Copyright © 2020 Bastos, Carciochi, Lollato, Jaenisch, Rezende, Schwalbert, Vara Prasad, Zhang, Fritz, Foster, Wright, Young, Bradley and Ciampitti.Hairy roots derived from the infection of a plant by Rhizobium rhizogenes (previously referred to as Agrobacterium rhizogenes) bacteria, can be obtained from a wide variety of plants and allow the production of highly diverse molecules. Hairy roots are able to produce and secrete complex active glycoproteins from a large spectrum of organisms. They are also adequate to express plant natural biosynthesis pathways required to produce specialized metabolites and can benefit from the new genetic tools available to facilitate an optimized production of tailor-made molecules. This adaptability has positioned hairy root platforms as major biotechnological tools. Researchers and industries have contributed to their advancement, which represents new alternatives from classical systems to produce complex molecules. Now these expression systems are ready to be used by different industries like pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food sectors due to the development of fully controlled large-scale bioreactors. This review aims to describe the evolution of hairy root generation and culture methods and to highlight the possibilities offered by hairy roots in terms of feasibility and perspectives. Copyright © 2020 Gutierrez-Valdes, Häkkinen, Lemasson, Guillet, Oksman-Caldentey, Ritala and Cardon.Silicon (Si), the second most abundant element on earth, remains unavailable for plants' uptake due to its poor solubility. Microbial interventions to convert it in soluble forms are well documented. However, studies on discrimination of Si and P solubilizing microbes due to common estimation method and sharing of solubilization mechanism are still obscure. A defined differential media, i.e. silicon-solubilizing media (NBRISSM) is developed to screen Si solubilizers. NBRISN13 (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), a Si solubilizer, exhibiting antagonistic property against Rhizoctonia solani, was further validated for disease resistance. The key finding of the work is that NBRISSM is a novel differential media for screening Si solubilizers, distinct from P solubilizers. Dominance of Pseudomonas and Bacillus spp. for the function of Si solubilization was observed during diversity analysis of Si solubilizers isolated from different rhizospheres. Sphingobacterium sp., a different strain has been identified for silicon solubilization other than Pseudomonas and Bacillus sp. Role of acidic phosphatase during Si solubilization has been firstly reported in our study in addition to other pH dependent phenomenon. Study also showed the combinatorial effect of feldspar and NBRISN13 on elicited immune response through (i) increased Si uptake, (ii) reduced disease severity, (iii) modulation of cell wall degrading and antioxidative enzyme activities, and (iv) induced defense responsive gene expression. Copyright © 2020 Bist, Niranjan, Ranjan, Lehri, Seem and Srivastava.The Judgment of 25 July 2018 of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was optimistically awaited by breeders and supporters of agricultural biotechnology, but shortly after the press release advancing the Judgment, hope turned into frustration. Opinions on how to frame the New Breeding Techniques (NBT) in the context of Directive 2001/18/EC were issued before the Judgment, while proposals to assist the EU legislator to amend the regime driven by the Directive have been also provided afterwards by scientists and institutional bodies around the EU. However, they do not seem to have paid so much attention to the Judgment itself. This paper focuses on the Judgment. It finds out that while the impacts of the Judgment on the NBT might have been slightly overvalued, its potential negative effects on techniques of random mutagenesis and varieties breed through them have been generally underestimated if not absolutely overlooked. The analysis also shows that the Judgment does not preempt the possibility to exempt certain applications of some NBT from the scope of Directive 2001/18/EC, and, in fact, ODM, SDN1, and SDN2 might be, under certain conditions, easily exempted from its scope without the need of a deep legislative revolution nor even the amendment of Directive 2001/18/EC. As regards techniques of random mutagenesis and mutant varieties bred by means of those techniques, until action is taken by Member States (if finally taken), no real limitations upon them are to be feared.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/hg106.html  However, if Member States start to consider the path opened by the CJEU, then their regulation at an EU level should be readily explored in order to avoid further negative effects on plant breeding as well as on the free movement inside the EU of those varieties and the products thereof. Copyright © 2020 Vives-Vallés and Collonnier.Do new breeding techniques (NBT) lead to essentially derived varieties (EDV)? It depends! It depends on the definition of EDV in the plant variety right (PVR) laws and their interpretation by the courts. This paper aims at providing an overview of the EDV concept and an analysis of the question whether NBT lead to EDV on the basis of the UPOV 1991 Act, the most recent UPOV Explanatory Notes on EDV of 2017 as well as some selected PVR laws. Almost 30 years ago, the concept of EDV has been incorporated into the UPOV 1991 Act. In order to strengthen the rights of breeders, in particular to provide breeders of original genotypes an additional source of remuneration, a system of "Plant Variety Right specific dependency," based on "essential derivation," was developed. Only a very limited number of court cases have been concerned with EDV. However, an escalation in EDV-related conflicts can be expected in the future due to increased competition in the ornamental and fruit breeding business as well as to the application of more sophisticated NBT. Copyright © 2020 Krieger, De Keyser and De Riek.Treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly effective in suppressing viral replication, but complete cure is rarely achieved. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in the development of immunotherapy to treat cancer. Applying these therapies to improve the management of chronic HBV infection is now being attempted, and has become an area of active research. Immunotherapy with vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors can boost T cell functions in vitro, and therefore may be used to reinvigorate the impaired HBV-specific T cell response. However, whether these approaches will suffice and restore antiviral T cell immunity to induce long-term HBV control remains an open question. Recent efforts have begun to describe the phenotype and function of HBV-specific T cells on the single epitope level. An improved understanding of differing T cell specificities and their contribution to HBV control will be instrumental for advancement of the field. In this review, we outline correlates of successful versus inadequate T cell responses to HBV, and discuss the rationale behind therapeutic vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of chronic HBV infection.