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  • Food Policy  (45)
  • Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology  (41)
  • Oxford University Press  (86)
  • 2015-2019  (86)
  • 1945-1949
  • 1
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    A Wicked Problem? Cost Containment in the Women, Infants and Children Program (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-08-11
    Description: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program is a key part of America's safety net, but its structure fails to incentivize participants to be cost-conscious in their purchases and may cause retailers to attach excessive markups to WIC products. We investigate cost containment in the WIC Program, with a focus on California. Results show that smaller vendors often charge considerably higher prices for WIC foods than their larger counterparts. However, larger vendors do not mark up WIC foods more or promote them less than comparable control products. Cost containment can be improved by targeting WIC Program sales to larger vendors when it is possible to do so without compromising participant access, and using large-vendor prices as a benchmark to limit prices set by smaller vendors.
    Keywords: D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, I38 - Government Policy ; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 2
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    Simulating welfare effects of the European nutrition and health claims' regulation: the Italian yogurt market (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-26
    Description: With the enactment of Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006, 20 December 2006, ‘ On nutrition and health claims made on foods ’ several health claims can no longer be used on food products in European markets. We simulate the overall impact of the regulation on consumers and producers using the Italian yogurt market as a case study, and data prior to the introduction of the policy. We quantify welfare losses incurred if accepted claims were false, and simulate scenarios where rejected truthful health claims are removed, considering also the case where the products carrying them exit the market. We find that consumers can incur large welfare losses if approved claims are untruthful; if truthful claims are instead denied both consumers and producers may incur losses, with consumers being penalised more than producers.
    Keywords: L66 - Food ; Beverages ; Cosmetics ; Tobacco ; Wine and Spirits, M38 - Government Policy and Regulation, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0165-1587
    Electronic ISSN: 1464-3618
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 3
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    Endophytic fungi associated with Sudanese medicinal plants show cytotoxic and antibiotic potential (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-12
    Description: In this study, we isolated 15 endophytic fungi from five Sudanese medicinal plants. Each fungal endophytic strain was identified by sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of rDNA. Ethyl acetate extracts were prepared from each endophyte cultivated in vitro and tested for their respective antibacterial activities and antiproliferative activities against human cancer cells. Antibacterial screening was carried out against two bacterial strains: Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , by the broth dilution method. Cell viability was evaluated by the MTT procedure after exposure of MCF7 breast cancer cells and HT29 or HCT116 human colon adenocarcinoma cells to each endophytic extract. Of interest, Byssochlamys spectabilis isolated from Euphorbia prostata showed cytotoxicity (IC 50 = 1.51 ± 0.2 μg mL –1 ) against MCF7 cells, but had a low effect against HT29 or HCT116 cells (IC 50 〉 20 μg mL –1 ). Cladosporium cladosporioides 2, isolated from Vernonia amygdalina leaves, showed antiproliferative activities against MCF7 cells (IC 50 = 10.5 ± 1.5 μg mL –1 ) only. On the other hand, B. spectabilis and Alternaria sp. extract had antibacterial activities against the S. aureus strain. The findings of this work revealed that endophytic fungi associated with medicinal plants from Sudan could be considered as an attractive source of new therapeutic compounds.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 4
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    Grain Promotion and Food Consumption: Analysis of Chinese Provincial Data (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-12
    Description: China has long struggled to achieve food security. In the era of a planned economy, local self-sufficiency was dictated by policy. With China's transition to a market economy, however, different policy schemes have been utilized, with greater emphasis placed on the role of market forces, especially in conjunction with China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Nevertheless, self-sufficiency in grain production remains a deeply rooted goal, and interventionist measures geared towards its achievement are still viewed as the most direct and effective means of food security. This paper examines how the well-being of China's rural population, proxied by measures of food consumption, is affected by the promotion of grain production. Our findings suggest that targeted households bear a disproportionate burden of food security policy, as it is currently implemented.
    Keywords: O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 5
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    Measuring Food Access and Food Deserts for Policy Purposes{dagger} (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-12
    Description: Policymakers have dedicated increasing attention to whether Americans have access to healthful food. As a result, various methods for measuring food store access at the national level have been developed to identify areas that lack access. However, these methods face definitional, data, and methodological limitations. The focus on neighborhoods instead of individuals underestimates the barriers that some individuals face in accessing healthy food, and overestimates the problem in other neighborhoods. This paper reviews and critiques currently available national-level measures of food access. While multiple measures of food access are needed to understand the problem, we recommend greater attention be paid to individual measures of food store access.
    Keywords: I14 - Health and Inequality, I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 6
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    Decomposing the Farmer's Share of the Food Dollar (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-05-12
    Description: The Canadian farm share for five crop-based products and seven livestock-based products from 1997 to 2010 is calculated using a supply chain IO analysis. Significant differences exist in farm shares across food commodities with higher farm shares for livestock products and lower farm shares for grain-based products. The decline in the Canadian farm share for food consumed at home is driven in large part by the food purchasing habits of consumers. This paper also addresses the hypothesis that the decline in the Canadian farm share could be partially driven by rising input costs in post-farmgate processes or rising input costs that have greater impact on downstream sectors than primary agricultural producers. Three experiments were conducted to assess the impact of an increase in the cost of corn, energy, and farm labor would have on commodity output prices, farm returns, food expenditure, and farm share. In all three cases, the overall farm share increases, albeit by a small amount, suggesting that these shocks have a larger relative impact on the prices of agricultural commodities than the prices of marketing commodities used in post-farmgate activities. A two-period comparison of these simulations shows that energy (corn and farm labour) price shocks would have had a greater (lower) impact on the farm share in 2007 than 1997.
    Keywords: Q11 - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis ; Prices, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 7
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    Food Insecurity and Food Access in U.S. Metropolitan Areas (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-12
    Description: Household food insecurity in the United States has reached its highest levels to date. As public and private initiatives have emerged to help improve diets by fostering access to food, the availability of more food stores may result in lower levels of food insecurity. In this article, we assess the relationship between adult food insecurity and food store density in metropolitan areas of the United States. We find that while small grocery/convenience stores show a mitigating effect on adult food insecurity across different samples of households, the effects of large supermarkets/grocery stores and supercenters vary. We also find that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation and food access can have a simultaneously beneficial effect in reducing adult food insecurity. Implications for policies aiming to improve food security by fostering access to food stores are discussed.
    Keywords: I14 - Health and Inequality, L81 - Retail and Wholesale Trade ; e-Commerce, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 8
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    Tariffs and non-tariff frictions in the world wine trade (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-12-29
    Description: This article empirically investigates the impact of trade barriers on the world wine trade focusing on trade costs impeding exports, including transport, tariffs, technical barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards. A gravity model is estimated using data from the main importing and exporting countries for the years 1997–2010. The Poison pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator accounts for heteroskedasticity and the presence of zero trade flows. Our results identify which regulations can adversely affect trade providing useful information to policy-makers involved in negotiations on trade frictions. While SPS measures do not seem to obstruct exports, technical barriers have a varying impact on trade. A decreasing trend for tariffs has largely been compensated by more stringent technical barriers. The overall result is that frictions in the world wine trade have not changed during the past 15 years.
    Keywords: F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations, Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0165-1587
    Electronic ISSN: 1464-3618
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 9
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    De novo biosynthesis of resveratrol by site-specific integration of heterologous genes in Escherichia coli (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-08
    Description: Resveratrol is a well-known triphenolic natural product present in red wine. For its contribution to human health, the demand for resveratrol as a food and nutrition supplement has increased significantly. In recent years, the rapid development of synthetic biology has promoted extensive work to increase the production of resveratrol in microbes. However, supplementation of expensive phenylpropanoic precursors was required in current engineered strains. Here, we first utilized the site-specific integration strategy to produce resveratrol in Escherichia coli . The genes tal , 4cl and sts were site-specific integrated into the loci of genes tyrR and trpED in the chromosome of E. coli BW25113 (DE3). The final strain was capable of producing 4.612 mg L –1 of resveratrol from glucose.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 10
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    Overexpression of two stress-responsive, small, non-coding RNAs, 6S and tmRNA, imparts butanol tolerance in Clostridium acetobutylicum (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-08
    Description: While extensively studied in several model organisms, the role of small, non-coding RNAs in the stress response remains largely unexplored in Clostridium organisms. About 100 years after the first industrial Acetone–Butanol–Ethanol fermentation process, based on the Weizmann Clostridium acetobutylicum strain, strain tolerance to butanol remains a crucial factor limiting the economics of the process. Several studies have examined the response of this organism to metabolite stress, and several genes have been engaged to impart enhanced tolerance, but no sRNAs have yet been directly engaged in this task. We show that the two stress-responsive sRNAs, 6S and tmRNA, upon overexpression impart tolerance to butanol as assessed by viability assays under process-relevant conditions. 6S overexpression enhances cell densities as well as butanol titres. We discuss the likely mechanisms that these two sRNAs might engage in this tolerance phenotype. Our data support the continued exploration of sRNAs as a basis for engineering enhanced tolerance and enhanced solvent production, especially because sRNA-based strategies impose a minimal metabolic burden on the cells.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 11
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    Following Up on Smallholder Farmers and Supermarkets in Kenya (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-07-10
    Description: In many developing countries, supermarkets are expanding rapidly. This affects farmers’ marketing options. Previous studies have analyzed welfare effects of smallholder participation in supermarket channels from a static perspective, using cross-section data. We develop a conceptual framework and use panel data to better understand participation and impact dynamics. The analysis focuses on vegetable producers in Kenya. Participation in supermarket channels is associated with income gains. However, many farmers have dropped out of the supermarket channel due to various constraints. The initial income gains cannot be sustained when returning to the traditional market. Organizational support may be needed to avoid widening income disparities.
    Keywords: L24 - Contracting Out ; Joint Ventures ; Technology Licensing, O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 12
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    Diet Quality, Child Health, and Food Policies in Developing Countries (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-07-15
    Description: Although the importance of diet quality for improving child health is widely recognized, the roles of environmental factors and the absorption of nutrients for children's physical growth and morbidity have not been adequately integrated into a policy framework. Moreover, nutrient intakes gradually affect child health, so it is helpful to use alternative tools to evaluate short-term interventions versus long-term food policies. This article emphasizes the role of diet quality reflected in the intake of nutrients such as protein, calcium, and iron for children's physical growth. Vitamins A and C are important for reducing morbidity. Children's growth and morbidity affect their cognitive development, which is critical for the future supply of skilled labor and economic growth. Evidence on these issues from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Kenya, the Philippines, and Tanzania is summarized. The supply of nutritious foods is appraised from the viewpoint of improving diet quality. Finally, the roles of educational campaigns and indirect taxes on unhealthy processed foods consumed by the affluent in developing countries are discussed.
