Perspectives and Integration in SOLAS Science

Why a chapter on Perspectives and Integration in SOLAS Science in this book? SOLAS science by its nature deals with interactions that occur: across a wide spectrum of time and space scales, involve gases and particles, between the ocean and the atmosphere, across many disciplines including chemistry, biology, optics, physics, mathematics, computing, socio-economics and consequently interactions between many different scientists and across scientific generations. This chapter provides a guide through the remarkable diversity of cross-cutting approaches and tools in the gigantic puzzle of the SOLAS realm. Here we overview the existing prime components of atmospheric and oceanic observing systems, with the acquisition of ocean–atmosphere observables either from in situ or from satellites, the rich hierarchy of models to test our knowledge of Earth System functioning, and the tremendous efforts accomplished over the last decade within the COST Action 735 and SOLAS Integration project frameworks to understand, as best we can, the current physical and biogeochemical state of the atmosphere and ocean commons. A few SOLAS integrative studies illustrate the full meaning of interactions, paving the way for even tighter connections between thematic fields. Ultimately, SOLAS research will also develop with an enhanced consideration of societal demand while preserving fundamental research coherency. The exchange of energy, gases and particles across the air-sea interface is controlled by a variety of biological, chemical and physical processes that operate across broad spatial and temporal scales. These processes influence the composition, biogeochemical and chemical properties of both the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers and ultimately shape the Earth system response to climate and environmental change, as detailed in the previous four chapters. In this cross-cutting chapter we present some of the SOLAS achievements over the last decade in terms of integration, upscaling observational information from process-oriented studies and expeditionary research with key tools such as remote sensing and modelling. Here we do not pretend to encompass the entire legacy of SOLAS efforts but rather offer a selective view of some of the major integrative SOLAS studies that combined available pieces of the immense jigsaw puzzle. These include, for instance, COST efforts to build up global climatologies of SOLAS relevant parameters such as dimethyl sulphide, interconnection between volcanic ash and ecosystem response in the eastern subarctic North Pacific, optimal strategy to derive basin-scale CO2 uptake with good precision, or significant reduction of the uncertainties in sea-salt aerosol source functions. Predicting the future trajectory of Earth’s climate and habitability is the main task ahead. Some possible routes for the SOLAS scientific community to reach this overarching goal conclude the chapter

Long-Term Infection and Vertical Transmission of a Gammaretrovirus in a Foreign Host Species

Increasing evidence has indicated natural transspecies transmission of gammaretroviruses; however, viral-host interactions after initial xeno-exposure remain poorly understood. Potential association of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in patients with prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome has attracted broad interests in this topic. Although recent studies have indicated that XMRV is unlikely a human pathogen, further understanding of XMRV xenoinfection would allow in vivo modeling of the initial steps of gammaretroviral interspecies transmission, evolution and dissemination in a new host population. In this study, we monitored the long-term consequences of XMRV infection and its possible vertical transmission in a permissive foreign host, wild-derived Mus pahari mice. One year post-infection, XMRV-infected mice showed no notable pathological changes, while proviral DNA was detected in three out of eight mice. XMRV-infected mice remained seropositive throughout the study although the levels of gp70 Env- and p30 capsid-specific antibodies gradually decreased. When vertical XMRV transmission was assessed, no viremia, humoral immune responses nor endogenization were observed in nine offspring from infected mothers, yet one offspring was found PCR-positive for XMRV-specific sequences. Amplified viral sequences from the offspring showed several mutations, including one amino acid deletion in the receptor binding domain of Env SU. Our results therefore demonstrate long-term asymptomatic infection, low incidence of vertical transmission and limited evolution of XMRV upon transspecies infection of a permissive new host, Mus pahari