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Transgenic banana ( Musa acuminata ‘Gros Michel’) integrating either of two rice chitinase genes was generated and its resistance to Black Leaf Streak disease caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis was tested using a leaf disk bioassay. PCR screening indicated the presence of the hpt selectable marker gene in more than 90 % of the lines tested, whereas more than three quarters of the lines contained the linked rice chitinase gene resulting in a co-transformation frequency of at least 71.4 %. Further, a unique stable integration of the transgenes in each line revealed some false negative PCR results and the expected co-transformation frequency of 100 %. The transgene insert number per line ranged from 1 to 5 and single transgene insert lines (25 % of all) were identified. Considerable delay in disease development (up to 63 days post-incoculation) over a monitoring period of 108 days occurred in nine lines with extracellularly targeted chitinase out of 17 transgenic lines tested and their necrotic leaf area decreased by 73–94 % compared to the untransformed susceptible control line. Finally, correlation between symptom development and rice chitinase expression was confirmed in two lines by Western analysis. The potential of rice chitinase genes to enhance resistance against M. fijiensis in banana was demonstrated as well as the usefulness of the leaf disk bioassay for early disease screening in transgenic banana lines. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11248-012-9631-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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WHIM (warts-hypogammaglobulinemia-infections-myelokathexis) syndrome is a recently described primary immunodeficiency disorder caused by mutation of the CXCR4 chemokine receptor gene. We report here of a 6.5-yr-old girl with bacterial infections, severe chronic neutropenia, and hypogammaglobulinemia. Sequencing the CXCR4 gene revealed a c.1013C > G sequence variant suggesting WHIM syndrome. Recurrent c.1013C > G sequence variant of the CXCR4 gene resulting in p.S338X truncation mutation of this chemokine receptor protein is first reported here.

The Pannonian region is situated in the Carpathian basin where forests have been used intensively for centuries. The article shows a map and a tabular overview of the forest reserves featured as forests ''left for free development'' of the region, and presents the most important stand structural characteristics of beech, mesophytic and thermophilous deciduous forests surveyed recently. The sampling points of six sites were selected to provide preliminary descriptive statistics according to the main types and abandonment status groups (recently managed, long abandoned and old-growth or primary stands) of these forests. In oldgrowth and primary stands the composition (list and mixture ratio of tree species) and stand structure characteristics [gap class distribution, stem density, distribution of relative crown classes and broad diameter at breast height (at 130 cm) classes, density of thick snags, and the amount of lying dead wood] proved to be similar to other European deciduous natural forests, while the abandoned and recently managed stands indicate that these forests are in a transitional stage towards natural ones.

Previously, it was shown that low temperature (

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