BACKGROUND AND AIMS One of the special properties of clonal plants is the capacity for physiological integration, which can increase plant performance through mechanisms such as resource sharing and co-ordinated phenotypic plasticity when plants grow in microsites with contrasting resource availabilities. However, many clonal plants are colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Since AMF...

Cytogenetic analysis was performed on peripheral blood lymphocyte cultures from 19 patients with mycosis fungoides (MF)/Sézary syndrome (SS) stimulated with either phytohemagglutinin, a conventional mitogen, or a combination of interleukin-2 (IL-2) plus IL-7. The use of both PHA-stimulated and IL-2 plus IL-7-stimulated cultures enhanced the ability to identify clonal abnormalities. Clonal abnor...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In contrast to seeds, high sensitivity of vegetative fragments to unfavourable environments may limit the expansion of clonal invasive plants. However, clonal integration promotes the establishment of propagules in less suitable habitats and may facilitate the expansion of clonal invaders into intact native communities. Here, we examine the influence of clonal integration on...

Plant propagation originated  from the mature tissues is the most desirable method in producing clonal plants, however microbial contamination usually is the main concern during regeneration processes. Moreover, commercial production of plants using clonal propagation is considered as high throughput method due to the   removal of seasonal barriers, lower cost of production with higher yield wh...

BACKGROUND Cats are definitive hosts of Toxoplasma gondii and play an essential role in the epidemiology of this parasite. The study aims at clarifying whether cats are able to develop specific antibodies against different clonal types of T. gondii and to determine by serotyping the T. gondii clonal types prevailing in cats as intermediate hosts in Germany. METHODOLOGY To establish a peptide-...

We have established a serum-free clonal culture system to study the growth and differentiation of individual progenitor epithelial cells of the meibomian gland independent of other cell types and undefined serum factors. Single meibomian gland epithelial cells were obtained by subjecting whole meibomian glands to a brief EDTA treatment, needle aspiration, and nylon mesh filtration. The cells ha...

Many studies have shown that clonal integration can promote the performance of clonal plants in heterogeneous habitats, but the roles of clonal integration in both heterogeneous and homogeneous habitats were rarely studied simultaneously. Ramet pairs of Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb were placed in two habitats either heterogeneous or homogeneous in soil nutrient availability, with ...

BACKGROUND Species' life-history and population dynamics are strongly shaped by the longevity of individuals, but life span is one of the least accessible demographic traits, particularly in clonal plants. Continuous vegetative reproduction of genets enables persistence despite low or no sexual reproduction, affecting genet turnover rates and population stability. Therefore, the longevity of cl...

Plants use their roots to forage for nutrients in heterogeneous soil environments, but different plant species vastly differ in the intensity of foraging they perform. This diversity suggests the existence of constraints on foraging at the species level. We therefore examined the relationships between the intensity of root foraging and plant body traits across species in order to estimate the d...