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An ever-increasing demand for novel antimicrobials to treat life-threatening infections caused by the global spread of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens stands in stark contrast to the current level of investment in their development, particularly in the fields of natural-product-derived and synthetic small molecules. New agents displaying innovative chemistry and modes of action are desperately needed worldwide to tackle the public health menace posed by antimicrobial resistance. Here, our consortium presents a strategic blueprint to substantially improve our ability to discover and develop new antibiotics. We propose both short-term and long-term solutions to overcome the most urgent limitations in the various sectors of research and funding, aiming to bridge the gap between academic, industrial and political stakeholders, and to unite interdisciplinary expertise in order to efficiently fuel the translational pipeline for the benefit of future generations.
Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.
In large models of neuronal cell death, there is a tight correlation between Cdk5 deregulation and cell-cycle dysfunction. However, pathways that link Cdk5 to the cell cycle during neuronal death are still unclear. We have investigated the molecular events that precede p25/Cdk5-triggered neuronal death using a neuronal cell line that allows inducible p25 expression. In this system, no sign of apoptosis was seen before 24 hours of p25 induction. Thus, at that time, cell-cycle-regulatory proteins were analysed by immunoblotting and some of them showed a significant deregulation. Interestingly, after time-course experiments, the earliest feature correlated with p25 expression was the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (Rb). Indeed, this phosphorylation was observed 6 hours after p25 induction and was abolished in the presence of a Cdk5 inhibitor, roscovitine, which does not inhibit the usual Rb cyclin-D kinases Cdk4 and Cdk6. Furthermore, analyses of levels and subcellular localization of Cdk-related cyclins did not reveal any change following Cdk5 activation, arguing for a direct effect of Cdk5 activity on Rb protein. This latter result was clearly demonstrated by in vitro kinase assays showing that the p25-Cdk5 complex in our cell system phosphorylates Rb directly without the need for any intermediary kinase activity. Hence, Rb might be an appropriate candidate that connects Cdk5 to cell-cycle deregulation during neuronal cell death.