Size does matter: cre-mediated somatic deletion efficiency depends on the distance between the target lox-sites.

Cre/lox recombination in vivo has become an important tool to induce chromosomal rearrangements like deletions. Using a combination of Ds transposition and Cre/lox recombination in two independent experiments on chromosomes 6 and 7 of tomato, two sets of somatic deletions up to a size of 200 kb were obtained. The efficiency of somatic deletion decreased with increasing deletion size.

Cre recombinase expression can result in phenotypic aberrations in plants.

The cre recombinase gene was stably introduced and expressed in tomato, petunia and Nicotiana tabacum. Some plants expressing the cre gene driven by a CaMV 35S promoter displayed growth retardation and a distinct pattern of chlorosis in their leaves. Although no direct relation can be proven between the phenotype and cre expression, aberrant phenotypes always co-segregate with the transgene, which strongly suggests a correlation.

Evaluation of a fully automated glycoprotein G-2 based assay for the detection of HSV-2 specific IgG antibodies in serum and plasma.

Background: Ranking after infections with Chlamydia trachomatis and human papillomavirus, genital herpesvirus is the third most common sexually transmitted disease. The majority of recurrent genital herpes infections are caused by herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2). Seroepidemiological studies on the prevalence of HSV-2 specific IgG antibodies are especially important to study the impact of this infection among risk groups.