    Keywords: O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, I15 - Health and Economic Development, I25 - Education and Economic Development, J10 - General, Q01 - Sustainable Development, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0257-3032
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-6971
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 13
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    Neofiscalin A and fiscalin C are potential novel indole alkaloid alternatives for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-07-02
    Description: Ten indole alkaloids were obtained from the marine sponge-associated fungus Neosartorya siamensis KUFA 0017. We studied the antimicrobial properties of these and of three other compounds previously isolated from the soil fungus N. siamensis KUFC 6349. Only neofiscalin A showed antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE); with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 8 μg mL –1 against both strains. Another compound, fiscalin C, presented synergistic activity against MRSA when combined with oxacillin, although alone showed no antibacterial effect. Moreover, neofiscalin A, when present at sub-MICs, hampered the ability of both MRSA and VRE strains to form a biofilm. Additionally, the biofilm inhibitory concentration values of neofiscalin A against the MRSA and VRE isolates were 96 and 80 μg mL –1 , respectively. At a concentration of 200 μg mL –1 , neofiscalin A was able to reduce the metabolic activity of the biofilms by ~50%. One important fact is that our results also showed that neofiscalin A had no cytotoxicity against a human brain capillary endothelial cell line.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 14
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    The unconventional secretion of PepN is independent of a functional autophagy machinery in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-07-02
    Description: During unconventional protein secretion (UPS), proteins do not pass through the classical endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–Golgi-dependent pathway, but are transported to the cell membrane via alternative routes. One type of UPS is dependent on several autophagy-related (Atg) proteins in yeast and mammalian cells, but mechanisms for unconventional secretion are largely unknown for filamentous fungi. In this study, we investigated whether the autophagy machinery is used for UPS in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger . An aspartic protease, which we called PepN, was identified as being likely to be secreted unconventionally, as this protein is highly abundant in culture filtrates during carbon starvation while it lacks a conventional N-terminal secretion sequence. We analysed the presence of PepN in the culture filtrates of carbon starved wild-type, atg1 and atg8 deletion mutant strains by Western blot analysis and by secretome analysis using nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS (wild-type and atg8 deletion mutant). Besides the presence of carbohydrate-active enzymes and other types of proteases, PepN was abundantly found in culture filtrates of both wild-type and atg deletion strains, indicating that the secretion of PepN is independent of the autophagy machinery in A. niger and hence most likely occurs via a different mechanism.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 15
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    Estimating the Relationship between Food Prices and Food Consumption--Methods Matter (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-08-20
    Description: Concerns about the growing prevalence of obesity worldwide have led researchers and policy makers to investigate the potential health impact of fiscal policies such as taxes on unhealthy foods. A common instrument used to measure the relationship between food prices and food consumption is the price elasticity of demand. Using meta-regression analysis we assessed how differences in methodological approaches to estimating demand affected food price elasticities. Most methodological differences had a statistically significant impact on elasticity estimates, which stresses the importance of using meta-estimates or testing the sensitivity of simulation outcomes to a range of elasticity parameters before drawing policy conclusions.
    Keywords: D11 - Consumer Economics: Theory, H31 - Household, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 16
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    Effects of MreB paralogs on poly-{gamma}-glutamic acid synthesis and cell morphology in Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-08-27
    Description: Actin-like MreB paralogs play important roles in cell shape maintenance, cell wall synthesis and the regulation of the D,L-endopeptidases, CwlO and LytE. The gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LL3, is a poly--glutamic acid (-PGA) producing strain that contains three MreB paralogs: MreB, Mbl and MreBH. In B. amyloliquefaciens , CwlO and LytE can degrade -PGA. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that modulating transcript levels of MreB paralogs would alter the synthesis and degradation of -PGA. The results showed that overexpression or inhibition of MreB, Mbl or MreBH had distinct effects on cell morphology and the molecular weight of the -PGA products. In fermentation medium, cells of mreB inhibition mutant were 50.2% longer than LL3, and the -PGA titer increased by 55.7%. However, changing the expression level of mbl showed only slight effects on the morphology, -PGA molecular weight and titer. In the mreBH inhibition mutant, -PGA production and its molecular weight increased by 56.7% and 19.4%, respectively. These results confirmed our hypothesis that suppressing the expression of MreB paralogs might reduce -PGA degradation, and that improving the cell size could strengthen -PGA synthesis. This is the first report of enhanced -PGA production via suppression of actin-like MreB paralogs.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 17
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    Industrial production of acetone and butanol by fermentation--100 years later (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-06-08
    Description: Microbial production of acetone and butanol was one of the first large-scale industrial fermentation processes of global importance. During the first part of the 20th century, it was indeed the second largest fermentation process, superseded in importance only by the ethanol fermentation. After a rapid decline after the 1950s, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation has recently gained renewed interest in the context of biorefinery approaches for the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. The availability of new methods and knowledge opens many new doors for industrial microbiology, and a comprehensive view on this process is worthwhile due to the new interest. This thematic issue of FEMS Microbiology Letters, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the first industrial exploitation of Chaim Weizmann's ABE fermentation process, covers the main aspects of old and new developments, thereby outlining a model development in biotechnology. All major aspects of industrial microbiology are exemplified by this single process. This includes new technologies, such as the latest developments in metabolic engineering, the exploitation of biodiversity and discoveries of new regulatory systems such as for microbial stress tolerance, as well as technological aspects, such as bio- and down-stream processing.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 18
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    A new lactobacilli in vivo expression system for the production and delivery of heterologous proteins at mucosal surfaces (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-06-02
    Description: Food-grade lactic acid bacteria, such as lactobacilli, represent good candidates for the development of mucosal vectors. Indeed, they are generally recognized as safe microorganisms and some strains display beneficial effects (probiotics). In this study, we described a new lactobacilli in vivo expression (LIVE) system for the production and delivery of therapeutic molecules at mucosal surfaces. The versatility and functionality of this system was successfully validated in several lactobacilli species; furthermore, we assessed in vivo LIVE system in two different mouse models of human pathologies: (i) a model of therapy against intestinal inflammation (inflammatory bowel diseases) and (ii) a model of vaccination against dental caries. We demonstrated that Lactobacillus gasseri expressing the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 under LIVE system efficiently delivered the recombinant protein at mucosal surfaces and display anti-inflammatory effects. In the vaccination model against caries, LIVE system allowed the heterologous expression of Streptococcus mutans antigen GbpB by L. gasseri , leading to a stimulation of the host immune response.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 19
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    Bioreactors and in situ product recovery techniques for acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-06-02
    Description: The microbial fermentation process is one of the sustainable and environment-friendly ways to produce 1-butanol and other bio-based chemicals. The success of the fermentation process greatly relies on the choice of bioreactors and the separation methods. In this review, the history and the performance of bioreactors for the acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation is discussed. The subject is then focused on in situ product recovery (ISPR) techniques, particularly for the integrated extraction-gas stripping. The usefulness of this promising hybrid ISPR device is acknowledged by its incorporation with batch, fed-batch and continuous processes to improve the performance of ABE fermentation.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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  • 20
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    Cuba's Agricultural Transition and Food Security in a Global Perspective (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-08-20
    Description: This paper reviews the situation in the agricultural sector and food security in Cuba, and particularly the transformations that have (not) taken place since 1990. We compare the Cuban transition with transitions in other "transition countries" and show that Cuba does not easily fit into one of the transition patterns, and, in a way, has characteristics of "a bit of everything". To conclude, we discuss the (potential) effects of the recent policy changes and the new economic reforms that were announced.
    Keywords: O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, P21 - Planning, Coordination, and Reform, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 21
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    Who Really Benefits from Agricultural Subsidies? Evidence from Field-level Data (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-07-09
    Description: If agricultural subsidies are largely capitalized into farmland values through their effect on rental rates, then expanding support for agriculture may not benefit farmers who rent the land they farm. Existing evidence on the incidence of subsidies on cash rental rates is mixed. Identification is obscured by unobserved or imprecisely measured factors that tend to be correlated with subsidies, especially land quality and time-varying factors like commodity prices and adverse weather events. A problem that has received less attention is the fact that subsidies and land quality on rented land may differ from owned land. Since most farms possess both rented and owned acreage, farm-level measures of subsidies, land values, and rental rates may bias estimated incidence. Using a new, field-level data set that, for the first time, precisely links subsidies to land parcels, we show that this bias is considerable: where farm-level estimates suggest an incidence of 42–49 cents of the marginal subsidy dollar, field-level estimates from the same farms indicate that landlords capture just 20–28 cents. The size of the farm and the duration of the rental arrangement have substantial effects. Incidence falls by 5–15 cents when doubling total operated acres, and the incidence falls by 0.1–0.8 cents with each additional year of the rental arrangement. Low incidence of subsidies on rents combined with the farm-size and duration effects suggest that farmers renting land have monopsony power.
    Keywords: H22 - Incidence, Q14 - Agricultural Finance, Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 22
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    Trade Policy Coordination and Food Price Volatility (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-07-09
    Description: Many countries adjust their trade policies counter-cyclically with food prices, to the extent that the use of restrictions by food-exporting countries has occasionally threatened the food security of food-importing countries. These trade policies are inconsistent with the terms-of-trade motivation often retained to characterize the payoff frontier of self-enforcing trade agreements, as they can worsen the terms of trade of the countries that apply them. This article analyzes trade policy coordination when trade policies are driven by terms-of-trade effects and a desire to reduce domestic food price volatility. This framework implies that importing and exporting countries have incentives to deviate from cooperation at different periods: the latter when prices are high and the former when prices are low. Since staple food prices tend to have asymmetric distributions, with more prices below than above the mean but with occasional spikes, a self-enforcing agreement generates asymmetric outcomes. Without cooperation, an importing country uses its trade policy more frequently because of the concentration of prices below the mean, but an exporting country has a greater incentive to deviate from a cooperative trade policy because positive deviations from the mean price are larger than negative ones. Thus, the asymmetry of the distribution of commodity prices can make it more difficult to discipline export taxes than tariffs in trade agreements.
