Characterisation of a new strain of tobacco necrosis virus isolated from nutrient feeding solution*

A virus, isolated from the nutrient feeding solution of a bell pepper culture in a glasshouse, was characterised as a new serotype of tobacco necrosis necrovirus (TNV) and named TNV-nft. The virus was monopartite and contained a single RNA species and a single coat protein with molecular weights of 1.45± 10⁶ and 2.9 ± 10⁴ daltons, respectively. The particle had an apparent sedimentation coefficient of 110 S and a density of 1.37 g/cm³ in cesium chloride. In decoration tests antiserum prepared against TNV-nft reacted most strongly with the TNV strains Kassanis A and B, but at lower dilutions it also reacted with all other TNV-serotypes available. In Ouchterlony tests spur formation occurred with TNV strains Kassanis A and B, indicating that the TNV-nft strain was serologically distinct. The isolate was not associated with a satellite virus. Cloned cDNA prepared against viral RNA reacted exclusively with the viral RNA band in Northern blots.     

Revision of the Antarctic genus Notaeolidia (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia), with a description of a new species

New material from the Atlantic sector of the Antarctic Ocean allows a revision of the Antarctic genus Notaeolidia Eliot, 1905. One new species (Notaeolidia schmekelae sp.n.) is described. N. depressa Eliot, 1905 and N. gigas Eliot, 1905, which arc poorly known, arc redescribed. N. rufopicta Thiele, 1912, N. robsoni Odhner, 1934, N. subgigas Odhner, 1944, N. alutacea Minichev, 1972 and N. flava Minichev, 1972 are synonymized with N. depressa. N. purpurea Eliot, 1905 is synonymized with N. gigas. The monogeneric family Notaeolidiidae Odhner, 1926. is characterized by the following autapomorphy: "nephroproct in front of the genital apertures". Too little is known to elaborate the phylogenetic position of the family Notaeolidiidae within the cladobranch Nudibranchia.     

The morphology and anatomy of the Antarctic gastropod Bathyberthella antarctica (Opisthobranchia, Notaspidea, Pleurobranchidae)

The external morphology, anatomy and histology of the Antarctic notaspidean Bathyberthella antarctica Willan & Bertsch, 1987 is described and the intraspecific variability presented. The species is compared with the only other known pleurobranch from the high Antarctic zone, Tomthompsonia antarctica (Thiele, 1912).