Migráció, helyi társadalom, identitás = Migration, local society, identity

A vizsgált településeken az elmúlt másfél évtizedben a migrációs folyamatok polarizálódásának lehetünk tanúi. A falvak egy része a népesség tartós csökkenésének következményeivel, az elöregedéssel, a fiatal, képzett generációk eltűnésével küszködik, míg a szuburb falvak éppen a népesség gyors növekedéséből fakadó problémákat igyekeznek kezelni. A német kisebbség, a kisebbségi politizálás esélyei felől nézve mindkét irányú migrációs folyamat kedvezőtlen: egyrészt kiürülnek a kisebbségi kultúra, érdekképviselet intézményesült formái, másrészt a helyi hatalomban mind nagyobb mértékű a svábok térvesztése. Ha a német kisebbség asszimilációról beszélünk, akkor egyúttal a kisebbségi identitás alakváltozásairól beszélünk. A vegyes házasságok - köttessenek bár kisebbségek, kisebbség és többség között -, valamint a németek magyar hazával szembeni mindenkori lojalitása, a többes etnikai, kulturális identitás lehetőségét teremtik meg s táplálják. A kisebbségi identitás elszakadása a családon belül áthagyományozott tradicionális lokális kultúrától és dialektustól, nem csak azt eredményezi, hogy a magyarországi németek számára a kultúra, a (német irodalmi) nyelv az iskolában elsajátítandó tartalommá vált (amely egyébként bárki más számára is hozzáférhető), hanem azt is, hogy a nemzetiségi identitás, kötődés (különösebb kockázat nélküli) választás kérdése lett. Ez viszont azt is jelenti, hogy közösségi identitásként való megmaradása, fenntartása csak tudatos, intézményépítő politikával biztosítható. | In the settlements under survey in the past fifteen years the polarisation of migration tendencies could be observed. A part of the villages struggles with a steady decrease of population , with ageing population and the lack of the young qualified inhabitants, whereas suburban villages try to cope with the problems deriving from the quick increase in population number. In general, for the chances of political representation of ethnic and national minorities both types of migration tendency have proved to be unfavourable. The institutionalised forms of the representation of minority culture and the enforcement of minority rights have become emptied; on the other hand Germans have lost considerable positions and functions in shaping local politics. In case the assimilation of the German minority is taken into consideration, then, at the same time, it should be understood as a transformation of the forms of minority identity. Mixed marriages and the persisting loyalty of Germans to Hungary as homeland establish and promote the possibility of multiple ethnic and cultural identity. The secession of minority identity from the traditional local culture and dialect formerly transmitted within the families results not only in that for Germans in Hungary German culture and standard German language has become a subject to be acquired at educational institutions, but also in that national identity and attachment has become a matter of choice. This means that the maintenance of communal minority identity can only be ensured with conscious institution-constructing policy

The potential use of the Penicillium chrysogenum antifungal protein PAF, the designed variant PAFopt and its γ-core peptide Pγopt in plant protection.

The prevention of enormous crop losses caused by pesticide-resistant fungi is a serious challenge in agriculture. Application of alternative fungicides, such as antifungal proteins and peptides, provides a promising basis to overcome this problem; however, their direct use in fields suffers limitations, such as high cost of production, low stability, narrow antifungal spectrum and toxicity on plant or mammalian cells. Recently, we demonstrated that a Penicillium chrysogenum-based expression system provides a feasible tool for economic production of P. chrysogenum antifungal protein (PAF) and a rational designed variant (PAFopt ), in which the evolutionary conserved γ-core motif was modified to increase antifungal activity. In the present study, we report for the first time that γ-core modulation influences the antifungal spectrum and efficacy of PAF against important plant pathogenic ascomycetes, and the synthetic γ-core peptide Pγopt , a derivative of PAFopt , is antifungal active against these pathogens in vitro. Finally, we proved the protective potential of PAF against Botrytis cinerea infection in tomato plant leaves. The lack of any toxic effects on mammalian cells and plant seedlings, as well as the high tolerance to harsh environmental conditions and proteolytic degradation further strengthen our concept for applicability of these proteins and peptide in agriculture

Hard nut to crack: Solving the disulfide linkage pattern of the Neosartorya (Aspergillus) fischeri antifungal protein 2

As a consequence of the fast resistance spreading, a limited number of drugs are available to treat fungal infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new antifungal treatment strategies. The features of a disulfide bond-stabilized antifungal protein, NFAP2 secreted by the mold Neosartorya (Aspergillus) fischeri render it to be a promising template for future protein-based antifungal drug design, which requires knowledge about the native disulfide linkage pattern as it is one of the prerequisites for biological activity. However, in the lack of tryptic and chymotryptic proteolytic sites in the ACNCPNNCK sequence, the determination of the disulfide linkage pattern of NFAP2 is not easy with traditional mass spectrometry-based methods. According to in silico predictions working with a preliminary nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) solution structure, two disulfide isomers of NFAP2 (abbacc and abbcac) were possible. Both were chemically synthesized; and comparative reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, electronic circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy analyses, and antifungal susceptibility and efficacy tests indicated that the abbcac is the native pattern. This knowledge allowed rational modification of NAFP2 to improve the antifungal efficacy and spectrum through the modulation of the evolutionarily conserved gamma-core region, which is responsible for the activity of several antimicrobial peptides. Disruption of the steric structure of NFAP2 upon gamma-core modification led to the conclusions that this motif may affect the formation of the biologically active three-dimensional structure, and that the gamma-core modulation is not an efficient tool to improve the antifungal efficacy or to change the antifungal spectrum of NFAP2