    Keywords: F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations, Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Interactions between CAP Agricultural and Agri-Environmental Subsidies and Their Effects on the Uptake of Organic Farming (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-07-09
    Description: We analyze the effects of the interactions that the two pillars of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy—market support and rural development—have on farmers’ uptake of organic farming practices. Special attention is given to the 2003 reform, which substantially altered the relative importance of the two types of support by decoupling direct agricultural payments from the production of a specific crop. In our empirical analysis we study the case of Sweden, making use of the variation in the timing of farmers’ decisions regarding participation in support programs. We estimate a dynamic non-linear unobserved effects probit model to account for unobserved individual heterogeneity and state dependence. Our results indicate the existence of a negative effect of the market support system in place when organic farming techniques were adopted before the 2003 reform. However, this effect is reversed by the introduction of decoupling. Furthermore, the effects of support differ between certified and non-certified organic production: both pillars have significant effects on non-certified organic farming, whereas certified organic farming is exclusively driven by agro-environmental subsidies.
    Keywords: C23 - Models with Panel Data, Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The economics of planting rights in wine production (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-26
    Description: The European Union (EU) is the world's largest wine producer, as well as the world's most regulated wine market. In 2007, the EU decided on a major reform of its wine policy. A crucial element was the abolishment of a system of planting rights to limit the planting of vineyards. However, after intense lobbying by opponents of the liberalisation, this decision was reversed in 2013. Despite the importance of planting rights in European (and hence global) wine production, and despite the fierce debates surrounding the reforms, no model exists to study the effects of this policy. We develop the first theoretical model of planting rights, integrating the markets for land, planting rights and wine to analyse efficiency and distributional effects. We use the model to study the effects of differences among EU member states in restrictions on trade in planting rights, the role of government reserves and the impact of imperfect enforcement.
    Keywords: Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0165-1587
    Electronic ISSN: 1464-3618
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Yield of Plant Variety Protection (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-04-18
    Description: The prospects for plant variety protection to deliver improved varieties of self-pollinating crops is assessed using the experience of the Australian wheat breeding sector as a natural experiment. The analysis is based on detailed new data on the agronomic performance of all wheat varieties released by Australian breeders between 1976 and 2011. The results indicate that plant variety protection, and associated reforms, led to a substantial fall in breeder output. Qualitative evidence indicates that this was caused by a combination of fewer research spillovers, lower release standards, and a possible fall in total investment in breeding.
    Keywords: O34 - Intellectual Property Rights, Q16 - R&D ; Agricultural Technology ; Agricultural Extension Services, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Asymmetric Information and Profit Taking in Crop Insurance (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-02-11
    Description: Excess returns to producers insured by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation can arise due to asymmetric information or from the design of the insurance programs themselves. Using unique, unit-level crop insurance contract data for major crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat in five growing regions, we find evidence that producers in most regions may profit by selecting optional units, buy-up coverage, or by using transitional yields to participate in the federal crop insurance program. We also find evidence that advantages increase with land resource heterogeneity. However, the results do not support hypotheses that producers profit by selecting revenue insurance, nor that high levels of government "incompetence" exist in the design and administration of the crop insurance system.
    Keywords: Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Impact of the U.S. Sugar Program Redux (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-02-11
    Description: We analyze the various welfare costs, transfers, trade, and employment consequences of the current U.S. sugar program for U.S. consumers, other sugar users, sugar refiners, cane and beet growing and processing industries, other associated agricultural sectors, and world markets. The removal of the sugar program would increase U.S. consumers' welfare by $2.9 to $3.5 billion each year and generate a modest job creation of 17,000 to 20,000 new jobs in food manufacturing and related industries. Imports of sugar containing products would fall dramatically, especially confectioneries substituting for domestic inputs under the sugar program. Sugar imports would rise substantially to 5–6 million short tons raw sugar equivalent. World sugar price increases would be minor, equivalent to about 1 cent per pound.
    Keywords: F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations, Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    A Triple-Hurdle Model of Production and Market Participation in Kenya's Dairy Market (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-07-10
    Description: Existing analyses of market participation are based on a "double-hurdle" modeling approach. Such models are appropriate only when all members of the population of interest actually produce the good. In some contexts, however (e.g., smallholder farmers), many members of the population do not produce particular goods that they could produce and that their neighbors do produce. Policies influencing market participation among producers may thus also induce additional farmers to become producers. Previous double-hurdle approaches do not allow explicitly for this possibility. To address these limitations, this article presents a "triple-hurdle" approach with an initial stage that includes nonproducers. The model is used to identify the factors associated with Kenyan smallholder farmers choosing to participate in dairy production, and the role that these producers choose to play (or not) in the marketplace. In the midst of debates underway over the privatization of the parastatal Kenya Creameries Company, new knowledge about smallholder participation in dairy could be an important contribution. Results suggest the importance of rural electrification, training, and improved grazing practices. We find that expected net sales are significantly higher when farmers have access to informal private markets. We also describe a version of the ordered tobit model that includes nonproducers and is nested in our triple-hurdle model. A likelihood ratio test shows the latter to be a significantly better fit to our data. We discuss how insights gained from this study differ from the insights that would come from a double-hurdle ordered tobit that also includes nonproducers.
    Keywords: C51 - Model Construction and Estimation, C81 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data, O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Political Economy of Food Price Volatility: The Case of Vietnam and Rice (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-07-10
    Description: This article argues that the structure of the Vietnamese rice export system is, in political economy terms, a rational response to the volatility present in the international rice market. In particular, it is argued that the Vietnamese Food Agency, along with VINAFOOD-1 and VINAFOOD-2, have been structured so that they can benefit from the domestic demands for export restrictions anticipated to occur as a consequence of international price volatility and the psychological demand of consumers for price stability. In turn, the actions of these agencies also contribute to international price volatility and the resulting demand for export restrictions. Since the political and economic elite in Vietnam obtain both political and economic power from this system, it is unlikely to be replaced with more effective and efficient policies to combat domestic price volatility. Thus, continued volatility in the price of rice can be expected.
    Keywords: N55 - Asia including Middle East, P26 - Political Economy ; Property Rights, Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    What Happens When Food Marketers Require Restrictive Farming Practices? (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-07-10
    Description: The dimensions that define a food product have expanded rapidly to include characteristics of the production process, marketing arrangements, and implications that production and consumption of the product have for the environment. Some market intermediaries have responded by requiring that their suppliers abide by restrictive production practices. We examine the economic effects of such restrictions and apply this analysis to limitations on the use of antibiotics in U.S. pork production. Results from conceptual and simulation analyses show that, in the absence of demand growth, less pork is sold due to higher costs in the restricted segment, and both pork consumers (on average) and producers are harmed. Demand growth of between 6–11% from adding new consumers who will consume the restricted (antibiotic-free) product but not the conventional product is needed to return consumer surplus to the level in the base case, and between 2–4% demand growth was required to return producer surplus to base. When restricted and conventional products are modeled using a vertical differentiation framework, results depend importantly on the ease with which consumers can switch to a seller who offers their desired product type. Significant distributional impacts among consumers are present when switching costs are prohibitive.
    Keywords: I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Asia-Pacific Integration with China versus the United States: Examining Trade Patterns under Heterogeneous Agricultural Sectors (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-09-12
    Description: This article examines bilateral trade patterns in the Asia-Pacific using a new model in which comparative advantage within the agricultural sector is linked to agro-ecological characteristics, and trade costs are product-specific. Bilateral market share is a function of productivity and trade costs. However, countries with similar land and climate characteristics systematically have high productivity in similar products making them disproportionately sensitive to changes in each other's trade costs. We use a random coefficients logit model to estimate a parametric distribution of comparative advantage and trade costs across products and calculate regional trade liberalization elasticities for each exporter in each import market. Unlike most existing models, the value of the elasticity depends on the degree to which liberalization includes competitors with similar comparative advantage within the agricultural sector. We find disproportionately larger trade elasticities under China-led liberalization relative to U.S.-led liberalization among close U.S. competitors compared to countries whose agricultural products are unlikely to compete head-to-head with U.S. exports. For the United States, we find that the "lost opportunity" cost of exclusion from regional liberalization is increasing in the extent to which its close competitors gain new access.
    Keywords: F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations, F14 - Country and Industry Studies of Trade, F15 - Economic Integration, Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Marketing Contracts and Crop Insurance (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-09-12
    Description: Contracts between farmers and intermediaries and crop insurers are important means for farmers to mitigate risks in modern U.S. agriculture. In this paper, we investigate the effect of crop insurance enrollment on contract terms and farmers’ participation in marketing contracts. Following Ligon (2003) , we set up a mechanism design framework to demonstrate an intermediary's contract design problem, where farmers are assumed to be utility maximizing agents. We depict farmers’ optimal choices of insurance coverage using the specification developed by Babcock (2012) . Our model shows that improved terms of crop insurance (lower premiums, higher subsidies) make contracts less appealing to farmers as mechanisms for mitigating risk. Therefore, intermediaries may revise their contract offers so that they are more attractive. However, improvements in contract terms are limited by their cost to the intermediaries and will not lead to expanded participation in contracts.
