Agroinfection-based high-throughput screening reveals specific recognition of INF elicitins in Solanum

We adapted and optimized the use of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens binary PVX expression system (PVX agroinfection) to screen Solanum plants for response to pathogen elicitors and applied the assay to identify a total of 11 clones of Solanum huancabambense and Solanum microdontum , out of 31 species tested, that respond to the elicitins INF1, INF2A and INF2B of Phytophthora infestans . Prior to this study, response to INF elicitins was only known in Nicotiana spp. within the Solanaceae. The identified S. huancabambense and S. microdontum clones also exhibited hypersensitivity-like cell death following infiltration with purified recombinant INF1, INF2A and INF2B, thereby validating the screening protocol. Comparison of INF elicitin activity revealed that Nicotiana plants responded to significantly lower concentrations than Solanum , suggesting variable levels of sensitivity to INF elicitins. We exploited natural variation in response to INF elicitins in the identified Solanum accessions to evaluate the relationship between INF recognition and late blight resistance. Interestingly, several INF-responsive Solanum plants were susceptible to P. infestans . Also, an S. microdontum  × Solanum tuberosum (potato) population that segregates for INF response was generated but failed to identify a measurable contribution of INF response to resistance. These results suggest that in Solanum , INF elicitins are recognized as general elicitors and do not have a measurable contribution to disease resistance.     

Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans from Bornholm and Australia, and the systematic position of the bellerophontiform molluscs

Berg-Madsen, Vivianne & Peel, John S. 1978 04 IS: Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans from Bornholm and Australia, and the systematic position of the bellerophontiform molluscs
Minute Middle Cambrian monoplacophorans originally reported from Australia are redescribed on the basis of material from the Kalby Clay of Bornholm. A recent classification of Bellerophon. Sinuites and related genera as monoplacophorans is discussed and rejected. Members of the group are returned to the Gastropoda on account of their similarity in ornament, musculature and inferred water circulation patterns, with contemporary fossil helically coiled gastropods. Water circulation patterns are deduced in Protowenella flemingi and support the assignment to the Monoplacophora. Kulhyella poulseni n.gen. n.sp. is described.     

Middle Cambrian cystoid (sensu lato) stem columnals from Bornholm, Denmark

A rich material of echinoderm fragments from two Middle Cambrian stratigraphical levels on Bornholm are preserved due to phosphatization of the original calcitic stereom. Preservation of echinoderms in this way - not previously recorded from the Middle Cambrian - permits detailed analysis of the three-dimensional stereom structure. Identifiable are fragments of stylophorans and eocrinoids. Stem columnals, most likely from eocrinoids, show a wide and advanced morphological variation indicating articulation similar to that of crinoids. The material from the Exsulans Limestone/Kalby marl ( Ptychagnostus gibbus Zone) represents stem-bearing cystoids older than Akadocrinus from Bohemia. The Andrarum Limestone ( Sole-nopleura brachymetopa Zone) contains echinoderm fragments from a higher stratigraphical level, a level correlatable with that from which the oldest North American stem–bearing cystoid, Eustypocystis , has been recorded.     

INTER‐ETHICS: TOWARDS AN INTERACTIVE AND INTERDEPENDENT BIOETHICS

Since its origin bioethics has been a specialized, academic discipline, focussing on moral issues, using a vast set of globalized principles and rational techniques to evaluate and guide healthcare practices. With the emergence of a plural society, the loss of faith in experts and authorities and the decline of overarching grand narratives and shared moralities, a new approach to bioethics is needed. This approach implies a shift from an external critique of practices towards embedded ethics and interactive practice improvement, and from a legal defence of rights towards fostering interdependent practices of responsibility. This article describes these transitions within bioethics in relation to the broader societal and cultural dynamics within Western societies, and traces the implications for the methodologies and changing roles of the bioethicist. The bioethicist we foresee is not just a clever expert but also a relationally sensitive person who engages stakeholders in reciprocal dialogues about their practice of responsibility and helps to integrate various sorts of knowledge (embodied, experiential, visual, and cognitive‐scientific). In order to illustrate this new approach, we present a case study. It concerns a project focusing on an innovation in elderly care, based on the participation of various stakeholders, especially older people themselves.