitecture including those which use molecular motors operating on microtubules. Kinesin and dynein are incredibly sophisticated devices.
Additionally, it has been determined that water molecules form extensive networks of ordered structure emanating from the intracellular surfaces such as membranes, actin filaments, and other macromolecular structures. These ordered water layers can extend up to 20 layers of water molecules away from surfaces and thus may provide “shipping lanes” through which molecules may diffuse within limited caged regions.
Recently, researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Science, led by Professor Robert Hołyst, has shown another explanation. In any hydrodynamic system there is a fundamental length scale at which there is a transition from “macroviscosity” to “nanoviscosity”; this change typically occurs at the length of the predominant molecular species or one of its primary, independently articulated components. Each molecule with a size larger than this predominant size will experience a macro-scale viscosity while molecules less than this size will experience a nano-scale viscosity. Changes in viscosity near the fundamental length scale they are very sharp and may result in the change of viscosity by as much as 5-6 orders of magnitude.
The PAS researchers advancement may require changes in how we should apply hydrodynamic models for movement of molecular species with sizes close to and much smaller than the predominant macromolecular species within a cell.
The PAS study was reported in Langmuir, 2010; 26 (12): 9304 DOI: 10.1021/la100181d.
Delivery of genes into mammalian cells is notoriously inefficient when the standard method of electroporation is applied. One limitation is that only a small portion of the cell membrane opens up to allow penetration of the DNA to be inserted; this is based on the geometry of the interactions caused by a directional electrical field.
Chang Lu and his group at Virginia Tech have developed a smarter way to get genes into cells utilizing the microfluid dynamic behavior around the surface of a cell. Their method can enhance the delivery of small chemical payloads into cells. The description of their work will be featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip soon to appear.
The new process developed by Lu and his group “enables uniform DNA delivery over the entire cell surface, which is the first time we are aware that this has been demonstrated. The result is a greatly enhanced transfer of the genetic material.”
This method relies upon hydrodynamic effects that upon fluid flow along curved paths which generates vortices, dependent upon the Reynolds number which characterizes the flow. Cells carried by such flow experience rotation and spinning that help expose the majority of the surface area to the electric field. “A spiral-shaped channel design yields a two-fold increase than a straight channel and an even larger factor compared to in static solution,” he added. When electroporation is applied to flowing cells in a spiral or curved channel , the images “appear dramatically different with the DNA delivery uniformly distributed over the entire cell surface.”
This approach demonstrates a clear benefit from performing gene delivery in micro-scale devices. To date, much of the the work in this area has shown small improvements on cell processing and behavior, but the advantages of strong increases in gene delivery efficiency open many new potential uses particularly with immuno-based therapies and regenerative medicine, both areas for which the low delivery efficiency has been a limitation. A major challenge, of course, will lie in scaling up these methods such that the millions to billions of necessary transformations can be performed in a reasonable period of time. This method likely would have major obstacles for tissue based delivery, however, the concept raises new paths for delivery of genes to cells present in complex structures.
A new study, published by John Hayes and colleagues in Physiology & Behavior suggests that people may love salty foods in part if they also have super-human powers. These capabilities don’t allow people to leap tall buildings in a single bound, fly, or rapidly morph their shape; however, for these supertasters foods have more dynamic flavors, bright and vibrant in saltiness and bitterness of high intensity while the rest of the population identifies the same foods as bland and tasteless.
A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Women are more likely to be supertasters, as are Asians and Africans. Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters. The cause of this heightened response is currently unknown, although it is thought to be, at least in part, due to an increased number of fungiform papillae, the bumps on the tongue which house the taste buds.
The evolutionary advantage to supertasting is unclear. In some environments, heightened taste response, particularly to bitterness, would represent an important advantage in avoiding potentially toxic plant alkaloids. However, in other environments, increased response to bitter may have limited the range of palatable foods. In a modern environment, supertasting may be cardioprotective, due to decreased liking and intake of fat, but may increase cancer risk via decreased vegetable intake. It may be a cause of picky eating, but picky eaters are not necessarily supertasters, and vice versa.
