This essay describes the author's studies with bacteria in post‐war Hungary; the difficulties encountered, with funding, collaboration and publication; and how the Szeged Institute consolidated itseif as the one outstanding scientific Institute in Eastern Europe, with the author at the helm.

Faced with an Alexandrian (Arian) anthropology of Neoplatonic inspiration, Eustathius adopts a strong position in several statements that is similar to astoic Aristotelianism of the 4th century. Nevertheless, Eustathius's reflection is more genuinely theological, than it is reflective of any particular philosophical trend. For him, the human body is a dynamic concept which finds its full meaning in light of the history of salvation, wherein the incarnate and glorified Logos, the second Adam, brings to completion the perfection and incorruptibility of (...) the humble body formed from clay in the first Adam, the protoplast. (shrink)

When a plant root is reoriented within the gravity field, it responds by initiating a curvature which eventually results in vertical growth. Gravity sensing occurs primarily in the root tip. It may involve amyloplast sedimentation in the columella cells of the root cap, or the detection of forces exerted by the mass of the protoplast on opposite sides of its cell wall. Gravisensing activates a signal transduction cascade which results in the asymmetric redistribution of auxin and apoplastic Ca2+ across (...) the root tip, with accumulation at the bottom side. The resulting lateral asymmetry in Ca2+ and auxin concentration is probably transmitted to the elongation zone where differential cellular elongation occurs until the tip resumes vertical growth. The Cholodny‐Went theory proposes that gravity‐induced auxin redistribution across a gravistimulated plant organ is responsible for the gravitropic response. However, recent data indicate that the gravity‐induced reorientation is more complex, involving both auxin gradient‐dependent and auxin gradient‐independent events. (shrink)

The theory of evolution has provided an historical outlook for the science of biology and has demonstrated that all living organisms on earth are kin to one another - be this kinship distant or close - that they all have their origin in the simple protoplast, and that the living world is a continual, historical entity. Every branch of the science of biology is permeated with the idea of evolution, and each branch has made contributions to the theory of (...) evolution. The theory of evolution is like a strand of red thread running through the entire science of biology. (shrink)

Faced with an Alexandrian (Arian) anthropology of Neoplatonic inspiration, Eustathius adopts a strong position in several statements that is similar to astoic Aristotelianism of the 4th century. Nevertheless, Eustathius's reflection is more genuinely theological, than it is reflective of any particular philosophical trend. For him, the human body is a dynamic concept which finds its full meaning in light of the history of salvation, wherein the incarnate and glorified Logos, the second Adam, brings to completion the perfection and incorruptibility of (...) the humble body formed from clay in the first Adam, the protoplast. (shrink)

In possible scenarios on the origin of life, protocells represent the precursors of the first living cells. To study such hypothetical protocells, giant vesicles are being widely used as a simple model. Lipid vesicles can undergo complex morphological changes enabling self‐reproduction such as growth, fission, and extra‐ and intravesicular budding. These properties of vesicular systems may in some way reflect the mechanism of reproduction used by protocells. Moreover, remarkable similarities exist between the morphological changes observed in giant vesicles and bacterial (...) L‐form cells, which represent bacteria that have lost their rigid cell wall, but retain the ability to reproduce. L‐forms feature a dismantled cellular structure and are unable to carry out classical binary fission. We propose that the striking similarities in morphological transitions of L‐forms and giant lipid vesicles may provide insights into primitive reproductive mechanisms and contribute to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of mechanisms of cell reproduction.Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssays Synthesizing artificial cells from giant unilamellar vesicles: State‐of‐the art in the development of microfluidic technology Abstract. (shrink)