    Keywords: Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Metabolic modeling of clostridia: current developments and applications (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-01-29
    Description: Anaerobic Clostridium spp. is an important bioproduction microbial genus that can produce solvents and utilize a broad spectrum of substrates including cellulose and syngas. Genome-scale metabolic (GSM) models are increasingly being put forth for various clostridial strains to explore their respective metabolic capabilities and suitability for various bioconversions. In this study, we have selected representative GSM models for six different clostridia ( Clostridium acetobutylicum , C. beijerinckii , C. butyricum , C. cellulolyticum , C. ljungdahlii and C. thermocellum ) and performed a detailed model comparison contrasting their metabolic repertoire. We also discuss various applications of these GSM models to guide metabolic engineering interventions as well as assessing cellular physiology.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation of corn stover: current production methods, economic viability and commercial use (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-02
    Description: Biobutanol is a next-generation liquid biofuel with properties akin to those of gasoline. There is a widespread effort to commercialize biobutanol production from agricultural residues, such as corn stover, which do not compete with human and animal foods. This pursuit is backed by extensive government mandates to expand alternative energy sources. This review provides an overview of research on biobutanol production using corn stover feedstock. Structural composition, pretreatment, sugar yield (following pretreatment and hydrolysis) and generation of lignocellulose-derived microbial inhibitory compounds (LDMICs) from corn stover are discussed. The review also discusses different Clostridium species and strains employed for biobutanol production from corn stover-derived sugars with respect to solvent yields, tolerance to LDMICs and in situ solvent recovery (integrated fermentation). Further, the economics of cellulosic biobutanol production are highlighted and compared to corn starch-derived ethanol and gasoline. As discussed herein, the economic competitiveness of biobutanol production from corn stover largely depends on feedstock processing and fermentation process design.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    A Pseudomonas putida double mutant deficient in butanol assimilation: a promising step for engineering a biological biofuel production platform (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-20
    Description: Biological production in heterologous hosts is of interest for the production of the C4 alcohol (butanol) and other chemicals. However, some hurdles need to be overcome in order to achieve an economically viable process; these include avoiding the consumption of butanol and maintaining tolerance to this solvent during production. Pseudomonas putida is a potential host for solvent production; in order to further adapt P. putida to this role, we generated mini-Tn 5 mutant libraries in strain BIRD-1 that do not consume butanol. We analyzed the insertion site of the mini-Tn 5 in a mutant that was deficient in assimilation of butanol using arbitrary PCR followed by Sanger sequencing and found that the transposon was inserted in the malate synthase B gene. Here, we show that in a second round of mutagenesis a double mutant unable to take up butanol had an insertion in a gene coding for a multisensor hybrid histidine kinase. The genetic context of the histidine kinase sensor revealed the presence of a set of genes potentially involved in butanol assimilation; qRT-PCR analysis showed induction of this set of genes in the wild type and the malate synthase mutant but not in the double mutant.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Frontiers in microbial 1-butanol and isobutanol production (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-20
    Description: The heavy dependence on petroleum-derived fuel has raised concerns about energy sustainability and climate change, which have prompted researchers to explore fuel production from renewable sources. 1-Butanol and isobutanol are promising biofuels that have favorable properties and can also serve as solvents or chemical feedstocks. Microbial production of these alcohols provides great opportunities to access a wide spectrum of renewable resources. In recent years, research has improved the native 1-butanol production and has engineered isobutanol production in various organisms to explore metabolic diversity and a broad range of substrates. This review focuses on progress in metabolic engineering for the production of these two compounds using various resources.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Recent progress in biobutanol tolerance in microbial systems with an emphasis on Clostridium (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-20
    Description: Biobased production of butanol promises a more sustainable route for industrial production. However, butanol toxicity remains a barrier for achieving high product titers. Investigation into butanol stress has shed some light on its modes of toxicity. Unfortunately, there still remain significant shortfalls in our understanding of the complex interactions of butanol with cells. To address this knowledge gap, a diverse range of tools have been employed to gain a better understanding of the adverse effects of butanol on the cell. These findings have lead to the identification of possible molecular mechanisms associated with butanol tolerance, which can be harnessed for future strain development efforts. This review focuses on recent efforts to address the toxicity of butanol in microbial producers and offers some perspectives on the future direction of this research sector.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Synergistic effect of calcium and zinc on glucose/xylose utilization and butanol tolerance of Clostridium acetobutylicum (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-25
    Description: Biobutanol outperforms bioethanol as an advanced biofuel, but is not economically competitive in terms of its titer, yield and productivity associated with feedstocks and energy cost. In this work, the synergistic effect of calcium and zinc was investigated in the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum using glucose, xylose and glucose/xylose mixtures as carbon source(s). Significant improvements associated with enhanced glucose/xylose utilization, cell growth, acids re-assimilation and butanol biosynthesis were achieved. Especially, the maximum butanol and ABE production of 16.1 and 25.9 g L –1 were achieved from 69.3 g L –1 glucose with butanol/ABE productivities of 0.40 and 0.65 g L –1 h –1 compared to those of 11.7 and 19.4 g/L with 0.18 and 0.30 g L –1 h –1 obtained in the control respectively without any supplement. More importantly, zinc was significantly involved in the butanol tolerance based on the improved xylose utilization under various butanol-shock conditions (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g L –1 butanol). Under the same conditions, calcium and zinc co-supplementation led to the best xylose utilization and butanol production. These results suggested that calcium and zinc could play synergistic roles improving ABE fermentation by C. acetobutylicum .
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Pseudomonas putida KT2440 markerless gene deletion using a combination of {lambda} Red recombineering and Cre/loxP site-specific recombination (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-07
    Description: Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a saprophytic, environmental microorganism that plays important roles in the biodegradation of environmental toxic compounds and production of polymers, chemicals and secondary metabolites. Gene deletion of KT2440 usually involves cloning of the flanking homologous fragments of the gene of interest into a suicide vector followed by transferring into KT2440 via triparental conjugation. Selection and counterselection steps are then employed to generate gene deletion mutant. However, these methods are tedious and are not suitable for the manipulation of multiple genes simultaneously. Herein, a two-step, markerless gene deletion method is presented. First, homologous armsflanked loxP-neo-loxP was knocked-in to replace the gene of interest, then the kanamycin resistance marker is removed by Cre recombinase catalyzed site-specific recombination. Both two-plasmid and one-plasmid gene systems were established. MekR/P mekA regulated gene expression system was found to be suitable for tight Cre expression in one-plasmid deletion system. The straightforward, time saving and highly efficient markerless gene deletion strategy has the potential to facilitate the genetics and functional genomics study of P. putida KT2440.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Evaluation of viability, metabolic activity and spore quantity in clostridial cultures during ABE fermentation (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-02
    Description: Flow cytometry, in combination with fluorescent staining, was used to evaluate population heterogeneity in acetone-butanol–ethanol fermentation that was carried out with type strain Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 and non-type C. pasteurianum NRRL B-598. A combination of propidium iodide (PI) and carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA), PI plus Syto-9 and bis-oxonol (BOX) alone were employed to distinguish between active and damaged cells together with simultaneous detection of spores. These strategies provided valuable information on the physiological state of clostridia. CFDA and PI staining gave the best separation of four distinct subpopulations of enzymatically active cells, doubly stained cells, damaged cells and spores. Proportional representation of cells in particular sub-regions correlated with growth characteristics, fermentation parameters such as substrate consumption and product formation in both species under different cultivation conditions.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Producer heterogeneity and voting power in mandatory US agricultural marketing organisations (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-10-31
    Description: We consider how cost heterogeneity and market power affect voting power in producer referenda for mandatory agricultural marketing organisations with generic promotion programmes in the United States. We measure voting power using the Banzhaf Power Index and propose a new version of this index based on the profit-maximising theory of the firm that provides an improved estimate of voting power. Examining several types of demand shifts and voting rules, we find that both Banzhaf Power and our new measure vary considerably depending on the market structure and level of cost heterogeneity.
    Keywords: D71 - Social Choice ; Clubs ; Committees ; Associations, D72 - Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0165-1587
    Electronic ISSN: 1464-3618
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Risk Attitudes of U.S. Farmers (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-11-06
    Description: I compare the distribution of risk attitudes of farm owners in the United States to nonfarm business owners and the general population using a measure of risk tolerance collected from national surveys. I find that farmers are significantly more tolerant of risk than the general population, though they are significantly less tolerant of risk than nonfarm business owners. Once demographic differences are controlled, farm and nonfarm business owners are more similar in their risk attitudes and both groups remain significantly more risk tolerant than the general population. First-generation farmers display greater risk tolerance than farmers who inherit operations from family members, as do farmers who have just begun operating a farm; neither pattern emerges among nonfarm business owners. The most risk tolerant farmers are young and male with larger operations, higher incomes, less formal education and close proximity to metropolitan centers. Among farmers, those with less diversified operations and those with specialty enterprises are more risk tolerant than other types of farmers. Crop farmers are less risk tolerant than fruit and vegetable farmers or farmers with specialty enterprises, while farmers who receive government payments or buy enterprise insurance are not significantly different in risk tolerance from farmers who eschew such opportunities. These findings stimulate questions about how farm programs and the distinct challenges of entry in the production agriculture sector shape the underlying distribution of key farmer characteristics such as risk tolerance.
    Keywords: D81 - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Effect of Food Deserts on the Body Mass Index of Elementary Schoolchildren (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-12-13
    Description: Families in low-income neighborhoods sometimes lack access to supermarkets that provide a broad range of healthy foods. We investigate whether these so called "food deserts" play a role in childhood obesity using a statewide panel data set of Arkansas elementary schoolchildren. We use fixed-effects panel data regression models to estimate the average food desert effect. We next compare children who left (entered) food deserts to children who were always (never) in food deserts and homogenize samples for those whose food desert status changed as a result of a change in residence and those whose status changed only as a consequence of the entry or exit of a supermarket. We present evidence that exposure to food deserts is associated with higher z-scores for body mass index. On average, this is in the neighborhood of 0.04 standard deviations. The strongest evidence and largest association is among urban students and especially those that transition into food deserts from non-deserts. Our food desert estimates are similar in magnitude to findings reported in earlier work on diet and lifestyle interventions targeting similarly aged schoolchildren. That said, we are unable to conclude that the estimated food desert effect is causal because many of the transitions into or out of food deserts result from a change in residence, an event that is endogenous to the child's household. However, there is evidence that food deserts are a risk indicator and that food desert areas may be obesogenic in ways that other low-income neighborhoods are not.
    Keywords: I14 - Health and Inequality, I19 - Other, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of dilute alkaline-pretreated corn stover for enhanced butanol production by Clostridium saccharobutylicum DSM 13864 (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-03
    Description: Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process was applied for biobutanol production by Clostridium saccharobutylicum DSM 13864 from corn stover (CS). The key influential factors in SSF process, including corn steep liquor concentration, dry biomass and enzyme loading, SSF temperature, inoculation size and pre-hydrolysis time were optimized. In 5-L bioreactor with SSF process, butanol titer and productivity of 12.3 g/L and 0.257 g/L/h were achieved at 48 h, which were 20.6% and 21.2% higher than those in separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF), respectively. The butanol yield reached 0.175 g/g pretreated CS in SSF, representing 50.9% increase than that in SHF (0.116 g/g pretreated CS). This study proves the feasibility of efficient and economic production of biobutanol from CS by SSF.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Examining the Relationship between the Use of Supermarkets and Over-nutrition in Indonesia (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-03-14
    Description: This study examines the relationship between the use of modern food retailers and health outcomes using data from a survey of 1,180 urban households in Indonesia. The dependent variables include adult and child body-mass index and the share of individuals overweight and obese. After controlling for individual and household characteristics and using standard and Lewbel instrumental variable approaches to control for unobservable characteristics, we do not find a statistically significant relationship between use of supermarkets and adult nutrition measures. On the other hand, there is mixed evidence for a negative effect of supermarkets on child nutrition, particularly for those in high-income households.
