News and Society

Bacteria are often maligned as the causes of human and animal disease. However that is true only for some bacteria. In fact bacteria are the basis for life. Without them no life at all would have been possible on our planet. Bacteria is a plural word. The singular for this word is "bacterium. They have one chromosome of double-stranded DNA in a ring and most are friendly. Only a few cause disease. But then what life form is there including plants and animals, a few of whom do not cause problems. Bacteria are life because they can multiply by duplication. However, they do not multiply by mating as higher life forms do. In the process, occasionally there are genetic mutations that are preserved creating new genes. Most chance mutations are eliminated by matching between male and female genes during multiplications in higher life forms.

Thus, bacteria are at the foundation of creation of life forms. The genes of more advanced creatures including humans are identical to bacterial genes and that is the source from which they have been derived. Bacteria can transfer their genes to other life forms through a variety of processes. Bacterial genes are enclosed in a cell wall but within that wall they do not have a protective nucleus to protect the genes further thus making the modification of bacterial genes much easier than the genes in the cells of higher life forms. A type of bacteria called cynobacteria, the basic cell type of plants is responsible for producing oxygen. Without them oxygen breathing life forms would not have been possible.

Although bacteria do not carry out sexual multiplication they do appear to enjoy sex of a different kind. They have appendages called pilli. This hollow, hair like structures made of protein allow bacteria to attach to other cells. A specialized pilus, the sex pilus, allows the transfer of plasmid DNA from one bacterial cell to another. That is how they transfer antibiotic immunity from one bacteria to another. Bacteria can acquire new genes by taking up DNA molecules (e.g., a plasmid) from their surroundings or from other bacteria.

Bacteria respond to variations in their environment by altering their gene expression pattern; thus, they express different enzymes depending on the carbon sources and other nutrients available to them as well as toxins in the environment that can damage them. Bacterial gene regulation is extremely efficient and the bacterial genome is highly organized. Bacteria appear to be adapt perfectly to a variety of environments, and they are ready to respond to whatever environmental changes they encounter by employing elegant and complex regulatory mechanisms. A modern theory of creation called Panspermia postulates that life has arrived on earth by a transfer of bacteria from outer space.

Check out more on how bacteria contribute in the creation of higher life forms in the book Naini Mata by Dr. Ashok Malhotra at http://www.amazon.com/Naini-Mata-Nainital-Ashok-Malhotra/dp/1461159229/

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The sales will take several years to complete and are expected to garner about $100 million, increasing the foundation’s endowment, from which it makes grants to nonprofit arts organizations.

Though the foundation no longer holds any big-ticket works by Warhol, it still possesses a bevy of paintings, prints, photographs and drawings, some of which the public has never seen. They include “Three Targets,” a large horizontal black-and-white canvas of paint and silk-screen depicting three targets with gunshots, expected to sell for $1 million to $1.5 million; a Jacqueline Kennedy collage from the 1960s, estimated at $200,000 to $300,000; and a “Self-Portrait in Fright Wig” from a ’70s Polaroid print, estimated at $15,000 to $20,000.

Under its unusual exclusive deal with Christie’s, to be announced Thursday, the foundation will sell some of the works through live auctions, the first on Nov. 12, supplemented by online auctions that will begin in February and private sales.

Alberto Mugrabi, whose family holds one of the world’s largest collections of Warhols, said that despite the lack of blockbuster pieces, he was concerned about the impact a sale of such scope would have.

“I don’t think it’s going to hurt prices because none of the stuff is of great significance,” he said. “But still, it’s irresponsible. It’s like sending masses of cattle to be slaughtered.”

With the online auctions Christie’s expects to expand its Internet presence as well as the geographical and demographic scope of its audience.

Artist foundations have become an increasingly popular way for estates to control the artists’ affairs after death, and they typically sell a few works a year to finance their operations, as the Warhol Foundation has done since its inception in 1987.

In selling its remaining inventory, it has decided to focus on making grants, typically about $13 million a year. With proceeds from the sales the foundation expects to increase its $225 million endowment and hopes to help fill the void left by declining private and government arts support. Christie’s will earn a varying percentage on each sale.

The work will be sold at a variety of price points, with some in the million-dollar range, many under $100,000 and a few under $10,000. As a result Christie’s expects to attract a wide spectrum of buyers, including those who cannot easily get to New York for specific live sales.

“Remove the barrier of location and time, and you open it up to the broadest buying public possible,” said Amy Cappellazzo, the chairwoman of postwar and contemporary development at Christie’s. “I think if Andy were alive, he would have very much liked that.”

With a mission to advance the visual arts the Warhol Foundation has awarded nearly $250 million in grants to hundreds of museums and other nonprofit arts groups nationwide over the last 25 years. Precisely how many works remain in the foundation’s collection is unclear because the foundation does not make public its inventory. Joel Wachs, the president of the foundation, said the number was “in the thousands.”

This year the foundation got out of the authentication business, partly because legal disputes — over its verification process for works whose owners said they were by Warhol — were a financial drain.

“That’s not the way we think our time and assets should be spent,” said Michael Straus, the foundation’s chairman. “We’d rather see our money go to artists than lawyers.”

Foundation executives said they settled on Christie’s because of its long history with the foundation; its Warhol expertise; and its creative proposals. “They have a deep knowledge of Warhol and his market,” Mr. Straus said. “There’s an innovative spirit that seemed upbeat, contemporary, global — in keeping with Warhol’s spirit.”

For Christie’s the arrangement represents an attractive way to showcase its efforts to sell art over the Internet, a process it has used in sales like the one of Elizabeth Taylor’s belongings and that it hopes to expand.

“We are looking forward to being able to make this over time available for other types of works from other sources,” said Steven Murphy, chief executive of Christie’s. “Online is now its own medium for interaction with art purchasing.”

Some people may minimize the sale as a way for the foundation to clear out Warhol’s lesser works; the cache to be sold at the live auction in November is expected to bring about $20 million. By contrast Warhol’s “Double Elvis (Ferus Type)” alone sold in May at Sotheby’s for $33 million, or $37 million with commission.

But Christie’s said that some gems remain in the collection, and that many of the smaller items have historic value, like Warhol’s collection of black-and-white Polaroids. “There is so much work that has really not been seen by most people,” Mr. Wachs said. “They don’t have to be the most expensive to be the best.”

While acknowledging that “there are no soup cans or Marilyn” in the collection, Ms. Cappellazzo said each photograph, painting, print and drawing offers a window into Warhol’s creative process. “It is like a hologram,” she said. “When you break it apart, even the small parts are still pure Andy and have total Warholismo.”

Though some might worry that such a concentration of sales will flood the market, depressing the value of Warhols, Christie’s officials said they did not think that would occur. There is an unusually great appetite for Warhol worldwide, they said, and they will be measuring the pace of sales and the availability of works on the market as they decide how much of the inventory to bring forward. Ms. Cappellazo said she believes Christie’s now sells more Warhols per year than any other artist.

“Andy is singularly one of the most important artists of the 20th century and arguably the most important artist in our market,” Ms. Cappellazzo said, adding of the many works, “We feel confident that the market will absorb them.”

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