Marine mussels (Mytilus edulis) fabricate byssal threads, highperformance biopolymeric fibers, which exhibit exceptional toughness and selfhealing capacity. These properties are associated with collagenous proteins in the fibrous thread core known as preCols that self-organize into a hierarchical semicrystalline structure. Threads assemble individually in a bottom-up process lasting just minutes via secretion of membrane bound vesicles filled with preCols. However, very little is understood about the details and dynamics of this assembly process. Here, we explore the hypothesis that preCols are stored within the vesicles in a liquid crystalline phase, which contributes to fiber assembly by preordering molecules. To achieve this, a protocol was developed for extracting and isolating intact preCol secretory vesicles in high yield and purity. Vesicles were characterized and were manipulated in vitro, clearly indicating the dynamic liquid crystalline nature of the proteins within. Moreover, mechanical shearing of vesicles led to formation of highly birefringent preCol fibers. These findings have relevance for efforts toward sustainable production of advanced polymeric materials, and possibly for engineering biomedical scaffolds based on collagenous proteins.

Tobacco is a key cash crop for many farmers in Kenya, although there is a variety of challenges associated with tobacco production. This study seeks to understand alternatives to tobacco production from the perspective of government officials, extension officers, and farmers at the sub-national level (Migori, Busia, and Meru) in Kenya. The study analyzes data from qualitative key-informant interviews with government officials and extension officers (n = 9) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with farmers (n = 5). Data were coded according to pre-identified categories derived from the research aim, namely, opportunities and challenges of tobacco farming and alternative crops, as well findings that illustrate the policy environment that shapes the agricultural context in these regions. We highlight important factors associated with the production of non-tobacco agricultural commodities, including the factors that shape the ability of these non-agricultural commodities to serve as viable alternatives to tobacco. The results highlight the effect that several factors, including access to capital, markets, and governmental assistance, have on farmer decisions. The results additionally display the structured policy approaches that are being promoted in governmental offices towards agricultural production, as well as the institutional shortcomings that inhibit their implementation at the sub-national level.

PurposeThis paper examines the intrahousehold dynamics between women and men present in tobacco farming households in Mozambique. Attention to the experiences and realities of the smallholder farmers is crucial for understanding approaches to alternative livelihoods. Intrahousehold dynamics can provide important insights into how these households and their members view tobacco production and engage with the political economy of tobacco farming, how they make decisions, and the rationale and values behind these decisions.MethodsData were collected through single-gender focus group discussions (n=8) with 108 participants (men=57, women=51). Analysis was informed by a qualitative description methodology. This research presents a gender-based analysis examining the perspectives, roles, decision-making processes and desires of female and male tobacco farmers in four key tobacco-growing districts in Mozambique.FindingsThroughout this paper, women are found to hold leverage and influence in tobacco farming households, and this leverage is in part gained via the necessity of women’s unpaid labour in achieving profitability in tobacco farming. Both women and men are also found to strongly desire and pursue the well-being of the household.ConclusionWomen hold agency within tobacco-growing households and participate in decision-making processes regarding tobacco agriculture. Women should be included in future tobacco control policies and programmes pertaining to Article 17.

Gender plays a prominent role in shaping the practices and experiences of smallholding farming households. This scoping review seeks to chart and analyze how gender is used in the existing literature on the political economy of smallholder agriculture. The aim of this review is to first identify the extent to which gender is addressed as a unit of analysis in this body of literature, and second, to identify when and how gender is incorporated in this body of literature. The limited work on this topic may be due to a variety of factors, the most notable of which is the failure of political economy literature to attend to the small scale and the limited attention paid to the social dynamics of women and men in farming households. Classical political economy frameworks tend to dismiss micro-processes and trends in favor of macro-structural conditions. Included articles approach gender in two distinct ways: empirical (which frames gender as a binary unit of analysis, i.e., man–woman) and analytic (a construction that operates in different ways in different contexts). This review provides a nuanced understanding of how gendered identities produce and are produced by political economy, and how political economy shapes and is shaped by gender and household dynamics.