    Keywords: I15 - Health and Economic Development, P46 - Consumer Economics ; Welfare and Poverty, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Position Bias in Best-worst Scaling Surveys: A Case Study on Trust in Institutions (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-03-14
    Description: This paper investigates the effect of items’ physical position in the best-worst scaling technique. Although the best-worst scaling technique has been widely used in many fields, the literature has largely overlooked the phenomenon of consumers’ adoption of processing strategies while making their best-worst choices. We examine this issue in the context of consumers’ trust in institutions to provide information about a new food technology, nanotechnology, and its use in food processing. Our results show that approximately half of the consumers used position as a schematic cue when making choices. We find the position bias was particularly strong when consumers chose their most trustworthy institution compared to their least trustworthy institution. In light of our findings, we recommend that researchers in the field be aware of the possibility of position bias when designing best-worst scaling surveys. We also encourage researchers who have already collected best-worst data to investigate whether their data shows such heuristics.
    Keywords: C25 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models, D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Price Differences across Farmers Markets, Roadside Stands, and Supermarkets in North Carolina (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-19
    Description: Whether direct farmer-to-consumer outlets compete with supermarkets on produce prices remains an empirical question; marketing costs are not consistently higher in one retail channel or the other. This study compared prices of 29 fruits and vegetables across North Carolina farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and supermarkets. Larger farmers’ markets had higher prices: three fruits and one vegetable were cheaper at a direct outlet, while four vegetables were cheaper at supermarkets. Weighting item prices by consumption share attenuated differences in mean price across outlets. Direct-retail outlets are price competitive and should be considered among other tools to boost fresh fruit and vegetable intake.
    Keywords: Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Construction and characterization of three protein-targeting expression system in Lactobacillus casei (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-13
    Description: We previously reported that the β-1,4-Mannanase ( manB ) gene from Bacillus pumilus functions as a good reporter gene in Lactobacillus casei . Two vectors were constructed. One carries the signal peptide of secretion protein Usp45 (SP Usp45 ) from Lactococcus lactis (pELSH), and the other carries the full-length S-layer protein, SlpA, from L. acidophilus (pELWH). In this work, another vector, pELSPH, was constructed to include the signal peptide of protein SlpA (SP SlpA ), and the capacity of all three vectors to drive expression of the manB gene in L. casei was evaluated. The results showed that SP Usp45 is functionally recognized and processed by the L. casei secretion machinery. The SP Usp45 -mediated secretion efficiency was ~87%, and SP SlpA drove the export of secreted ManB with ~80% efficiency. SP SlpA secretion was highly efficient, and expressed SlpA was anchored to the cell wall by an unknown secretion mechanism. Full-length SlpA drove the cell wall-anchored expression of an SlpA-ManB fusion protein but at a much lower level than that of protein SlpA.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Hetero-oligomeric MspA pores in Mycobacterium smegmatis (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-13
    Description: The porin MspA of Mycobacterium smegmatis is a biological nanopore used for DNA sequencing. The octameric MspA pore can be isolated from M. smegmatis in milligram quantities, is extremely stable against denaturation and rapidly inserts into lipid membranes. Here, we show that MspA pores composed of different Msp subunits are formed in M. smegmatis and that hetero-oligomers of different Msp monomers increase the heterogeneity of MspA pores designed for DNA sequencing. To improve the quality of preparations of mutant MspA proteins, all four msp genes were deleted from the M. smegmatis genome after insertion of an inducible porin gene from M. tuberculosis. In the msp quadruple mutant M. smegmatis ML712 no Msp porins were detected and mutant MspA proteins were produced at wild-type levels. Lipid bilayer experiments demonstrated that MspA pores isolated from ML712 formed functional channels and had a narrower conductance distribution than pores purified from M. smegmatis with background msp expression. Thus, the M. smegmatis msp quadruple mutant improves the homogeneity of MspA pores designed for DNA sequencing and might also facilitate the identification and functional characterization of other mycobacterial pore proteins.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Butanol formation from gaseous substrates (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-04
    Description: Mostly, butanol is formed as a product by saccharolytic anaerobes, employing the so-called ABE fermentation (for acetone–butanol–ethanol). However, this alcohol can also be produced from gaseous substrates such as syn(thesis) gas (major components are carbon monoxide and hydrogen) by autotrophic acetogens. In view of economic considerations, a biotechnological process based on cheap and abundant gases such as CO and CO 2 as a carbon source is preferable to more expensive sugar or starch fermentation. In addition, any conflict for use of substrates that can also serve as human nutrition is avoided. Natural formation of butanol has been found with, e.g. Clostridium carboxidivorans , while metabolic engineering for butanol production was successful using, e.g. C. ljungdahlii . Production of butanol from CO 2 under photoautotrophic conditions was also possible by recombinant DNA construction of a respective cyanobacterial Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 strain.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
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    Topics: Biology
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    The Effect of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program on Childhood Obesity (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-19
    Description: This paper investigates how the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), a nutrition assistance program that provides funding for the distribution of free fresh fruits and vegetables to students in participating schools, affects childhood obesity using a panel data set of Arkansas public schoolchildren with two different approaches. First, we combine matching methodology and difference-in-differences (DID) analysis. Second, we use the synthetic control method to compare each FFVP participating school to a similar, albeit synthetic, control school. Both analyses show that FFVP program causes an economically meaningful reduction in the obesity outcome of participating children.
    Keywords: I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Lichen-forming fungus Caloplaca flavoruscens inhibits transcription factors and chromatin remodeling system in fungi (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-20
    Description: Lichen-forming fungi and extracts derived from them have been used as alternative medicine sources for millennia and recently there has been a renewed interest in their known bioactive properties for anticancer agents, cosmetics and antibiotics. Although lichen-forming fungus-derived compounds are biologically and commercially valuable, few studies have been performed to determine their modes of action. This study used chemical-genetic and chemogenomic high-throughput analyses to gain insight into the modes of action of Caloplaca flavoruscens extracts. High-throughput screening of 575 lichen extracts was performed and 39 extracts were identified which inhibited yeast growth. A C. flavoruscens extract was selected as a promising antifungal and was subjected to genome-wide haploinsufficiency profiling and homozygous profiling assays. These screens revealed that yeast deletion strains lacking Rsc8, Pro1 and Toa2 were sensitive to three concentrations (IC 25.5 , IC 25 and IC 50 , respectively) of C. flavoruscens extract. Gene-enrichment analysis of the data showed that C. flavoruscens extracts appear to perturb transcription and chromatin remodeling.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Cytotoxic damage of soybean agglutinin on intestinal epithelial cells of broiler chicks: in vitro protection by Bifidobacterium infantis CRL1395 (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-20
    Description: Plant lectins, which are proteins/glycoproteins present in a wide range of vegetables, fruits, cereals and beans, are resistant to digestive enzymes and food cooking temperatures. They bind reversibly to specific glycosidic residues expressed on the membrane of intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) and cause anti-nutritional effects in humans and animals. Soybean lectin (SBA) has been detected in poultry diets, and its ability to bind to the intestinal epithelium has been reported. The development of new methods for removing SBA from feeds or to prevent interaction with the intestinal mucosa is of interest. In this study, the in vitro cytotoxicity of SBA on IEC of chicks was demonstrated for the first time. The LD 50 , assessed after 2 h exposure of IEC to SBA, was 6.13 μg mL –1 . The ability of Bifidobacterium infantis CRL1395 to bind SBA on the bacterial envelope was confirmed, and prevention of IEC cytotoxicity by lectin removal was demonstrated. Safety of B. infantis CRL1395, resistance to gastrointestinal stress and adhesion were also determined. It was concluded that the early administration of B. infantis CRL1395 to chicks would effectively reduce the toxicity of SBA. Besides, it would favour the colonization of the gut with a beneficial microbiota.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Dynamics of Farmland Ownership and Leasing: Implications for Young and Beginning Farmers (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-05-19
    Description: This study considers the transition into farming and growth of new farmers in U.S. agriculture by examining land ownership and leasing trends. Our approach is to characterize the entire distribution by farmer age and farmer experience rather than using young versus old and beginning versus established farmer categories. We also use a linked-farms longitudinal approach to show trends over time in farmland expansion and contraction. We find that farms operated by older beginning farmers tend to be smaller and do not tend to grow over time. Our results show that it is mostly young farmers as opposed to all beginning farmers who rapidly expand their farm operations after entering agriculture. Our findings inform policy makers about the strategies that young and beginning farmers use to start their businesses and expand over time, and suggest more effective approaches for targeting loan programs to both young and beginning farmers.
    Keywords: Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
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    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The Economy-wide Impacts and Risks of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-24
    Description: We estimate the impact of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program using an economy-wide approach. This approach yields benefit-cost ratios about 60% higher than existing partial equilibrium studies, a result of our accounting for indirect benefits. Fertilizer response rates remain the determining parameter for benefit-cost ratio levels. Even with lower-end response rates, the program is pro-poor and generates double-dividends through higher and more drought-resilient yields. Overall, for macro-economically significant programs, our approach strongly complements survey-based evaluations. For Malawi, our results buttress arguments for a focus on program improvements.
    Keywords: C68 - Computable General Equilibrium Models, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, O22 - Project Analysis, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Modeling the Market and Welfare Effects of Mexico's "Agriculture by Contract" Program (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-24
    Description: "Agriculture by contract" ( $\hbox {A}\times \hbox {C}$ ) is the main Mexican government program aimed at mitigating price risks for agricultural producers in Mexico. $\hbox {A} \times \hbox {C}$ has unique features involving forward contracts and the provision of basis subsidies and subsidized exchange-traded futures options for both producers and intermediaries. A simulation model is developed to analyze the market and welfare effects of $\hbox {A}\times \hbox {C}$ . When applied to corn, results show that $\hbox {A}\times \hbox {C}$ exerts substantial impacts and causes large transfers across sectors. Even if $\hbox {A}\times \hbox {C}$ reduced intermediaries' market power to the largest extent feasible, results indicate that it would still cause important losses in aggregate welfare.
