Biological Dual-Use Research and Synthetic Biology of Yeast

In recent years, the publication of the studies on the transmissibility in mammals of the H5N1 influenza virus and synthetic genomes has triggered heated and concerned debate within the community of scientists on biological dual-use research; these papers have raised the awareness that, in some cases, fundamental research could be directed to harmful experiments, with the purpose of developing a weapon that could be used by a bioterrorist. Here is presented an overview regarding the dual-use concept and its related international agreements which underlines the work of the Australia Group (AG) Export Control Regime. It is hoped that the principles and activities of the AG, that focuses on export control of chemical and biological dual-use materials, will spread and become well known to academic researchers in different countries, as they exchange biological materials (i.e. plasmids, strains, antibodies, nucleic acids) and scientific papers. To this extent, and with the aim of drawing the attention of the scientific community that works with yeast to the so called Dual-Use Research of Concern, this article reports case studies on biological dual-use research and discusses a synthetic biology applied to the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, namely the construction of the first eukaryotic synthetic chromosome of yeast and the use of yeast cells as a factory to produce opiates. Since this organism is considered harmless and is not included in any list of biological agents, yeast researchers should take simple actions in the future to avoid the sharing of strains and advanced technology with suspicious individuals.

Surface high-resolution temperature forecast in southern Italy

Abstract. Since June 2008, 1-h temperature forecasts for the Calabria region (Southern Italy) are issued at 2.5 km horizontal resolution at CRATI/ISAC-CNR. Forecasts are available online at http://meteo.crati.it/previsioni.html (every 6-h). This paper shows the forecast performance out to three days for one climatological year (from 1 December 2008 to 30 November 2009, 365 run) for minimum, mean and maximum temperature. The forecast is evaluated against gridded analyses at the same horizontal resolution. Gridded analysis is based on Optimal Interpolation (OI) and uses a de-trending technique for computing the background field. Observations from 87 thermometers are used in the analysis system. In this paper cumulative statistics are shown to quantify forecast errors out to three days.

The seasonal characteristics of the breeze circulation at a coastal Mediterranean site in South Italy

Abstract. We present a study on the characteristics of the sea breeze flow at a coastal site located in the centre of the Mediterranean basin at the southern tip of Italy. This study is finalized to add new data on breeze circulations over a narrow peninsula and present a unique experimental coastal site at about 600 m from the coastline in a flat open area at the foot of a mountain chain located in a region of complex orography. We study the seasonal behaviour of the sea-land breeze circulation by analysing two years of hourly data of wind speed and direction, temperature, radiation and relative humidity from a surface meteorological station, eighteen-months data from a wind profiler, and two-year data from the ECMWF analysis. Results show that breezes dominate the local circulation and play a major role for the local climate. They are modulated by the season, through the sea-land temperature difference and the large-scale flow. The large-scale forcing acts in phase with the diurnal breeze and opposes the nocturnal breeze. In summer, the daytime difference between the land surface temperature and the SST (Sea Surface Temperature) reaches its maximum, while the nigh-time difference has its minimum. This causes a strong, frequent and intense diurnal breeze and a weak nocturnal breeze. In winter and fall the nocturnal difference between the sea and land surface temperature reaches a maximum value, while the diurnal difference is at its minimum value. This causes a strong, frequent and intense nocturnal breeze despite of the large-scale forcing that is usually opposed to local-scale flow.

Correlation between large-scale atmospheric fields and the olive pollen season in Central Italy

Olives are one of the largest crops in the Mediterranean and in central and southern Italy. This work investigates the correlation of the Olea europaea L. pollen season in Perugia, the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, with atmospheric parameters. The aim of the study is twofold. First, we study the correlation between the pollen season and the surface air temperature of the spring and late spring in Perugia. Second, the correlation between the pollen season and large-scale atmospheric patterns is investigated. The average surface temperature in the spring and late spring has a clear impact on the pollen season in Perugia. Years with higher average temperatures have an earlier onset of the pollen season. In particular, a 1 degrees C higher (lower) average surface temperature corresponds to an earlier (later) start of the pollen season of about 1 week. The correlation between the pollen season and large-scale atmospheric patterns of sea level pressure and 500-hPa geopotential height shows that the cyclonic activity in the Mediterranean is unequivocally tied to the pollen season in Perugia. A larger than average cyclonic activity in the Mediterranean Basin corresponds to a later than average pollen season. Larger than average cyclonic activity in Northern Europe and Siberia corresponds to an earlier than average pollen season. A possible explanation of this correlation, that needs further investigation to be proven, is given. These results can have a practical application by using the seasonal forecast of atmospheric general circulation models.

Effect of the differential geometric form factor on differential absorption lidar measurements with topographical targets

When the integrated differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique is used to perform concentration measurements over long distances, the alignment between on and off laser beams becomes important. Here, through analysis of alignment error and of the corresponding differential geometric form factor, the effect of misalignment between off and on lines on performance of integrated concentration measurements by a coaxial DIAL system is considered.