The concept of variations in ability to sense various tastes dates back at least to reports in the 1930’s by A.L. Fox, of DuPont who noticed that some individuals found phenylthiocarbamide to be bitter while others found it tasteless. He later went on to confirm that the ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) was genetic in nature. Most estimates suggest 25% of the population are nontasters, 50% are medium tasters, and 25% are supertasters.
The term originates with experimental psychologist Linda Bartoshuk who has spent much of her career studying genetic variation in taste perception. In the early 1990s, Bartoshuk and her colleagues noticed some individuals tested in the laboratory seemed to have an elevated taste response and took to calling them supertasters. This increased taste response is not the result of response bias or a scaling artifact, but appears to have an anatomical/biological basis. Bartoshuk is profiled in the June 18, 2010 issue of Science. In the course of her research on PTC, Bartoshuk realized that many of the individuals who were more sensitive to bitterness were also most sensitive to sweetness and sourness.
The supertaster genotype has been linked to a preference for sweetness in children, avoidance of alcohol, increased prevalence of colon cancer (via inadequate vegetable consumption) and avoidance of cigarette smoking. Hayes and his colleagues were surprised to discover that the supertasters liked more salt rather than less, even though they were more sensitive to it. Salt plays a role in tastes besides saltiness. For instance, salt helps cancel out bitterness, one of the sensations that supertasters experience in Technicolor. This may explain why the supertasters in the study perceived the low-sodium cheddar cheese to be twice as bitter as the Cracker Barrel, and liked it far less than the other study participants did.
And, of course, the phenomena of supertasters was immortalized in the song “John Lee, Supertaster” by the band They Might be Giants – http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/T/theymightbegiantslyrics/theymightbegiantsjohnleesupertasterlyrics.htm.
The state of Wisconsin just passed a bill to name the first state microbe, the bacterium Lactococcus lactis. The rationale seems to be that this bacterium plays a large role in the cheese industry in that state and should be adequately recognized. This leads me to wonder what other microbes are best connected with certain states and could be their state microbes (tongue planted firmly in cheek, appropriate prior to a cheek swab for donating my own microbial flora).
Many of these suggested state microbes were merely the first hit that arose on a google search of the state name and “bacteria”, “virus”, or “protozoa”. Most (well, nearly all) of these microbe selections are not flattering, so if you are offended by how your state is portrayed, then I challenge you to offer a better suggestion in the commentary section below. (Yes there are some repeats – oh well.) Let’s evolve this list until we condense to an appropriate microbe for each state. No fighting over those eminently useful or particularly diabolical microbes. We’ll start off with the favorite for many of us (after Wisconsin, of course).
1 Wisconsin has already laid claim to Lactococcus lactis as its state microbe.
2 Saccharomyces cerevisae is one of the first that comes to mind as this yeast is used to make bread and beer. The best fit is Missouri (due to the breweries located in and around St. Louis).
3 New Jersey has a large pharmaceutical industry which owes much of its production to the workhorse E. coli used to generate pharmaceutical intermediate compounds.
4 Utah – Halobacterium halobium a halophyte or salt tolerant microbe as found in the Great Salt Lake.
5 Bacillus chitinovorus breaks down chitin and should be the state microbe of Maryland, if not, the state would be covered in crustacean carapaces.
6 North Carolina has a large biotechnology development industry, especially in the Research Triangle Park area. Lentivirus is a viral vector is a widely used vehicle to bring genetic material inside eukaryotic cells and serves as a workhorse for that industry.
7 Ohio is the home to the Cleveland Clinic (located in Cleveland, if you couldn’t guess) and is one of the best cancer diagnostic and treatment facilities. We now know that the cause of some cancers can be due to viral infections such as the Epstein-Barr Virus – the microbe for Ohio.
8 For much of the 19th century, Arizona’s population growth was in part due to people who had been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis with them moving to Arizona so that the dry and warm climate reduced symptoms of the disease.