    Keywords: Q11 - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis ; Prices, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
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    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Bayesian Estimation of Possibly Similar Yield Densities: Implications for Rating Crop Insurance Contracts (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-31
    Description: The Agricultural Act of 2014 solidified insurance as the cornerstone of U.S. agricultural policy. The Congressional Budget Office (2014) estimates that this act will increase spending on agricultural insurance programs by $5.7 billion to a total of $89.8 billion over the next decade. In light of the sizable resources directed toward these programs, accurate rating of insurance contracts is of the utmost importance to producers, private insurance companies, and the federal government. Unlike most forms of insurance, agricultural insurance is plagued by a paucity of spatially correlated data. A novel interpretation of Bayesian Model Averaging is used to estimate a set of possibly similar densities that offers greater efficiency if the set of densities are similar while seemingly not losing any if the set of densities are dissimilar. Simulations indicate that finite sample performance—in particular small sample performance—is quite promising. The proposed approach does not require knowledge of the form or extent of any possible similarities, is relatively easy to implement, admits correlated data, and can be used with either parametric or nonparametric estimators. We use the proposed approach to estimate U.S. crop insurance premium rates for area-type programs and develop a test to evaluate its efficacy. An out-of-sample game between private insurance companies and the federal government highlights the policy implications for a variety of crop-state combinations. Consistent with the simulation results, the performance of the proposed approach with respect to rating area-type insurance—in particular small sample performance—remains quite promising.
    Keywords: Q16 - R&D ; Agricultural Technology ; Agricultural Extension Services, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
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    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    How Healthy Is Hunger Relief Food? (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-31
    Description: Distributing healthy food is an important goal for hunger relief agencies, but they face many challenges in meeting it. Budgets for purchasing food are limited, and hunger relief agencies often have little influence over the nutritional quality of food they receive through donations. In a recent study, Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores were calculated monthly using electronic invoice data for food shelves served by two major food banks in Minnesota. While the HEI is directly related to nutrition guidelines and provides great detail in its scoring, implementation requires careful measurement and classification of foods and a rather complex set of calculations. In addition, a significant portion of food distributed by food banks is mixed pallets of free "miscellaneous" that cannot readily be included in HEI calculations. We propose and test a less data- and labor-intensive measure for characterizing the healthfulness of food distributed by hunger relief agencies. This new measure, the Hunger Relief Nutrition Index (HRNI), facilitates nutritional assessment of miscellaneous foods, allows for easy aggregation of healthfulness scores across food sources and time periods, and correlates well with the HEI.
    Keywords: C81 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
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    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Improving Food Bank Gleaning Operations: An Application in New York State (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-03-31
    Description: Gleaning is increasingly attracting the attention of food safety networks, including food banks, as a valuable tool that simultaneously reduces food loss and alleviates food insecurity. However, managing gleaning operations can be challenging because the arrival of gleaning opportunities and the attendance of gleaner volunteers are both stochastic. We develop a stochastic optimization model to characterize and optimize a gleaning operation. The food bank chooses the gleaning schedule, which affects the gleaner capacity and the number of gleaning opportunities scheduled. In a specific field study of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in New York, we analyze the tradeoff between call and volume service levels to find the optimum schedule that maximizes the expected total volume gleaned. Moreover, we find that increasing the gleaning window and increasing slot availability can be used as substitute mechanisms for increasing the total volume gleaned. Additionally, we use our model to assess the impact of recruiting more volunteer gleaners.
    Keywords: C61 - Optimization Techniques ; Programming Models ; Dynamic Analysis, C63 - Computational Techniques, D24 - Production ; Cost ; Capital and Total Factor Productivity ; Capacity, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
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    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Catalytic upgrading of butyric acid towards fine chemicals and biofuels (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-04-08
    Description: Fermentation-based production of butyric acid is robust and efficient. Modern catalytic technologies make it possible to convert butyric acid to important fine chemicals and biofuels. Here, current chemocatalytic and biocatalytic conversion methods are reviewed with a focus on upgrading butyric acid to 1-butanol or butyl-butyrate. Supported Ruthenium- and Platinum-based catalyst and lipase exhibit important activities which can pave the way for more sustainable process concepts for the production of green fuels and chemicals.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Development of an inducible transposon system for efficient random mutagenesis in Clostridium acetobutylicum (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-15
    Description: Clostridium acetobutylicum is an industrially important Gram-positive organism, which is capable of producing economically important chemicals in the ABE (Acetone, Butanol and Ethanol) fermentation process. Renewed interests in the ABE process necessitate the availability of additional genetics tools to facilitate the derivation of a greater understanding of the underlying metabolic and regulatory control processes in operation through forward genetic strategies. In this study, a xylose inducible, mariner -based, transposon system was developed and shown to allow high-efficient random mutagenesis in the model strain ATCC 824. Of the thiamphenicol resistant colonies obtained, 91.9% were shown to be due to successful transposition of the catP- based mini-transposon element. Phenotypic screening of 200 transposon clones revealed a sporulation-defective clone with an insertion in spo0A , thereby demonstrating that this inducible transposon system can be used for forward genetic studies in C. acetobutylicum .
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Keeping it simple: lessons from the golden era of antibiotic discovery (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-04-15
    Description: Bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to currently used antibiotics. At the same time, little progress has been made in discovering new antibacterial drugs to combat resistant organisms. History teaches us that ‘high tech’ target-based complex methods are not synonymous with success and a return to simple, systematic screening of natural products against bacteria from traditional and novel resources holds our greatest hope of success.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    n-butanol: challenges and solutions for shifting natural metabolic pathways into a viable microbial production (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-15
    Description: The economic upturn of the past 200 years would not have been conceivable without fossil resources such as coal and oil. However, the fossil-based economy increasingly reaches its limits and displays contradictions. Bioeconomy, strategically combining economy and ecology willing to make biobased and sustainable growth possible, is promising to make a significant contribution towards solving these issues. In this context, microbial bioconversions are promising to support partially the increasing need for materials and fuels starting from fresh, preferably waste, biomass. Butanol is a very attractive molecule finding applications both as a chemical platform and as a fuel. Today it principally derives from petroleum, but it also represents the final product of microbial catabolic pathways. Because of the need to maximize yield, titer and productivity to make the production competitive and viable, the challenge is to transform a robustly regulated metabolic network into the principal cellular activity. However, this goal can only be accomplished by a profound understanding of the cellular physiology, survival strategy and sensing/signalling cascades. Here, we shortly review on the natural cellular pathways and circumstances that lead to n -butanol accumulation, its physiological consequences that might not match industrial needs and on possible solutions for circumventing these natural constraints.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Downstream process options for the ABE fermentation (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-04-20
    Description: Butanol is a very interesting substance both for the chemical industry and as a biofuel. The classical distillation process for the removal of butanol is far too energy demanding, at a factor of 220% of the energy content of butanol. Alternative separation processes studied are hybrid processes of gas-stripping, liquid–liquid extraction and pervaporation with distillation and a novel adsorption/drying/desorption hybrid process. Compared with the energy content of butanol, the resulting energy demand for butanol separation and concentration of optimized hybrid processes is 11%–22% for pervaporation/distillation and 11%–17% for liquid–liquid extraction/distillation. For a novel adsorption/drying/desorption process, the energy demand is 9.4%. But all downstream process options need further proof of industrial applicability.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    System-level modeling of acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-04-20
    Description: Acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation is a metabolic process of clostridia that produces bio-based solvents including butanol. It is enabled by an underlying metabolic reaction network and modulated by cellular gene regulation and environmental cues. Mathematical modeling has served as a valuable strategy to facilitate the understanding, characterization and optimization of this process. In this review, we highlight recent advances in system-level, quantitative modeling of ABE fermentation. We begin with an overview of integrative processes underlying the fermentation. Next we survey modeling efforts including early simple models, models with a systematic metabolic description, and those incorporating metabolism through simple gene regulation. Particular focus is given to a recent system-level model that integrates the metabolic reactions, gene regulation and environmental cues. We conclude by discussing the remaining challenges and future directions towards predictive understanding of ABE fermentation.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Cry-like genes, in an uncommon gene configuration, produce a crystal that localizes within the exosporium when expressed in an acrystalliferous strain of Bacillus thuringiensis (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-10
    Description: Cry proteins are pesticidal toxins produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which aggregate in sporulating cells to form a crystal. Except in a relatively few cases, these crystals are located outside the exosporium that surrounds the spore. Bt2-56 is a strain of Bt that has the relatively uncommon characteristic of locating its Cry protein-containing crystal within the exosporium, and in association with a long, multifiber filament. With the ultimate goal of both understanding and manipulating the localization of Cry proteins within the exosporium, we sought to identify the genes coding for the exosporium-localized Cry proteins in Bt2-56. Herein we show (i) that five cry-like genes are present in the genome of Bt2-56, (ii) that two pairs of these genes show organizational similarity to a relatively uncommon gene configuration that coexpress a cry gene along with a gene whose product aids crystal formation and (iii) that when one of these two gene pairs (cry21A-cdA) is expressed in an acrystalliferous strain of Bt, crystals are formed that localize within the exosporium. In Bt ssp. finitimus , the only other strain in which crystal localization has been studied, a Cry protein needed expression of two non-cry ORFs in order to localize within the exosporium, indicating that there are some mechanistic differences for crystal localization between Bt ssp. finitimus and Bt2-56.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
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    Topics: Biology
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    Revisiting the "Cash versus Food" Debate: New Evidence for an Old Puzzle? (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-10
    Description: The longstanding "cash versus food" debate has received renewed attention in both research and practice. This paper reviews key issues shaping the debate and presents new evidence from randomized and quasi-experimental evaluations that deliberately compare cash and in-kind food transfers in ten developing counties. Findings show that relative effectiveness cannot be generalized: although some differences emerge in terms of food consumption and dietary diversity, average impacts tend to depend on context, specific objectives, their measurement, and program design. Costs for cash transfers and vouchers tend to be significantly lower relative to in-kind food. Yet the consistency and robustness of methods for efficiency analyses varies greatly.
