No abstract

Thirty years after the production of the first generation of genetically modified plants we are now set to move into a new era of recombinant crop technology through the application of synthetic biology to engineer new and complex input and output traits. The use of synthetic biology technologies will represent more than incremental additions of transgenes, but rather the directed design of completely new metabolic pathways, physiological traits, and developmental control strategies. The need to enhance our ability to improve crops through new engineering capability is now increasingly pressing as we turn to plants not just for food, but as a source of renewable feedstocks for industry. These accelerating and diversifying demands for new output traits coincide with a need to reduce inputs and improve agricultural sustainability. Faced with such challenges, existing technologies will need to be supplemented with new and far-more-directed approaches to turn valuable resources more efficiently into usable agricultural products. While these objectives are challenging enough, the use of synthetic biology in crop improvement will face public acceptance issues as a legacy of genetically modified technologies in many countries. Here we review some of the potential benefits of adopting synthetic biology approaches in improving plant input and output traits for their use as industrial chemical feedstocks, as linked to the rapidly developing biorefining industry. Several promising technologies and biotechnological targets are identified along with some of the key regulatory and societal challenges in the safe and acceptable introduction of such technology.

Innovation in environmental fields such as plant health is complex because of unbounded challenges and lack of certainty of commercial uptake. In this paper we present a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework, specifically to assist with assessment of technologies to support detection of tree pests and pathogens, but also for wider potential adaptation. Biosecurity can be enhanced by improved early detection of pests and pathogens, but development and deployment of new technologies requires robust scrutiny. We critically analyse the concept, practice and applicability of TRLs. Interviews revealed scientist perspectives during the development process of five novel early plant pest and pathogen detection technologies. A retrospective, collective narrative of one technology from concept to commercial deployment was undertaken. We then developed a calculator tool for assessment of biosecurity TRLs. Our findings illustrate the iterative process of technology development, the challenges in final TRLs of acquiring funding to move from proven success to viable product, inefficiencies created through the need for multiple projects for each technology and the imperative to consider the wider socio-ecological technical landscape, including policy context. End user engagement was particularly valuable at beginning and end of the TRL scale. We conclude that the TRL framework comprises a robust approach to assess technologies in that it facilitates progress tracking, evaluation of success likelihood and identification of opportunities for investment. However, its potential will only be realised for environmental management if it is integrated into the socio-ecological technical landscape and wider discussions regarding knowledge co-production and valuing nature.

An extensive programme of experiments on transfer of radionuclides to aquatic species was conducted in the former USSR starting from the early 1950s. Only a few of these studies were made available in the English language literature or taken into account in international reviews of radionuclide behaviour in marine ecosystems. Therefore, an overview of original information on radionuclide transfer to marine biota species available from Russian language literature sources is presented here. The concentration ratio (CR) values for many radionuclides and for marine species such as: (239)Pu, (106)Ru and (95)Zr (crustacean), (54)Mn, (90)Sr, (95)Nb, (106)Ru, (137)Cs (239)Pu, (241)Am and natural U (molluscs), and (54)Mn, (90)Sr, (137)Cs and (144)Ce (fish) are in good agreement with those previously published, whilst for some of them, in particular, for (32)P and (110)Ag (crustaceans), (35)S (molluscs), (32)P, (35)S, (95)Nb, and (106)Ru (macroalgae) and (60)Co and (239,240)Pu (fish) the data presented here suggest that changes in the default CR reference values presented in recent marine reviews may be required. The data presented here are intended to supplement substantially the CR values being collated within the handbook on Wildlife Transfer Coefficients, coordinated under the IAEA EMRAS II programme.