Poplar Transformation.

First publications of successful Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tobacco were published more than 30 years ago. Protocols for Agrobacterium-based transformation as well as biolistic bombardment and PEG transformation of protoplasts are available for more than 150 plant species from various plant families. Also for many Populus species and hybrids, adapted transformation protocols have been published.

The protective Th1 response in mice is induced in the T-cell zone only three weeks after infection with Leishmania major and not during early T-cell activation.

The protozoan parasite Leishmania spp. causes clinical pictures ranging in severity from spontaneously healing skin ulcers to systemic disease. The immune response associated with healing involves the differentiation of IFNγ-producing Th1 cells, whereas the non-healing phenotype is associated with IL4-producing Th2 cells.

T cell zones of lymphoid organs constitutively express Th1 cytokine mRNA: specific changes during the early phase of an immune response.

The cytokine milieu of the T cell zones in lymphoid organs is involved in the activation of naive T cells. Quantitative data regarding the local expression of cytokines are lacking. Therefore, the expression of Th1 (IL-2, IL-12p40, IFN-gamma), Th2 (IL-4, IL-10), as well as TGFbeta1 and IL-15 mRNA was studied after laser microdissection in the steady state and during an immune response in rats.