Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction I BACKGROUND Long-term astrophysical processes Evolution theory and the future of humanity Millenial tendencies in responses to apocalyptic threats Cognitive biases potentially affecting judgement of global risks Observation selection effects and global catastrophic risks Systems-based risk analysis Catastrophes and insurance Public policy towards catastrophe II RISKS FROM NATURE Super-volcanism and other geophysical processes of catastrophic import Hazards from comets and asteroids Influence of Supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and cosmic rays on the terrestrial environment III RISKS FROM UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Climate change and global risk Plagues and pandemics: past, present, and future Artificial Intelligence as a positive and negative factor in global risk Big troubles, imagined and real IV RISKS FROM HOSTILE ACTS Catastrophe, social collapse, and and human extinction The continuing threat of nuclear war Catastrophic nuclear terrorism: a preventable peril Biotechnology and biosecurity Nanotechnology as global catastrophic risk The totalitarian threat Author's biographies Index

Global Catastrophic Risks

Four novel bacterial strains were isolated from cryogenic tubes used to collect air samples at altitudes of 24, 28 and 41 km The four strains, 24K(T), 28K(T), 41KF2a(T) and 41KF2b(T), were identified as members of the genus Bacillus Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that three of the strains, 24K(T), 28K(T) and 41KF2a(T), are very similar to one another (>98 % sequence similarity) and show a similarity of 98-99 % with Bacillus licheniformis and 98 % with Bacillus sonorensis DNA-DNA hybridization studies showed that strains 24K(T), 28K(T) and 41KF2a(T) exhibit <70 % similarity with each other and with B licheniformis and B sonorensis Differences in phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics between the novel strains and B licheniformis and B sonorensis further confirmed that these three isolates are representatives of three separate novel species Strain 41KF2b(T) showed 100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Bacillus pumilus, but differed from its nearest phylogenetic neighbour in a number of phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics and showed only 55 % DNA-DNA relatedness Therefore, the four isolates represent four novel species for which the names Bacillus aerius sp nov (type strain, 24K(T)=MTCC 7303(T)=JCM 13348(T)), Bacillus aerophilus sp nov (type strain, 28K(T)=MTCC 7304(T)=JCM 13347(T)), Bacillus stratosphericus sp nov (type strain, 41KF2a(T)=MTCC 7305(T)=JCM 13349(T)) and Bacillus altitudinis sp nov (type strain, 41KF2b(T)=MTCC 7306(T)=JCM 13350(T)) are proposed

http://repository.iucaa.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/11007/1653/1/315A_2006.pdf

Bacillus aerius sp. nov., Bacillus aerophilus sp. nov., Bacillus stratosphericus sp. nov. and Bacillus altitudinis sp. nov., isolated from cryogenic tubes used for collecting air samples from high altitudes.

Three novel bacterial strains, PVAS-1(T), B3W22(T) and B8W22(T), were isolated from cryotubes used to collect air samples at altitudes of between 27 and 41 km. Based on phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic features, DNA-DNA hybridization with the nearest phylogenetic neighbours and phylogenetic analysis based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences (PVAS-1(T), 1196 nt; B3W22(T), 1541 nt; B8W22(T), 1533 nt), the three strains were identified as representing novel species, and the names proposed are Janibacter hoylei sp. nov. (type strain PVAS-1(T) =MTCC 8307(T) =DSM 21601(T) =CCUG 56714(T)), Bacillus isronensis sp. nov. (type strain B3W22(T) =MTCC 7902(T) =JCM 13838(T)) and Bacillus aryabhattai sp. nov. (type strain B8W22(T) =MTCC 7755(T) =JCM 13839(T)).

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Janibacter hoylei sp. nov., Bacillus isronensis sp. nov. and Bacillus aryabhattai sp. nov., isolated from cryotubes used for collecting air from the upper atmosphere

During the last twenty years, archaeozoological research has significantly transformed the picture of the black rat (rattus rattus) in classical antiquity and medieval Europe. These new data, in conjunction with extant texts from these periods, make a great contribution to the understanding of the bubonic plagues of the sixth and the fourteenth centuries, as well as to the history of the communications and economic systems linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. The study of ancient rats and their colonization extends the temporal and geographical groundwork for a fully historical global ecology.

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Rats, Communications, and Plague: Toward an Ecological History

Thirty-one bacteria that belonged to the genus Pseudomonas were isolated from cyanobacterial mat samples that were collected from various water bodies in Antarctica. All 31 isolates were psychrophilic; they could be divided into three groups, based on their protein profiles. Representative strains of each of the three groups, namely CMS 35T, CMS 38T and CMS 64T, were studied in detail. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, it was established that the strains were related closely to the Pseudomonas fluorescens group. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics further confirmed their affiliation to this group. The three strains could also be differentiated from each other and the closely related species Pseudomonas orientalis, Pseudomonas brenneri and Pseudomonas migulae, based on phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics and the level of DNA–DNA hybridization. Therefore, it is proposed that strains CMS 35T (=MTCC 4992T=DSM 15318T), CMS 38T (=MTCC 4993T=DSM 15319T) and CMS 64T (=MTCC 4994T=DSM 15321T) should be assigned to novel species of the genus Pseudomonas as Pseudomonas antarctica sp. nov., Pseudomonas meridiana sp. nov. and Pseudomonas proteolytica sp. nov., respectively.

Psychrophilic pseudomonads from Antarctica: Pseudomonas antarctica sp. nov., Pseudomonas meridiana sp. nov. and Pseudomonas proteolytica sp. nov.

Eighteen isolates of bacteria obtained from the sputum of pneumonic plague patients and from the liver and spleen of rodents from the plague-affected areas of India during 1994-1995 when analyzed by 16S rDNA analysis clearly demonstrated that all 18 isolates exhibit an average similarity of 98.5% with the genus Yersinia and 99.1% with Yersinia pestis, thus identifying the isolates as Y. pestis. The isolates from the human plague patients were found to be genetically more homogeneous compared to the isolates from the rodents which were more heterogeneous. An epidemiological linkage among the rodents and human patients is also indicated by 16S rDNA analysis, which suggests that only a sub-population of the rodents was probably the source of the infectious pathogen to the humans initiating the outbreak of the epidemic. The results of the randomly amplified DNA polymorphisms (RAPD)-based DNA fingerprinting are in agreement with the above conclusions.

Identification of Yersinia pestis as the causative organism of plague in India as determined by 16S rDNA sequencing and RAPD-based genomic fingerprinting

N Vijaya Bhanu

Papers

Identification of Yersinia pestis as the causative organism of plague in India as determined by 16S rDNA sequencing and RAPD-based genomic fingerprinting