    Keywords: D61 - Allocative Efficiency ; Cost-Benefit Analysis, H53 - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs, O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0257-3032
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-6971
    Topics: Economics
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    Production of biobutanol from cellulose hydrolysate by the Escherichia coli co-culture system (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-02-12
    Description: The commercialization of the n -butanol bioprocess is largely dependent on the price of feedstocks. Renewable cellulose appears to be an appealing feedstock. The microbial production of n -butanol still remains challenging because of the limited availability of intracellular NADH. To address this issue, an Escherichia coli strain carrying the clostridial CoA-dependent pathway was supplied with heterologous formate dehydrogenase. With the cellulose hydrolysate of rice straw, this single strain produced cellulosic biobutanol with a production yield at 35% of the theoretical and a productivity of 0.093 g L –1  h –1 . In an alternative method, the production involved a co-culture system consisting of two separate strains provided with the full CoA-dependent pathway. This system achieved a production yield and productivity reaching 62.8% of the theoretical and 0.163 g L –1  h –1 , respectively. The result indicates that the E. coli co-culture system is technically promising for the production of cellulosic biobutanol.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Producer Insurance and Risk Management Options for Smallholder Farmers (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-10-28
    Description: Many smallholder families are exceptionally prone to potentially catastrophic decreases in their incomes and access to food. Over the past decade, therefore, policy makers and economists have increasingly focused on potential mechanisms for expanding risk management strategies available to those families. Commercially provided weather-based index insurance products, perhaps partially funded by subsidies, have been of particular interest because of their apparent potential to provide payments to smallholder families when they are most in need of help. However, the empirical evidence from a wide range of studies indicates that, absent relatively substantial subsidies, small holder farmers will not purchase commercially priced index products or even "all risk" products where payments are tied to the farm's crop losses. There are three important reasons why this is the case. First, smallholder farmers already have many ways of managing their risks, including informal community-based initiatives, on-farm production decisions and off-farm work. Second, index insurance schemes are subject to considerable basis risk; families often do not receive an index insurance indemnity when they experience a substantial crop loss on their farms. Third, the fixed costs of delivering crop insurance to smallholders make such coverage expensive. The potential market for weather index insurance therefore may be limited to insuring relatively large groups of farmers, either directly or indirectly though providing micro finance and other lending institution with coverage against widespread loan defaults associated with catastrophic events like major droughts. Alternatively, weather indexes could simply be used to more accurately target emergency aid.
    Keywords: D61 - Allocative Efficiency ; Cost-Benefit Analysis, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0257-3032
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-6971
    Topics: Economics
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    Preparation and evaluation of MS2 bacteriophage-like particles packaging hepatitis E virus RNA (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-11-09
    Description: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the pathogen causing hepatitis E (HE). It arouses global public health concern since it is a zoonotic disease. The objective of this letter is to report a cost-effective internal control prepared for monitoring procedures of HEV reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR detection. A selected conserved HEV RNA fragment was integrated into the downstream of the truncated MS2 bacteriophage genome based on Armored RNA technology. The resulting MS2-HEV gene harbored by the pET-28b-MS2-HEV plasmid was transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) for expression analysis by SDS-PAGE. The expression products were purified and concentrated by ultrasonication and ultrafiltration separation. The morphology and stability properties of the virus-like particles (VLPs) were evaluated by electron microscopy scanning and nuclease challenges, respectively. SDS-PAGE results showed that the constructed MS2-HEV gene expressed efficiently and the purity of the VLPs was highly consistent with the result in electron microscopy. Stability evaluation results demonstrated that the prepared VLPs exhibited strong resistance to DNase I and RNase A attacks and also performed long-lasting protection of coated HEV RNA for at least 4 months at –20°C. These data revealed that the prepared VLPs meet the basic requirements of use as internal control material in the HEV RNA amplification assay.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Epigenetics knocks on synthetic biology's door (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-09-08
    Description: Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression without concomitant changes in DNA sequence. Due to its relevance in development, differentiation and human health, epigenetics has recently become an emerging area of science with regard to eukaryotic organisms and has shown enormous potential in synthetic biology. However, significant examples of epigenetic regulation in bacterial synthetic biology have not yet been reported. In the current study, we present the first model of such an epigenetic circuit. We termed the circuit the alternator circuit because parental cells carrying this circuit and their progeny alternate between distinct and heritable cellular fates without undergoing changes in genome sequence. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the alternator circuit exhibits hysteresis because its output depends not only on its present state but also on its previous states.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    Effects of U.S. Public Agricultural R&D on U.S. Obesity and its Social Costs (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-08-20
    Description: How much has food abundance, attributable to U.S. public agricultural R&D, contributed to high and rising U.S. obesity rates? In this paper we investigate the effects of public investment in agricultural R&D on food prices, per capita calorie consumption, adult body weight, obesity, public healthcare expenditures related to obesity, and consumer welfare. We find that a 10% increase in the stream of annual U.S. public investment in agricultural R&D in the latter half of the twentieth century would have caused a modest increase in the average daily calorie consumption of American adults, resulting in small increases in public healthcare expenditures related to obesity. On the other hand, such an increase in spending would have generated very substantial consumer benefits, and net national benefits, given the very large benefit-cost ratios for agricultural R&D. This implies that current policy objectives of revising agricultural R&D priorities to pursue obesity objectives are likely to be comparatively unproductive and socially wasteful. Moreover, R&D lags of decades mean that such an approach would be totally ineffective in the immediate horizon.
    Keywords: I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health, Q16 - R&D ; Agricultural Technology ; Agricultural Extension Services, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The endolysin from the Enterococcus faecalis bacteriophage VD13 and conditions stimulating its lytic activity (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-10-12
    Description: Bacteriophages produce endolysins (peptidoglycan hydrolases) to lyse the host cell from within and release nascent bacteriophage particles. Recombinant endolysins can lyse Gram-positive bacteria when added exogenously. As a potential alternative antimicrobial, we cloned and expressed the enterococcal VD13 bacteriophage endolysin. VD13 endolysin has a CHAP catalytic domain with 92% identity with the bacteriophage IME-EF1 endolysin. The predicted size of VD13 endolysin is ~27 kDa as verified by SDS-PAGE. The VD13 endolysin lyses Enterococcus faecalis strains, but not E. faecium or other non-enterococci. VD13 endolysin has activity from pH 4 to pH 8, with peak activity at pH 5, and exhibits greater activity in the presence of calcium. Optimum activity at pH 5 occurs in the absence of NaCl. VD13 endolysin, in ammonium acetate (C 2 H 3 O 2 NH 4 ) calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) buffer pH 5, is stimulated to higher activity upon heating at temperatures up to 65°C for 30 min, whereas activity is lost upon heating to 42°C, in pH 7 buffer.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Topics: Biology
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    Cultivation of an immobilized (hyper)thermophilic marine microbial community in a bioreactor (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-09-08
    Description: Cultivation in a bioreactor of immobilized deep-sea hydrothermal microbial community was tested in order to assess the stability and reactivity of this new system. A community composed of eight hydrothermal strains was entrapped in a polymer matrix that was used to inoculate a continuous culture in a gas-lift bioreactor. The continuous culture was performed for 41 days at successively 60°C, 55°C, 60°C, 85°C and 60°C, at pH 6.5, in anaerobic condition and constant dilution rate. Oxic stress and pH variations were tested at the beginning of the incubation. Despite these detrimental conditions, three strains including two strict anaerobes were maintained in the bioreactor. High cell concentrations (3 x 10 8 cells mL –1 ) and high ATP contents were measured in both liquid fractions and beads. Cloning-sequencing and qPCR revealed that Bacillus sp. dominated at the early stage, and was later replaced by Thermotoga maritima and Thermococcus sp. Acetate, formate and propionate concentrations varied simultaneously in the liquid fractions. These results demonstrate that these immobilized cells were reactive to culture conditions. They were protected inside the beads during the stress period and released in the liquid fraction when conditions were more favorable. This confirms the advantage of immobilization that highlights the resilience capacity of certain hydrothermal microorganisms after a stress period.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
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    A simple technique for suppressor detection in Escherichia coli (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-10-12
    Description: To study the viability of a gyrA S83 stop mutation found in an Escherichia coli J53 ciprofloxacin-resistant strain (J53 CipR27), a pBR322 derivative was constructed with a TAG mutation in the bla gene knocking out ampicillin resistance. Ampicillin resistance was restored, suggesting that the strain contains tRNA suppressor activity able to suppress the UAG codon gyrA and allow viability. The method was applied to 22 unique clinical E. coli isolates, and all were found to have low-level suppressor activity.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli heat-stable toxin and heat-labile toxin toxoid fusion 3xSTaN12S-dmLT induces neutralizing anti-STa antibodies in subcutaneously immunized mice (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-11-17
    Description: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) bacteria producing heat-stable toxin (STa) and/or heat-labile toxin (LT) are among top causes of children's diarrhea and travelers’ diarrhea. Currently no vaccines are available for ETEC associated diarrhea. A major challenge in developing ETEC vaccines is the inability to stimulate protective antibodies against the key STa toxin that is potently toxic and also poorly immunogenic. A recent study suggested toxoid fusion 3xSTa N12S -dmLT, which consists of a monomer LT toxoid (LT R192G/L211A ) and three copies of STa toxoid STa N12S , may represent an optimal immunogen inducing neutralizing antibodies against STa toxin [IAI 2014, 82(5):1823-32]. In this study, we immunized mice with this fusion protein following a different parenteral route and using different adjuvants to further characterize immunogenicity of this toxoid fusion. Data from this study showed that 3xSTa N12S -dmLT toxoid fusion induced neutralizing anti-STa antibodies in the mice following subcutaneous immunization, as effectively as in the mice under intraperitoneal route. Data also indicated that double mutant LT (dmLT) can be an effective adjuvant for this toxoid fusion in mice subcutaneous immunization. Results from this study affirmed that toxoid fusion 3xSTa N12S -dmLT induces neutralizing antibodies against STa toxin, suggesting this toxoid fusion is potentially a promising immunogen for ETEC vaccine development.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Explaining the Impact of USDA's Healthy Incentives Pilot on Different Spending Outcomes (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-07
    Description: This article reports spending results for the USDA's Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP), which tested a 30% incentive on fruit and vegetable purchases with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Self-reported mean usual monthly spending for all fruits and vegetables was $6.15 higher for randomly assigned HIP participant households than for a control group. Much of the additional spending appears to have taken place in ways that did not earn the incentive—spending with non-SNAP resources or in retailers that did not participate in HIP. This article investigates mechanisms that might explain the HIP impact on fruit and vegetable purchases that did not earn the incentive.
