Food and Environment Research Agency

About: Food and Environment Research Agency is a company organization based out in York, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Badger. The organization has 532 authors who have published 841 publications receiving 32365 citations.

Genomics and taxonomy in diagnostics for food security: soft-rotting enterobacterial plant pathogens

Abstract: Soft rot Enterobacteriaceae (SRE) are bacterial plant pathogens that cause blackleg, wilt and soft rot diseases on a broad range of important crop and ornamental plants worldwide. These organisms (spanning the genera Erwinia, Pectobacterium, Dickeya, and Pantoea) cause significant economic and yield losses in the field, and in storage. They are transmissible through surface water, by trade and other movement of plant material and soil, and in some cases are subject to international legislative and quarantine restrictions. Effective detection and diagnosis in support of food security legislation and epidemiology is dependent on the ability to classify pathogenic isolates precisely. Diagnostics and classification are made more difficult by the influence of horizontal gene transfer on phenotype, and historically complex and sometimes inaccurate nomenclatural and taxonomic assignments that persist in strain collections and online sequence databases. Here, we briefly discuss the relationship between taxonomy, genotype and phenotype in the SRE, and their implications for diagnostic testing and legislation. We present novel whole-genome classifications of the SRE, illustrating inconsistencies between the established taxonomies and evidence from completely sequenced isolates. We conclude with a perspective on the future impact of widespread whole-genome sequencing and classification methods on detection and identification of bacterial plant pathogens in support of legislative and policy efforts in food security.

Bringing ecosystem services into economic decision-making: land use in the United Kingdom.

Abstract: Landscapes generate a wide range of valuable ecosystem services, yet land-use decisions often ignore the value of these services. Using the example of the United Kingdom, we show the significance of land-use change not only for agricultural production but also for emissions and sequestration of greenhouse gases, open-access recreational visits, urban green space, and wild-species diversity. We use spatially explicit models in conjunction with valuation methods to estimate comparable economic values for these services, taking account of climate change impacts. We show that, although decisions that focus solely on agriculture reduce overall ecosystem service values, highly significant value increases can be obtained from targeted planning by incorporating all potential services and their values and that this approach also conserves wild-species diversity.

Shifts in Arctic vegetation and associated feedbacks under climate change

Abstract: This study shows that climate change could lead to a major redistribution of vegetation across the Arctic, with important implications for biosphere–atmosphere interactions, as well as for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Woody vegetation is predicted to expand substantially over coming decades, causing more Arctic warming through positive climate feedbacks than previously thought.

Masked mycotoxins: A review

Abstract: The aim of this review is to give a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on plant metabolites of mycotoxins, also called masked mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites, toxic to human and animals. Toxigenic fungi often grow on edible plants, thus contaminating food and feed. Plants, as living organisms, can alter the chemical structure of mycotoxins as part of their defence against xenobiotics. The extractable conjugated or non-extractable bound mycotoxins formed remain present in the plant tissue but are currently neither routinely screened for in food nor regulated by legislation, thus they may be considered masked. Fusarium mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, fumonisins, nivalenol, fusarenon-X, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, fusaric acid) are prone to metabolisation or binding by plants, but transformation of other mycotoxins by plants (ochratoxin A, patulin, destruxins) has also been described. Toxicological data are scarce, but several studies highlight the potential threat to consumer safety from these substances. In particular, the possible hydrolysis of masked mycotoxins back to their toxic parents during mammalian digestion raises concerns. Dedicated chapters of this article address plant metabolism as well as the occurrence of masked mycotoxins in food, analytical aspects for their determination, toxicology and their impact on stakeholders.