A tribute to Dr Royce E. Longton

Abstract

The relationships within the Bryaceae, with emphasis on the genus Bryum, were studied based on morphological and anatomical characters and using cladistic methods. The analysis was performed with thirty-six species representing the different parts of the family, and with Funaria hygrometrica Hedw., Mnium hornum (Dicks.) Lindb., and Tayloria lingulata Hedw. as outgroups. The Bryaceae, and the subfamilies Bryoideae, Mielichhoferioideae, and Pohlioideae, as defined by several earlier authors appear to be paraphyletic. The genus Bryum seems to be paraphyletic, because Leptobryum pyriforme (Hedw.) Wils., Osculatia columbica De Not., and Rhodobryum giganteum (Schwaegr.) Paris, appear as ingroups within this genus when the tree is rooted with Funaria. Mnium hornum came out as the sister taxon of a clade including Pohlia cruda (Hedw.) Lindb. and P. longicollis (Hedw.) Lindb., whereas P. drummondii (Müll. Hall.) A.L. Andrews, appears not to be closely related to the other two Pohlia species studied here, making this genus paraphyletic. Mielichhoferia mielichhoferiana (Funck.) Loeske, appears as the sister taxon of Schizymenium bryoides Harv., suggesting that both these genera are paraphyletic. Overall, the stabilities of the clades are low and it is suggested that combined analyses of morphological, anatomical, and molecular data are needed to get better resolved and more stable trees.     

A tribute to Dr. Theodore T. Puck

Dr. Theodore T. Puck, a pioneer in mammalian cell culture, somatic cell genetics, and the study of human genetic diseases, passed away in 2005. In tribute to Dr. Puck, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology-Animal presents invited remembrances from four colleagues whose associations with Dr. Puck spanned 51 years.     

A tribute to sulfur.

Recent progress in a number of areas of biochemistry and biology has drawn attention to the critical importance of sulfur in the biosynthesis of vital cofactors and active sites in proteins, and in the complex reaction mechanisms often involved. This brief review is intended as a broad overview of this currently rapidly moving field of sulfur biochemistry, for those who are interested or are involved in one or the other aspect of it, a synopsis by one who has stumbled into this field from several directions in the course of time. Only for iron are metal-sulfur relationships discussed in detail, as the iron-sulfur subfield is one of the most active areas.