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Amino Acid Neurotransmission (1998) FA Stephenson and AJ Turner (Eds). London: Portland Press, 247 pp. £75 board; ISBN 1–85578–080–1     

Somatic embryogenesis in the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum

A procedure is described for the induction of somatic embryos in the opium poppy. Papaver somniferum L. Callus was obtained from seedling hypocotyls on an agar solidified medium [Murashige and Skoog (1962) Physiol. Plant. 15: 473–497] containing 0.25 mg/l (1.2 μ M ) kinetin and 2.0 mg/l (10.7 μ M ) naphtalene acetic acid (NAA). Suspension cultures were initiated from callus using a liquid medium in which 2.0 mg/l (9.0 μ M ) 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid was substituted for NAA. Meristemoids, spheres of closely packed cells, developed in suspensions and on the surface of a few callus cultures. Differentiation of meristemoids into somatic embryos was accomplished by removing growth regulators from the liquid medium. Embryoids appeared morphologically normal and similar to torpedo stage embryos, however, they possessed mature tracheary elements and laticifers in areas that should have contained only procambium. Whole plants have been obtained by placing embryos in the light on solid medium that also lacked growth regulators.     

Curd Initiation in the Cauliflower: I. JUVENILITY

Hand, D. J. and Atherton, J. G. 1987. Curd initiation in thecauliflower. I. Juvenility.—J. exp. Bot. 38: 2050–2058. Four cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) cultivarswere screened for differences in juvenility, measured as thephase of insensitivity to vernalization. Juvenility persisteduntil the initiation of a critical number of leaves which sharplydefined transition to the sensitive, mature form at 13 to 15leaves in cv. Perfection and at 17 to 19 leaves in cv. WhiteFox. Preliminary investigation showed transition in cv. AlphaCliro to occur between 9 and 18 leaves initiated and in cv.Dole after 19 leaves. Leaf number was a stable marker of theend of juvenility in plants grown under different light conditions,whereas time, leaf area and leaf dry weight were not. Leaf numberwas linearly related to log whole shoot dry weight. The rateof leaf initiation in plants of cv. Perfection growing duringthe juvenile phase was approximately one third that of plantsin the mature phase, when measured on a thermal time base. Chilling mature, vegetative plants at 5 °C for 28 d advancedcurd initiation by up to 35 leaves in cv. Perfection; 27 leavesin cv. White Fox; 27 leaves in cv. Alpha Cliro and 21 leavesin cv. Dok, compared with plants grown continuously at 20 °C. Key words: Cauliflower, vernalization, juvenility     

Confronting complexity: reply to Le Quere and Flynn

Complexity pervades ecology. The search for unifying laws thereforeentails that ‘biologists work very close to the frontierbetween bewilderment and understanding’ (Medawar, 1969).One approach to developing ecological theory is to abandon simplicityat the outset and operate at the highest appropriate organizationallevel (Dunbar, 1980). On this basis, Le Quéré(Le Quéré, 2006) issues a plea for inclusion ofplankton functional types (PFTs) in plankton models because‘we will not understand ecology until we     

Molecular characterization of berberine bridge enzyme genes from opium poppy.

In Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) and related species, (S)-reticuline serves as a branch-point intermediate in the biosynthesis of numerous isoquinoline alkaloids. The berberine bridge enzyme (BBE) ([S]-reticuline:oxygen oxidoreductase [methylene bridge forming], EC 1.5.3.9) catalyzes the stereospecific conversion of the N-methyl moiety of (S)-reticuline into the berberine bridge carbon of (S)-scoulerine and represents the first committed step in the pathway leading to the antimicrobial alkaloid sanguinarine. Three unique genomic clones (bbe1, bbe2, and bbe3) similar to a BBE cDNA from Eschscholtzia californica (California poppy) were isolated from opium poppy. Two clones (bbe2 and bbe3) contained frame-shift mutations of which bbe2 was identified as a putative, nonexpressed pseudogene by RNA blot hybridization using a gene-specific probe and by the lack of transient expression of a chimeric gene fusion between the bbe2 5' flanking region and a beta-glucuronidase reporter gene. Similarly, bbe1 was shown to be expressed in opium poppy plants and cultured cells. Genomic DNA blot-hybridization data were consistent with a limited number of bbe homologs. RNA blot hybridization showed that bbe genes are expressed in roots and stems of mature plants and in seedlings within 3 d after germination. Rapid and transient BBE mRNA accumulation also occurred after treatment with a fungal elicitor or with methyl jasmonate. However, sanguinarine was found only in roots, seedlings, and fungal elicitor-treated cell cultures.     

Scalp defect, nipples absence and ears abnormalities: an other case of Finlay syndrome.

Bilateral absence of nipples is an exceptional defect. We report the second family with the association of scalp defect, abnormally shaped ears and absence of nipples described by Finlay as an autosomal dominant trait.