9 Microcoleus and some species of cyanobacteria degrade petroleum – good choices for Alaska and Texas; they can determine which goes where.
10 Since Microcoleus works under sunlight while cyanobacteria breaks down petroleum best at night, this suggests that latter as the state microbe for Alaska.
11 Massachusetts has some of the best medical research in the country and so HIV would be a reasonable choice for its state microbe as this scourge has brought many research dollars to Massachusetts.
12 Saccharomyces degredans makes bioplastics similar to the many many products made by 3M (previously known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company).
13 Lactobacillus acidophilus used to produce Yogurt – needs to be the microbe for California.
14 Poria incrassata, called dry rot or the water-conducting fungus, will decay wood which would not be attacked by typical decay fungi, certainly a concern for the timber industry in Oregon.
15 Citrobacter freundii was first identified as a citrus-decaying organism to be avoided in Florida.
16 Amanita strobiliformis, a macrofungal species, was the first eukaryotic organisms known to hyperaccumulate silver, such as that found in New Mexico both in the ground and in seemingly every corner store.
17 Montana is the home to a well known institute for study of biofilms and so should name Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a strong biofilm-forming bacterium, as its state microbe.
18 Phytophthora infestans, a water mold, causes potato blight and was believed to be the cause of the Irish potato famine of 1845; Idaho, as home to more of the US’s potato production than anywhere else, should name this as its state’s microbe as a preventative measure.
19 Helicobacter pylori bacteria causes stomach ulcers: and fits as the microbe of choice for the hoagie loving populace of Pennsylvania.
20 Geobacter metallireducens bacteria “eat” metal ions and were first isolated from the Potomac River on the banks of Virginia. Geobacter species provide a model for iron transformations on modern earth and may explain the massive accumulation of magnetite in ancient iron formations.
21 Kansas, known as America’s bread basket, should name the bread mold fungus, Rhizopus stolonifer.
22 Listeria ivanovii is an uncommon food-borne pathogen of ice cream such as the very delicious frozen treat from Ben and Jerry’s in Vermont.
23 Ferrobacillus ferrooxidans participates in microbial-influenced corrosion of ferrous and copper alloys, appropriate for the rust belt state of Indiana.
24 Species of Geobacter bacteria can eliminate petroleum contamination in polluted water and convert waste organic matter; good reasons to name this the microbe for Louisiana.
25 Leptospirosis is found worldwide but is more common in tropical areas like Hawaii. Leptospira bacteria can live for long periods in fresh water and mud.
26 Bacterial spot is caused by a bacterium, Xanthomonas campestris, which can be a contaminant on tomato seed and has been problematic to agriculture in North Dakota.
27 A cellulose-degrading bacteria, Brevibacillus, was found in the deep subsurface of the Homestake gold mine, Lead, South Dakota.
28 Enterococcus faecalis and other enterobacteria (that normally inhabit vertebrate intestines that can sometimes be found in bodies of water) have been a frequent problem on the beaches of lakes in Iowa.
29 Cladosporium resinae is commonly present in jet fuel, living at the water-fuel interface and causing corrosion to plastic and rubber parts – Atlanta is one of the country’s busiest airports thus leading Georgia to name this microbe as its state enemy.
30 Researchers have used Geobacter sulfurreducens to reduce uranium in the groundwater at Rifle Mill – nearby aquifers are heavily polluted by U(VI) leaching from this uranium mine in Western Colorado.
31 Wyoming has more cows than people; imagine what that does to the amount of E. coli 0157:H7 per person.
32 Lactobacillus curvatus, Lactobacillus sakei and Pediococcus cerevisiae are sausage fermenting bacteria which has helped to make Hamtramck (and it’s high concentration Polish descendants) a favored spot in Michigan.
33 Nitrosobacteria and nitrobacteria are in part responsible for the richness of soils in Nebraska (originally identified in a 1913 thesis by Putnam).
34 In 2004, Alabama was found out of compliance with the Clean Water Act due to presence of E. coli and enterococci at beaches.
