An Atlas of Genomic Resources for Studying Rosaceae Fruits and Ornamentals.

Rosaceae, a large plant family of more than 3,000 species, consists of many economically important fruit and ornamental crops, including peach, apple, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and rose. These horticultural crops are not only important economic drivers in many regions of the world, but also major sources of human nutrition. Additionally, due to the diversity of fruit types in Rosaceae, this plant family offers excellent opportunities for investigations into fleshy fruit diversity, evolution, and development.

Changes to key L8 guidance discussed.

The Legionella Approved Code of Practice and guidance (ACoP) has recently undergone a review by the Health and Safety Executive. Steve Mount BSc (hons) CBiol MIBiol MWMSoc, an independent specialist consultant in water hygiene and safety, reports on the first conference (held in Birmingham) to discuss these changes, entitled 'Legionella management: The revised ACoP (L8); what impact will the changes have on you?'. The event was hosted by Immerse Training, and delegates' views on various issues, including the non-definitive terminology, and their general concerns regarding Legionella management and competence, were recorded, along with the impact that the proposed changes will have on people who manage water systems.

Legionnaires' disease--risk management.

Steve Mount, an independent Legionella management consultant and trainer with over 25 years' previous experience in microbiology and UKAS-accredited Legionella analysis, underlines the rising number of nosocomial cases of Legionnaires' disease in recent years, and explains the key risk assessment, management, and monitoring steps that must be taken by those responsible for hospital water systems to comply with legislation governing the 'control and management' of Legionella risk.

The draft genome of Ciona intestinalis: insights into chordate and vertebrate origins.

The first chordates appear in the fossil record at the time of the Cambrian explosion, nearly 550 million years ago. The modern ascidian tadpole represents a plausible approximation to these ancestral chordates. To illuminate the origins of chordate and vertebrates, we generated a draft of the protein-coding portion of the genome of the most studied ascidian, Ciona intestinalis.