Development of a Real-Time Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for the Rapid Detection of Olea Europaea Geminivirus

A real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay was developed for simple, rapid and efficient detection of the Olea europaea geminivirus (OEGV), a virus recently reported in different olive cultivation areas worldwide. A preliminary screening by end-point PCR for OEGV detection was conducted to ascertain the presence of OEGV in Sicily. A set of six real-time LAMP primers, targeting a 209-nucleotide sequence elapsing the region encoding the coat protein (AV1) gene of OEGV, was designed for specific OEGV detection. The specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of the diagnostic assay were determined. The LAMP assay showed no cross-reactivity with other geminiviruses and was allowed to detect OEGV with a 10-fold higher sensitivity than conventional end-point PCR. To enhance the potential of the LAMP assay for field diagnosis, a simplified sample preparation procedure was set up and used to monitor OEGV spread in different olive cultivars in Sicily. As a result of this survey, we observed that 30 out of 70 cultivars analyzed were positive to OEGV, demonstrating a relatively high OEGV incidence. The real-time LAMP assay developed in this study is suitable for phytopathological laboratories with limited facilities and resources, as well as for direct OEGV detection in the field, representing a reliable method for rapid screening of olive plant material

Contact vs. internal dynamics in the typological shift of English

Il passaggio dell’inglese dal tipo flessivo a quello analitico è stato spesso attribuito al contatto con le varietà celtiche o con quelle dei popoli che successivamente invasero l’Inghilterra (Scandinavi e Normanni). Tuttavia, l’influenza di quelle lingue sembra essere stata marginale dal punto di vista delle conseguenze che esse ebbero sulle strutture (diverso, ovviamente, è il caso del lessico) e tale cambiamento tipologico fu dovuto piuttosto ad una lunga e complessa serie di processi fonologici naturali che, come spesso succede, ebbero conseguenze catastrofiche sulla morfologia. Del resto, già il proto-germanico aveva un numero di categorie morfologiche inferiore rispetto all’indoeuropeo. In questo articolo, l’autore sostiene che l’inglese antico era in uno stato di equilibrio instabile e che il contatto può, al massimo, aver accelerato il passaggio al tipo analitico. Tali cambiamenti morfologici e tipologici possono essere spiegati applicando la Morfologia naturale e la Teoria della Complessità.The shift of the English language from synthetic to analytic is still often attributed to contact: with Scandinavian – e.g., Poussa (1982) – or with early Brittonic – e.g., Tristram (2002); on the other hand, others – e.g., Diensberg (1998) and Mufwene (2000) – point to the Norman Conquest as the turning point in the history of the language. Both assumptions, however, seem to be basically unwarranted, because (i) ‘attrition’ was definitely very limited, and (ii) because natural phonological processes had dramatic consequences on morphology. West Saxon itself was already weakly inflecting, and a considerable number of endings were absolutely ambiguous and, therefore, practically useless. Moreover, a considerable reduction in the number and type of inflectional categories had been a feature of Proto-Germanic in comparison with Indo-European. What is argued here is that Old English was in a very unstable equilibrium, and contact (especially with Norman French) can at best have accelerated its progress towards analyticity, but certainly did not trigger it. In terms of Complexity Theory, English did not undergo ‘sudden ignition’ (Nicolis & Prigogine 1989: 175), but rather a steady loss of systemic stability. All these changes can be explained if we apply Naturalness Theory, and the Theory of Complex systems, and that is the main purpose of my paper

Shakespeare\u2019s language revisited in the 21st century

Introduction to the Special issue of ENGLISH TEXT CONSTRUCTION -- "Revisiting Shakespeare's Language

Revisiting Shakespeare’s Language

il volume è uno Special Issue sulla lingua di Willliam Shakespeare ai 400 anni dalla mort