35 In May 2006, a patient from a small city in Oklahoma was diagnosed with vancomycin-intermediate resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) associated bloodstream and surgical site infections. This was Oklahoma’s second confirmed case of VISA. The first documented VISA case occurred in Japan in 1996 and 18 cases have now been documented in the United States.
36 One of the “Leading Factors for Bad Breath in Connecticut” (yes this was the first hit on a google search) is the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori.
37 An abundant seed population in bottom sediments has set the stage for a significant bloom of the toxic alga Alexandrium fundyense in the gulf of Maine.
38 An outbreak of H1N1 influenza virus spread through schools in Chicago, Illinois in 2009.
39 Flavobacterium acidurans has been found as part of hetrotrophic bacteria in acid coal mine water in West Virginia.
40 Arkansas, the home to more than a few chickens, should name Salmonella as its state microbe.
41 The Cytophaga-Flavobacterium bacterial group is known to be abundant in aquatic ecosystems in Delaware and to have a potentially unique role in the utilization of organic material.
42 New Hampshire lays claim to Largemouth Bass Virus, one of more than 100 naturally occurring viruses in fish.
43 Coccidia are intestinal protozoans that invade and infect the lining cells of the small intestine found in cats in Rhode Island.
44 Algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico are caused by microscopic marine algae called Karenia brevis; much of the nutrients are believed to be brought by the River that bears the name, Mississippi.
45 West Nile Virus, now found throughout the US, was first seen in the U.S. in 1999, in the New York City area of Queens and so garners the state microbe claim.
46 Giardia has worldwide distribution and is not uncommon in South Carolina.
47 Legionella is a concern for hot tubs in Tennessee.
48 In the 1990s, there were several reported cases of food-borne illness and death from tainted Washington apple cider linked to E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria.
49 Probiotic microbes, such as Bifidobacterium bifidum, are used in Kentucky to reduce the incidence of colic in horses due to their delicate digestive systems.
50 Nevada, home to legal brothels, regrettably should name Neisseria gonorrhoeae as its state microbe.
Replication is the hallmark of living systems (and is one of the tenets of what defines an entity as being alive (metabolism, movement, response and replication). A growing number of molecular systems have been shown to be able to self-replicate – a process by which an individual copies itself and catalyzes the formation of the next generation. DNA, RNA, and alpha-helices have been shown to do this efficiently as have a number of chemicals derived from non-living systems. Self-replicating molecules are often thought as serving as the foundation for the origin of life. However, a multitude of questions remain open including how self-replicating compounds participate in selection or evolutionary steps (especially as development of enormously complex organisms must occur far from solution phase equilibrium).
In the March 19th, 2010, issue of Science, Carnall and coworkers (1502, 327, 2010) report on two self-replicating peptide-derived macrocycles that emerge from a small dynamic combinatorial library. The formed monomers are either a hexamer or a heptamer using a peptide sequence with alternating hydrophobic (leucine) or hydrophilic (lysine) amino acids and compete for a common feedstock.
Replication is driven by nanostructure formation, resulting from the assembly of the peptides into fibers held together by b-sheets. Which of the two replicators become dominant is influenced by whether the sample is mixed. Mechanical forces act as a selection pressure in the competition between replicators and can determine the outcome of a covalent synthesis. This is in contrast to the kinetically-controlled mechanism found with most auto-catalytic systems.
The formation of fibers (stacked rings of the monomers) by the hexamer and heptamer may explain the mechanosensitivity observed during their formation. In a similar auto-catalytic formation, fibers of amyloid Beta protein (known to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease) can be influenced by mechanical forces. The data here supports a model for mechano-sensitive fiber growth that involves processes of elongation of fibers and breakage of fibers (due to mechanical stress) to produce more growing ends.
The concept that fiber breakage stimulates growth is not uncommon in human experience. Broken bones can be mended with resultant greater tensile strength. Global equilibria are commonly reached only by moving away from local equilibria. These processes all follow the old saw that challenges that don’t kill us only make us stronger. There may be truth to this saying even down to the molecular level.
