[EXPERIENCE WITH E. COLI LYOPHILIZED BACTERIAL LYSATE OM-89 (URO-VAKSOM®) IN MEN WITH ASYMPTOMATIC BACTERIOSPERMIA].

Chronic prostatitis is a significant problem of modern urology because it is the most common urological disease among the male population. We consider a 3 month course of OM-89 (Uro-Vaksom®) the most rational treatment of asymptomatic bacteriospermia caused by not only E. coli, but also by coexisting bacteria.

Maize mutants affected at distinct stages of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Maize mutants affected in the symbiotic interaction with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae have been found by a visual, macroscopic screen in a Mutator-tagged population of maize. Seven mutants have been identified, falling into three phenotypic classes. For each class one mutant has been characterized in more detail.

Involvement of Arabidopsis thaliana ribosomal protein S27 in mRNA degradation triggered by genotoxic stress.

A recessive Arabidopsis mutant with elevated sensitivity to DNA damaging treatments was identified in one out of 800 families generated by T-DNA insertion mutagenesis. The T-DNA generated a chromosomal deletion of 1287 bp in the promoter of one of three S27 ribosomal protein genes (ARS27A) preventing its expression. Seedlings of ars27A developed normally under standard growth conditions, suggesting wild-type proficiency of translation.

A change of ploidy can modify epigenetic silencing.

A silent transgene in Arabidopsis thaliana was reactivated in an outcross but not upon selfing of hemizygous plants. This result could only be explained by assuming a genetic difference between the transgene-free gametes of the wild-type and hemizygous transgenic plants, respectively, and led to the discovery of ploidy differences between the parental plants. To investigate whether a change of ploidy by itself can indeed influence gene expression, we performed crosses of diploid or tetraploid plants with a strain containing a single copy of a transgenic resistance gene in an active state.