Por un espacio público no estatal. Contra la hegemonía neoliberal y el declive de la democracia

Este artículo plantea la necesidad de crear un espacio público no estatal para defender el "bien común" en las democracias occidentales. La importante crisis de los partidos políticos y de las instituciones representativas exige la creación de nuevas instituciones desde la sociedad civil que tengan como principal fin la defensa del "bien común". La participación de los ciudadanos que formen parte de estas instituciones deberá estar regida por los principios del voluntarismo, la transparencia y el compromiso cívico. En la primera sección se realiza una breve descripción de las políticas que están poniendo hoy en cuestión el Estado de derecho y la democracia en los países occidentales: el neoliberalismo y el autoritarismo (1). En la segunda parte, se abordan los límites que presentan las teorías neoconstitucionalistas y del garantismo frente a la actual deriva autoritaria y neoliberal de las instituciones estatales (2). El texto concluye reivindicando la elaboración de una nueva antropología de la democracia que abra la puerta a la construcción de este nuevo espacio público independiente de las instituciones del actual modelo de Estado de derecho (3).

Integrated regulation of the type III secretion system and other virulence determinants in Ralstonia solanacearum

In many plant and animal bacterial pathogens, the Type III secretion system (TTSS) that directly translocates effector proteins into the eukaryotic host cells is essential for the development of disease. In all species studied, the transcription of the TTSS and most of its effector substrates is tightly regulated by a succession of consecutively activated regulators. However, the whole genetic programme driven by these regulatory cascades is still unknown, especially in bacterial plant pathogens. Here, we have characterised the programme triggered by HrpG, a host-responsive regulator of the TTSS activation cascade in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. We show through genome-wide expression analysis that, in addition to the TTSS, HrpG controls the expression of a previously undescribed TTSS-independent pathway that includes a number of other virulence determinants and genes likely involved in adaptation to life in the host. Functional studies revealed that this second pathway co-ordinates the bacterial production of plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, exopolysaccharide, and the phytohormones ethylene and auxin. We provide experimental evidence that these activities contribute to pathogenicity. We also show that the ethylene produced by R. solanacearum is able to modulate the expression of host genes and can therefore interfere with the signalling of plant defence responses. These results provide a new, integrated view of plant bacterial pathogenicity, where a common regulator activates synchronously upon infection the TTSS, other virulence determinants and a number of adaptive functions, which act co-operatively to cause disease.

Predation on common tern eggs by the yellow-legged gull at the Ebro Delta

The Ebro Delta holds a large seabird community, including a common tern (Sterna hirundo) local population of 3,085 pairs in 2000 which breeds scattered in several colonies. At El Canalot colony, 1,178 (1999) and 1,156 pairs (2000) of this species bred distributed in 32 and 38 sub-colonies respectively. These sub-colonies varied in size from 1 to 223 pairs and were placed near the main breeding colonies of yellow-legged gulls (Larus cachinnans) and Audouin´s gulls (L. audouinii), which are potential egg-predators of terns. We studied egg predation during 1999 (6 sub-colonies) and 2000 (27 sub-colonies). Overall, we found that 10.6% of the nests in 1999 and 16.7% in 2000 suffered partial or total egg predation, being total in 81.1% of the predatory events. Predation was significantly higher in small sub-colonies (< 11 pairs): 49.4% in 1999 and 75.5% in 2000. Only attacks from yellow-legged gulls were observed, and defence behaviour of terns was significantly more frequent against this gull species (40.5 hours of observation), suggesting that in most cases the egg predation recorded was due to this species. Probability of egg predation was significantly and negatively correlated with distance to the nearest yellow-legged gull sub-colony, although this relationship was no more significant after adjustment for sub-colony size. On the other hand, distance to the nearest Audouin´s gull sub-colony did not show any effect. Our results suggest that the impact of large gulls (at least yellow-legged gulls) upon smaller seabirds breeding in the area might be important, especially when they are breeding in small sub-colonies. Further studies are needed to analyse the general impact of large gulls upon the breeding populations of other colonial bird species in the area.

Campesinos, Estado y mercado. La conflictividad forestal en el Noroeste de España, León (1870­ ¿1936)

Peer-reviewed