Change in climate and habitat has potentially devastating effects on many animal species which are already on the brink of extinction. Conservationists are developing methods to freeze the cells of threatened animals and plants as a type of insurance policy. A similar, but much broader approach, was started recently with the Svalbard International Seed Vault which will serve as a repository for crucial seeds in the event of a global catastrophe by holding three million types of seeds in Norway (The Guardian, 6/20/2006).
Unfortunately, some of the animal species such as many amphibians which are closest to extinction are also amongst the most challenging to preserve. The population of the mountain yellow-legged frog, which lives in Southern California, has dwindled to under 200 individuals as a result of recent drought, fire, pathogenic fungi, and new predators (The Economist, pg 90, 1/30/2010). Barbara Durrant and Tom Jensen at the San Diego Zoo have been working to develop methods to preserve stem cells from this species. Harvesting from a single female yields on the order of one hundred ovarian stem cells; however, since this species is not a standard laboratory component, the required cultivation and storage conditions are not well established or understood.
Durrant’s group is also using artificial insemination as a means for breeding and long term preservation of desirable traits in CANDES (companion animals, non-domestic, endangered species). Because oocytes grow, mature, and are fertilized in vivo and embryos are not subjected to in vitro culture conditions, artificial insemination eliminates the epigenetic effects on the female gamete that are inherent in more invasive assisted reproductive technologies.
For some plant species, cryopreservation of plant tissue is an appropriate method for germplasm conservation but leads to similar problems as observed with preservation of animal cells including tissue damage during freezing, loss of viability during storage, failures in regeneration from the stored tissue and the occurrence of genetic changes (somaclonal variation) during the organ or tissue culture phases. Success in storage and regeneration would be of much less value if these processes cause genome instability, certainly undesirable when attempting to preserve endangered species.
It is estimated that 40,000 species become extinct every year. To help keep a record of this disappearing life, there is a movement developing to establish a global DNA bank for endangered animals. Although banks containing animal and plant genes are scattered throughout the world, this would be the first international effort to collect and compile tissue samples from all known endangered animal species. A DNA bank would provide future generations with a more complete and accurate record of now-threatened species.
Additionally, such DNA banks could be used to preserve genetic diversity within a species. This can also be used to more carefully breed near extinct species which are held in captivity including the California condor, wild horses, giant pandas, and the black rhino. Breeders are attempting to preserve an extremely limited gene pool derived from 12 Mongolian wild horses that were captured in the wild. Even if we were to able to reconstitute an extinct species, the only place to put it would be in a zoo or a laboratory since it would not be possible to accurately replicate the animal habitat and its native prey and predators.
Challenges for development here include not only the collection and preservation, but reanimation of the stored tissue since any growth method is likely to introduce selection pressures which can reduce genetic diversity. Reanimation of frozen or preserved tissue is also a tremendous challenge in tissue engineering, especially with tissue matrices designed to preserve complex structures and physical relationships which can be altered by the freezing, storage, or thawing stages.
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The standard theory of natural selection explains both the process and the purpose of adaptation in which heritable characteristics associated with greater reproductive success will accumulate within a population. However, there are a number of observations which, at least on first look, don’t seem to be adequately fit by this model.
Natural selection can sustain cooperative behavior in single-shot prisoners’ dilemma games (in prisoners’ dilemma, cooperation always gets a lower payoff for oneself and a higher payoff for one’s opponent than defection).
Richard Dawkins’ “selfish gene” concept, in which the replicating agent in evolution is the gene rather than the individual, explains one possible source of altruism in relatives. If a gene is carried by a young individual also appears in its relatives, then sacrifices by the relatives can be seen as selfish behavior by allowing the gene in the younger individual to prosper. Altruistic behavior then can be seen to be selfish when applied within closely related individuals. However, how can altruism be explained when the interaction does not involve close relatives?
