Gains and Losses of Agricultural Food Production: Implications for the Twenty-First Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Slavko Komarnytsky ◽  
Sophia Retchin ◽  
Chi In Vong ◽  
Mary Ann Lila
Keyword(s):  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Metabolic Diseases ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Gains And Losses ◽  
Agricultural Food

The world food supply depends on a diminishing list of plant crops and animal livestock to not only feed the ever-growing human population but also improve its nutritional state and lower the disease burden. Over the past century or so, technological advances in agricultural and food processing have helped reduce hunger and poverty but have not adequately addressed sustainability targets. This has led to an erosion of agricultural biodiversity and balanced diets and contributed to climate change and rising rates of chronic metabolic diseases. Modern food supply chains have progressively lost dietary fiber, complex carbohydrates, micronutrients, and several classes of phytochemicals with high bioactivity and nutritional relevance. This review introduces the concept of agricultural food systems losses and focuses on improved sources of agricultural diversity, proteins with enhanced resilience, and novel monitoring, processing, and distribution technologies that are poised to improve food security, reduce food loss and waste, and improve health profiles in the near future. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, Volume 13 is March 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Electronic, Ionic, and Mixed Conduction in Polymeric Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elayne M. Thomas ◽  
Phong H. Nguyen ◽  
Seamus D. Jones ◽  
Michael L. Chabinyc ◽  
Rachel A. Segalman
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Transport Coefficients ◽  
Polymeric Materials ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Energy Storage Devices ◽  
Polymeric Systems ◽  
Storage Devices ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Performance Benchmark

Polymers that simultaneously transport electrons and ions are paramount to drive the technological advances necessary for next-generation electrochemical devices, including energy storage devices and bioelectronics. However, efforts to describe the motion of ions or electrons separately within polymeric systems become inaccurate when both species are present. Herein, we highlight the basic transport equations necessary to rationalize mixed transport and the multiscale materials properties that influence their transport coefficients. Potential figures of merit that enable a suitable performance benchmark in mixed conducting systems independent of end application are discussed. Practical design and implementation of mixed conducting polymers require an understanding of the evolving nature of structure and transport with ionic and electronic carrier density to capture the dynamic disorder inherent in polymeric materials. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Materials Science, Volume 51 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Aging of the Retina: Molecular and Metabolic Turbulences and Potential Interventions

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Campello ◽  
Nivedita Singh ◽  
Jayshree Advani ◽  
Anupam K. Mondal ◽  
Ximena Corso-Diaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Vision Science ◽  
Human Lifespan ◽  
Cellular Events ◽  
Age Related

Multifaceted and divergent manifestations across tissues and cell types have curtailed advances in deciphering the cellular events that accompany advanced age and contribute to morbidities and mortalities. Increase in human lifespan during the past century has heightened awareness of the need to prevent age-associated frailty of neuronal and sensory systems to allow a healthy and productive life. In this review, we discuss molecular and physiological attributes of aging of the retina, with a goal of understanding age-related impairment of visual function. We highlight the epigenome–metabolism nexus and proteostasis as key contributors to retinal aging and discuss lifestyle changes as potential modulators of retinal function. Finally, we deliberate promising intervention strategies for promoting healthy aging of the retina for improved vision. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 7 is September 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Dissecting Organismal Morphogenesis by Bridging Genetics and Biophysics

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhil Mishra ◽  
Carl-Philipp Heisenberg
Keyword(s):  
Cell Fate ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Complex Shapes ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Shape Changes

Multicellular organisms develop complex shapes from much simpler, single-celled zygotes through a process commonly called morphogenesis. Morphogenesis involves an interplay between several factors, ranging from the gene regulatory networks determining cell fate and differentiation to the mechanical processes underlying cell and tissue shape changes. Thus, the study of morphogenesis has historically been based on multidisciplinary approaches at the interface of biology with physics and mathematics. Recent technological advances have further improved our ability to study morphogenesis by bridging the gap between the genetic and biophysical factors through the development of new tools for visualizing, analyzing, and perturbing these factors and their biochemical intermediaries. Here, we review how a combination of genetic, microscopic, biophysical, and biochemical approaches has aided our attempts to understand morphogenesis and discuss potential approaches that may be beneficial to such an inquiry in the future. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics, Volume 55 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Pre- and post-production processes along supply chains increasingly dominate GHG emissions from agri-food systems globally and in most countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco N. Tubiello ◽  
Kevin Karl ◽  
Alessandro Flammini ◽  
Johannes Gütschow ◽  
Griffiths Obli-Layrea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
System Component ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Post Production

