Do not touch warning over moth classed a 'threat to human health'

A warning has been issued to people in a town where trees have been infested with a moth classed as a threat to human health. The oak processionary moth, which is an insect pest of oak trees and poses risks to both plant and human health, has been discovered in Long Eaton.

The moth is more usually found in London and its neighbouring counties, so an investigation is underway to identify the source of the outbreak. This will include eradicating the pest from the area and extensively monitoring sites in the surrounding area through ground surveys and pheromone trapping.Members of the public in Long Eaton and surrounding areas have been urged to be especially vigilant and check for any signs of their own oak trees being infested, including those recently planted.

Caterpillars feed on the leaves of several species of oak trees, causing them to lose their leaves and negatively impact their growth. It can cause itchy rashes and eye and throat infections when touched by members of the public. "The Government takes the management of the moth very seriously and has a robust programme in place to reduce the level of pest prevalence and protect oak resource, whilst supporting landowners to manage the risks associated with the moth in the areas where it has been identified."

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Human papillomavirus integration transforms chromatin to drive oncogenesis - Genome BiologyBackground Human papillomavirus (HPV) drives almost all cervical cancers and up to 70% of head and neck cancers. Frequent integration into the host genome occurs predominantly in tumorigenic types of HPV. We hypothesize that changes in chromatin state at the location of integration can result in changes in gene expression that contribute to the tumorigenicity of HPV. Results We find that viral integration events often occur along with changes in chromatin state and expression of genes near the integration site. We investigate whether introduction of new transcription factor binding sites due to HPV integration could invoke these changes. Some regions within the HPV genome, particularly the position of a conserved CTCF binding site, show enriched chromatin accessibility signal. ChIP-seq reveals that the conserved CTCF binding site within the HPV genome binds CTCF in 4 HPV+ cancer cell lines. Significant changes in CTCF binding pattern and increases in chromatin accessibility occur exclusively within 100 kbp of HPV integration sites. The chromatin changes co-occur with out-sized changes in transcription and alternative splicing of local genes. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HPV+ tumors indicates that HPV integration upregulates genes which have significantly higher essentiality scores compared to randomly selected upregulated genes from the same tumors. Conclusions Our results suggest that introduction of a new CTCF binding site due to HPV integration reorganizes chromatin state and upregulates genes essential for tumor viability in some HPV+ tumors. These findings emphasize a newly recognized role of HPV integration in oncogenesis.
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