    Keywords: Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    OmpF of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc3 is required for carocin D sensitivity (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-23
    Description: Carocin D is a bacteriocin produced by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc21. Carocin D inhibits the growth of P . carotovorum subsp. carotovorum and closely related strains. Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum is a causative bacterium for soft rot disease and leads to severe economic losses. Bacteriocins recognize and interact with a specific membrane protein of target bacteria as a receptor. To identify the receptor responsible for carocin D recognition, mutants that underwent a phenotypic change from carocin D sensitivity to carocin D insensitivity were screened. Based on Tn 5 insertions, carocin D sensitivity was dependent on expression of the outer membrane protein OmpF. The insensitivity of the mutant (Pcc3MR) to carocin D was complemented with ompF from carocin D-sensitive strains, not from carocin D-resistant strains. The selectivity between sensitive and resistant strains could be attributed to variation in OmpFs in the cell-surface-exposed regions. Based on sequence analysis and complementation assays, it appears that carocin D uses OmpF as a receptor and is translocated by the TonB system. According to previously reported translocation mechanisms of colicins, OmpF works along with the TolA system rather than the TonB system. Therefore, the current findings suggest that carocin D is imported by a unique colicin-like bacteriocin translocation system.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    The dynamics of dairy land use change with respect to the milk quota regime (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-07-29
    Description: This article analyses the sequence of changes in land used for milk production on dairy farms before, during and towards the abolition of milk quotas. Using a unique dataset comprising farm level data of the Netherlands between 1971 and 2011 we estimate two duration models, analysing the time period between increases and decreases in dairy land use. The impact of milk quota, socio-economic, farm income and economic-political variables on the likelihood of a farm changing its land use are assessed. Results show that changes are highly farm specific, but that quota abolition will lead to a more dynamic dairy sector.
    Keywords: Q12 - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0165-1587
    Electronic ISSN: 1464-3618
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Recombineering and I-SceI-mediated Pseudomonas putida KT2440 scarless gene deletion (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-11-17
    Description: Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a saprophytic and generally recognized as safe microorganism that plays important roles in the biodegradation and production of value-added chemicals. Chromosomal gene deletion of P. putida KT2440 usually involves time-consuming gene cloning, conjugal transfer and counterselection. Recently, we developed a P. putida KT2440 markerless gene deletion method based on recombineering and Cre/ loxP site-specific recombination. PCR-based Red recombineering circumvents the tedious cloning steps and is more amenable to high-throughput manipulation. Here we report an improved scarless gene deletion strategy based on recombineering and intron-encoded homing endonuclease I-SceI-mediated double-strand break repair. Sixteen drug exporter gene(s) were deleted and the minimal inhibition concentrations of the mutants to a variety of antibiotics were determined. The robustness of the procedure was also demonstrated by sequential deletion of five large genomic regions. Up to 59% recombination efficiency was achieved for a 54.8 kb deletion, and the efficiency of RecA-mediated double-strand break repair, which was boosted by Red recombinase, was nearly 100%. The strain with a 3.76% genome reduction showed an improved growth rate and transformation efficiency. The straightforward, time-saving and highly efficient scarless deletion approach has the potential to facilitate the genetic study, and biotechnological and environmental applications of P. putida KT2440.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Did Revisions to the WIC Program Affect Household Expenditures on Whole Grains? (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-07
    Description: The food packages provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program changed in 2009. This article examines purchases of whole grain products before and after the change. Nielsen Homescan panel data from 2008 to 2010 provide information on households’ food purchases, demographics, and self-reported WIC participation status. We estimate the effect of WIC participation and the 2009 package change on whole grains purchases using a difference-in-difference method, and find that participation in the WIC program was associated with more whole grain purchases during the observed period; the package change in 2009 roughly doubled the associated effect of WIC participation on the purchases of whole grain products. These results are consistent with recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and suggest that moderate innovations in the design of food assistance programs can lead to beneficial dietary choices.
    Keywords: D10 - General, I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    How Meat Demand Elasticities Vary with Price, Income, and Product Category (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-07
    Description: As US beef and pork prices approached record high levels in 2014, industry analysts expressed surprised at consumer response. Because the relative price swings have occurred only recently, traditional approaches to demand analysis that rely on historical data series may be less useful than is typically the case. Employing one of the largest and longest-running choice experiments, we analyze data on 110,295 choices made by 12,255 consumers observed over a year-long time period coinciding with historically high meat prices. Our findings reveal nonlinear demands for meat products, with demand being more inelastic at higher prices. Ground beef, steak, and pork chop demands are more sensitive to changes in chicken breast price than the reverse. Moreover, cross-price elasticities between disaggregate meat products shrink as prices rise. Consumers' incomes significantly affect demand inter-relationships. Higher income consumers are more likely to choose steak and chicken breasts and are less likely to choose ground beef, chicken wings, and deli ham than are lower income consumers. High-income consumers tend to be less responsive to own-price changes and more responsive to cross-price changes than lower income consumers. This analysis provides estimates of structural demand parameters that help explain current meat expenditure patterns, and the results have implications for the assumption of linearity often invoked in policy analyses. 
    Keywords: C83 - Survey Methods ; Sampling Methods, D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, Q11 - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis ; Prices, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 2040-5790
    Electronic ISSN: 2040-5804
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    The enhanced immune responses induced by Salmonella enteritidis ghosts loaded with Neisseria gonorrhoeae porB against Salmonella in mice (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-16
    Description: Human health has been seriously endangered by highly prevalent salmonellosis and multidrug-resistant Salmonella strains. Current vaccines suffer from variable immune-protective effects, so more effective ones are needed to control Salmonella infection . Bacterial ghosts have been produced by the expression of lysis gene E from bacteriophage PhiX174 and can be filled with considerable exogenous substances such as DNA or drugs as a novel platform. In this study, Salmonella enteritidis (SE) ghosts were developed and loaded with Neisseria gonorrhoeae porin B (porB) to construct a novel inactive vaccine. Our new studies show that SE ghosts loaded with porB displayed increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-12p70) in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs), and elicited significantly higher specific systemic and mucosal immune responses to Salmonella than SE ghosts alone. In addition, the novel porB-loaded ghosts conferred higher protective effects on virulent Salmonella challenge. For the first time, we demonstrate that N. gonorrhoeae porB, as a novel adjuvant, can increase the immunogenicity of SE ghosts. Our studies suggested that Salmonella enteritidis ghosts loaded with Neisseria gonorrhoeae porin B might be a useful mucosal Salmonella vaccine candidate for practical use in the future.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
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    Socioeconomic and Demographic Determinants of the Nutritional Content of National School Lunch Program Entree Selections (2017)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-01-05
    Description: New National School Lunch Program (NSLP) guidelines aim to reduce sodium and saturated fats, limit calories, and eliminate trans-fat and whole milk. This paper provides a novel approach to understanding how the healthfulness of NSLP participants’ entrée selections varies across socioeconomic and demographic groups. Unlike previous studies that rely on dietary recalls, we use a mixed logit model to examine students’ entrée choices in a school cafeteria. We estimate the likelihood that an entrée is selected from the available lunch choices as a function of the entrée’s nutrients (fat, carbohydrate, protein, and sodium) and entrée’s taste profile characteristics (e.g., Mexican, Pizza-like), as well as the student’s socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Using these estimates, we examine how changing the nutritional content of an offering impacts the probability of selecting each of the offerings. Free lunch recipients are more likely to choose entrées higher in fat but lower in sodium than other students. Full-price lunch recipients are the most responsive to changes in nutritional content of the offerings and are most likely to respond to changes in the nutritional content of the offered entrées by substituting a lunch brought from home for the school-purchased lunch. Replacing less healthy menu items with popular but healthier items reduces the selection of total calories, calories from fat, and sodium by approximately 4%, 18%, and 8%, respectively, over the study period. The new guidelines should be effective at improving the nutrition of school-age children, and potentially reducing childhood obesity, provided NSLP participation does not decline appreciably.
    Keywords: D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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    Crop Choice, School Participation, and Child Labor in Developing Countries: Cotton Expansion in Burkina Faso (2017)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-01-05
    Description: We estimate the effects of changes in cotton adoption on children’s schooling and child labor in rural Burkina Faso. Using time and spatial variations, we find evidence that expansion of cotton farming has led to an increase in enrollment and to a reduction of participation in child labor for girls. There are, however, no detectable effects on boys. In theory, cotton adoption could increase household income, leading to increased demand for schooling and reduced child labor. On the other hand, because children are productive on cotton farms, adoption of cotton could increase the opportunity cost of child time and the demand for child labor. We provide suggestive evidence showing that boys are more productive than girls on cotton farms. Taken together, the results suggest that the income effect from cotton adoption might have been larger than the wage effect for girls, hence the overall positive impacts on school enrollment for girls.
    Keywords: O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0002-9092
    Electronic ISSN: 1467-8276
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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    Expression of biologically active murine interleukin-18 in Lactococcus lactis (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-12-12
    Description: The food-grade bacterium Lactococcus lactis is increasingly used for heterologous protein expression in therapeutic and industrial applications. The ability of L. lactis to secrete biologically active cytokines may be used for the generation of therapeutic cytokines. Interleukin (IL)-18 enhances the immune response, especially on mucosal surfaces, emphasizing its therapeutic potential. However, it is produced as an inactive precursor and has to be enzymatically cleaved for maturation. We genetically manipulated L. lactis to secrete murine IL-18. The mature murine IL-18 gene was inserted downstream of a nisin promoter in pNZ8149 plasmid and the construct was used to transform L. lactis NZ3900 . The transformants were selected on Elliker agar and confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing. The expression and secretion of IL-18 protein was verified by SDS-PAGE, western blotting and ELISA. The biological activity of recombinant IL-18 was determined by its ability to induce interferon (IFN)- production in L. lactis co-cultured with murine splenic T cells. The amounts of IL-18 in bacterial lysates and supernatants were 3–4 μg mL –1 and 0.6–0.7 ng mL –1 , respectively. The successfully generated L. lactis strain that expressed biologically active murine IL-18 can be used to evaluate the possible therapeutic effects of IL-18 on mucosal surfaces.
    Keywords: Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology
    Print ISSN: 0378-1097
    Electronic ISSN: 1574-6968
    Topics: Biology
    Published by Oxford University Press
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