Abstract. We present results from the FAOSTAT agri-food systems emissions database, relative to 236 countries and territories and over the period 1990–2019. We find that in 2019, world-total food systems emissions were 16.5 billion metric tonnes (Gt CO2eq yr−1), corresponding to 31 % of total anthropogenic emissions. Of the agri-food systems total, global emissions within the farm gate –from crop and livestock production processes including on-farm energy use—were 7.2 Gt CO2eq yr−1; emissions from land use change, due to deforestation and peatland degradation, were 3.5 Gt CO2eq yr−1; and emissions from pre- and post-production processes –manufacturing of fertilizers, food processing, packaging, transport, retail, household consumption and food waste disposal—were 5.8 Gt CO2eq yr−1. Over the study period 1990–2019, agri-food systems emissions increased in total by 17 %, largely driven by a doubling of emissions from pre- and post-production processes. Conversely, the FAO data show that since 1990 land use emissions decreased by 25 %, while emissions within the farm gate increased only 9 %. In 2019, in terms of single GHG, pre- and post- production processes emitted the most CO2 (3.9 Gt CO2 yr−1), preceding land use change (3.3 Gt CO2 yr−1) and farm-gate (1.2 Gt CO2 yr−1) emissions. Conversely, farm-gate activities were by far the major emitter of methane (140 Mt CH4 yr−1) and of nitrous oxide (7.8 Mt N2O yr−1). Pre-and post- processes were also significant emitters of methane (49 Mt CH4 yr−1), mostly generated from the decay of solid food waste in landfills and open-dumps. The most important trend over the 30-year period since 1990 highlighted by our analysis is the increasingly important role of food-related emissions generated outside of agricultural land, in pre- and post-production processes along food supply chains, at all scales from global, regional and national, from 1990 to 2019. In fact, our data show that by 2019, food supply chains had overtaken farm-gate processes to become the largest GHG component of agri-food systems emissions in Annex I parties (2.2 Gt CO2eq yr−1). They also more than doubled in non-Annex I parties (to 3.5 Gt CO2eq yr−1), becoming larger than emissions from land-use change. By 2019 food supply chains had become the largest agri-food system component in China (1100 Mt CO2eq yr−1); USA (700 Mt CO2eq yr−1) and EU-27 (600 Mt CO2eq yr−1). This has important repercussions for food-relevant national mitigation strategies, considering that until recently these have focused mainly on reductions of non-CO2 gases within the farm gate and on CO2 mitigation from land use change. The information used in this work is available as open data at: https://zenodo.org/record/5615082 (Tubiello et al., 2021d). It is also available to users via the FAOSTAT database (FAO, 2021a), with annual updates.

New Advances and Applications in Field-Flow Fractionation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine L. Plavchak ◽  
William C. Smith ◽  
Carmen R.M. Bria ◽  
S. Kim Ratanathanawongs Williams
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Field Flow Fractionation ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Flow Fractionation ◽  
And Function ◽  
Size Scales

Field-flow fractionation (FFF) is a family of techniques that was created especially for separating and characterizing macromolecules, nanoparticles, and micrometer-sized analytes. It is coming of age as new nanomaterials, polymers, composites, and biohybrids with remarkable properties are introduced and new analytical challenges arise due to synthesis heterogeneities and the motivation to correlate analyte properties with observed performance. Appreciation of the complexity of biological, pharmaceutical, and food systems and the need to monitor multiple components across many size scales have also contributed to FFF's growth. This review highlights recent advances in FFF capabilities, instrumentation, and applications that feature the unique characteristics of different FFF techniques in determining a variety of information, such as averages and distributions in size, composition, shape, architecture, and microstructure and in investigating transformations and function. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry, Volume 14 is June 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

The tracrRNA in CRISPR Biology and Technologies

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyu Liao ◽  
Chase L. Beisel
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Material ◽  
Immune Defense ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Guide Rnas ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Guide Sequence ◽  
The Individual ◽  
New Applications

CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems in bacteria and archaea utilize short CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) to guide sequence-specific recognition and clearance of foreign genetic material. Multiple crRNAs are stored together in a compact format called a CRISPR array that is transcribed and processed into the individual crRNAs. While the exact processing mechanisms vary widely, some CRISPR-Cas systems, including those encoding the Cas9 nuclease, rely on a trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA). The tracrRNA was discovered in 2011 and was quickly co-opted to create single-guide RNAs as core components of CRISPR-Cas9 technologies. Since then, further studies have uncovered processes extending beyond the traditional role of tracrRNA in crRNA biogenesis, revealed Cas nucleases besides Cas9 that are dependent on tracrRNAs, and established new applications based on tracrRNA engineering. In this review, we describe the biology of the tracrRNA and how its ongoing characterization has garnered new insights into prokaryotic immune defense and enabled key technological advances. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics, Volume 55 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Is Shortening the Answer? A Literature Review for a Research and Innovation Agenda

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9831
Author(s):  
Yuna Chiffoleau ◽  
Tara Dourian
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Wide Range

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are increasingly garnering attention in food systems research, owing to their rising popularity among consumers, producers and policy-makers in the last few decades. Written with the aim to identify research gaps for the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, this literature review provides a state of play of the definition and characterisation of SFSCs, and of their sustainability. Drawing on hypotheses about SFSC sustainability elaborated in an expert network in France, this review summarises a wide range of papers from various disciplines in the SFSC literature, written in English or French, while specifically highlighting the empirical results derived from European projects. Though the literature tends to generally agree on the social benefits of SFSCs, their economic and environmental impacts typically elicit more heterogeneous outcomes, while their health/nutrition and governance dimensions remain under-explored. Based on this review, recommendations for a future research and innovation programme are outlined, addressing the contribution of SFSCs to agrifood system transition and resilience in the current context of the Covid-19 crisis and of the Green New Deal objectives.

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