Hamilton’s theory of inclusive fitness shows how natural selection could lead to behaviors that decrease the fitness of an individual and either benefit (altruism) or harm (spite) other individuals (Science 1341, 327, 2010). Hamilton’s work leads to the concept that natural selection leads organisms to appear designed as if to maximize their fitness for the environment within which they are found.
Three key debates on the role of altruistic and spiteful behavior on evolution has been discussed by West and Gardner (Science 1341, 327, 2010).
is the evolution of extreme altruism (such as sterile workers in populations of social insects) driven by genetics or environment?
does spite really exist in nature?
can altruism be favored between individuals who are not close kin but share a “greenbeard” gene for altruism? A greenbeard is a concept first proposed by Dawkins to represent individuals who may have some external traits in common but have no substantial underlying relatedness (think of the separated at birth stories).
All of these questions can best be addressed by a combination of observation and modeling.
The answer to the first question on extreme altruism, such as seen in species of ants, bees, wasps, termites, and beetles, appears to be a result of strict lifetime monogamy within the species. Monogamy leads to a potential worker (an offspring) being equally related to a queen’s mother’s offspring (her sisters). This hypothesis simplifies our understanding of how such social behavior evolved, emphasizing that the interaction between relatedness and ecology is rather not a competition, but a driving factor.
West and Gardner go on to address the other two questions in their article. Their examples demonstrate that in regards to evolution, the debate between genetics and environment is highly artificial and in many cases leads to unhelpful lines of inquiry. What matters most is how they interact and cannot be taken as independent components of evolutionary pressures.
As biological engineers work to design microorganisms to perform complex tasks, the environment in which these organisms operate is as much important as their genetic blueprint. Getting a microbe to function well under highly idealized conditions is a positive step, but only a small step when utilization in a complex environment is the end goal. Similar problems have challenged the field for many years as evidenced by cell culture selection for pharmaceuticals, genetic modification of plant species, and design of wastewater treatment facilities.
The recently completed Copenhagen talks on climate change included signing of an initiative termed REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). This deal provides concepts for deriving beneficial reduction in deforestation and is encouraging for people whose focus is not on forests, but on fields. Potentially a sizeable benefit could be derived from owning agricultural land regardless of current productivity.
The impact of climate change on agriculture is substantial. Changes in weather patterns impact yearly temperatures, rainfall, groundwater availability, and wind. On the flip side, farming is a cause of deforestation and also emits greenhouse gases (quoted as high as 14% of the global total (The Economist, pg 44, 1/2/2010)). Farming can of course reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere through incorporation in growing plants and possibly through sequestration in soils through decaying biological matter.
Man-made methods are also being developed through thermochemical breakdown of fiber. One method, termed fast pyrolysis, produces a carbon rich byproduct termed biochar. This is quite similar to charcoal which is considered an excellent way to lock up carbon for potentially thousands of years. The biochar, when incorporated into the soil, can improve the water holding capacity and microbial makeup of the soil. Such benefits were known by the ancient farmers in the Amazon jungle.
One of the social challenges in climate change is that most people (generally burning exclusively fossil fuels) do not see the direct impact of climate change. However, farmers have first-hand knowledge of climate change and more readily recognize that they have a role in adapting to climate change. Both for adapting to climate change and to assess methods to slow down climate change, there is a great need for more research on the roles that can be played by agriculture. Even the poorest of countries have farms – credits for carbon newly locked away in their soil may be a more plausible way of attracting money than rewards for low-carbon industrialization (The Economist, pp 44, 1/2/2010). Their lands which are marginal for agriculture may even be a source of income when used as a location to store carbon, especially when locked into benign compounds.
Such geological scale engineering projects are highly controversial and will likely remain so for many years. However, a reference to such efforts was incorporated into the Copenhagen documents as a possible future direction for the Clean Development Mechanism, which provides credits for carbon-saving projects in poorer countries. Such innovative thinking where the most impacted (farmers) are provided both the motivation and the tools to implement practical solutions has the greatest of potential to benefit all.
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