Pharmacy preparations: Back in the limelight? Pharmacists make up your mind!

In this contribution to the theme issue recognizing prof. Florence's achievements as editor -in-chief of the Int. J. Pharmaceutics, we analyze the future of pharmacy preparations (also known as extemporaneous preparations or compounded products). Pharmacy preparations, long considered as an endangered part of the pharmacy profession on its way to extinction, may be at the brink of a revival. Drivers of this revival are a set of changes related to new clinical concepts and supply shortages. Moreover, new production and IT paradigms are being developed that facilitate the preparation processes and provide the necessary quality management systems. Finally, more detailed legislation (EU) and guidelines (US) gets a better hold on preparation in pharmacies. The question is now: is the pharmacy profession willing to accept preparation of high quality medicines in the pharmacy as an integral part of its professional tasks? If so, institutions for pharmacy education should provide the required competences to the pharmacy student. If not, alternative scenarios with other disciplines taking the lead should be considered. Whatever the choice made, the 'Physicochemical principles of pharmacy: in manufacture, formulation and clinical use' by Florence and Attwood (2016); will be on the engineer/pharmacy student's desk.

Frp1 is a Fusarium oxysporum F-box protein required for pathogenicity on tomato.

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is the causal agent of tomato wilt disease. In order to identify genes involved in its pathogenicity, we performed insertional mutagenesis. Mutant N40 had lost its pathogenicity completely, when tested in bioassays with tomato seedlings. Molecular characterization of mutant N40 revealed that the plasmid insertion had occurred in a gene that codes for a 60.2 kDa protein containing an F-box motif. The gene was therefore designated as FRP1 (F-box protein required for pathogenicity). Targeted FRP1 disruptants had lost their pathogenicity completely, and became fully virulent again upon re-introduction of the FRP1 gene. This confirmed that the FRP1 gene is required for pathogenesis. In a yeast two-hybrid assay Frp1 interacts with Skp1, suggesting involvement of an SCF ubiquitin ligase complex in pathogenicity. FRP1 is constitutively expressed during infection and under different culture conditions. Although growth, spore formation and germination on artificial media were not impaired, confocal laser scanning microscopy of a GFP-marked mutant N40 and a GFP-marked targeted FRP1 disruptant revealed that they were unable to colonize the roots.

A Near-Isogenic Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici Strain with a Novel Combination of Avirulence Characteristics.

ABSTRACT A novel Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici strain (F1-27) was obtained from protoplast fusions between race 1 Fol004 (putative avirulence genotype A1a2a3) and race 2 Fol007 (a1A2A3). Bioassays using different tomato cultivars revealed new virulence characteristics for F1-27 that were mitotically stable. The corresponding avirulence genotype for F1-27 was assigned a1A2a3. Despite their distinction in avirulence genotype, molecular analysis revealed that parent Fol007 and F1-27 were near-isogenic strains. The electrophoretic karyotype of F1-27 was identical to that observed for Fol007. Foxy-amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker analysis showed that all Fol007-specific bands were present in F1-27. In addition, 11 new F1-27-specific Foxy insertions were identified. Segregation of both virulence and these new Foxy-AFLP markers was observed in a backcross between F1-27 and its parent Fol007. One marker was found to cosegregate with the a3 allele. The nature of the genetic change in this strain is discussed.