Correction to: Inheritance of the narrow leaf mutation in traditional Japanese evergreen azaleas     

Keisuke Tasaki  Akira Nakatsuka  Kyeong-Seong Cheon  Nobuo Kobayashi 《Euphytica》2018,214(4):76

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Advanced maternal age induces fetal growth restriction through decreased placental inflammatory cytokine expression and immune cell accumulation in mice     

Yoshiki HIRATA  Yusuke KATSUKURA  Yuka HENMI  Ren OZAWA  Sayaka SHIMAZAKI  Akira KUROSAWA  Yasushi TORII  Hironori TAKAHASHI  Hisataka IWATA  Takehito KUWAYAMA  Koumei SHIRASUNA 《The Journal of reproduction and development》2021,67(4):257

Advanced maternal age is a risk factor for female infertility, and placental dysfunction is considered one of the causes of pregnancy complications. We investigated the effects of advanced maternal aging on pregnancy outcomes and placental senescence. Female pregnant mice were separated into three groups: young (3 months old), middle (8–9 months old), and aged (11–13 months old). Although the body weights of young and middle dams gradually increased during pregnancy, the body weight of aged dams only increased slightly. The placental weight and resorption rate were significantly higher, and live fetal weights were reduced in a maternal age-dependent manner. Although mRNA expression of senescence regulatory factors (p16 and p21) increased in the spleen of aged dams, mRNA expression of p16 did not change and that of p21 was reduced in the placenta of aged dams. Using a cytokine array of proteins extracted from placental tissues, the expression of various types of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors was decreased in aged dams compared with young and middle dams. The aged maternal placenta showed reduced immune cell accumulation compared with the young placenta. Our present results suggest that models using pregnant mice older than 8 months are more suitable for verifying older human pregnancies. These findings suggest that general cellular senescence programs may not be included in the placenta and that placental functions, including SASP production and immune cell accumulation, gradually decrease in a maternal age-dependent manner, resulting in a higher rate of pregnancy complications.  相似文献   

α-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone directly increases the plasma calcitonin level and involves calcium metabolism in goldfish     

Ikari  Takahiro  Kobayashi  Yuki  Kitani  Yoichiro  Sekiguchi  Toshio  Endo  Masato  Kambegawa  Akira  Asahina  Kiyoshi  Hattori  Atsuhiko  Tabuchi  Yoshiaki  Amornsakun  Thumronk  Mizusawa  Kanta  Takahashi  Akiyoshi  Suzuki  Nobuo 《International Aquatic Research》2018,10(3):283-292

International Aquatic Research - The effects of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) on calcium metabolism were examined with goldfish. The scales on the left side of goldfish bodies...  相似文献   

Relationships among the chalkiness,kernel size and endosperm cell morphology of rice kernels at different spikelet positions within a panicle     

Akira Miyazaki  Akiko Ikeda  Junichi Yonemaru  Satoshi Morita  Yoshinori Yamamoto 《Plant Production Science》2018,21(3):225-232

The occurrence of chalky kernels in rice is causally related to kernel size and endosperm morphology. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of chalky kernels by analyzing kernel size, and the number and area of endosperm cells. Spikelets were sampled from upper and middle primary branches and lower secondary branches in a panicle, and divided into four categories: upper, middle, and lower perfect (PF) kernels and lower milky-white (MW) kernels. On the lower secondary branches, there was a higher percentage of chalky kernels, with smaller kernel lengths, widths and thicknesses, than the kernels on the upper and middle primary branches. MW kernels were smaller in size than PF kernels even on the same lower secondary branches. Regardless of grain appearance quality traits, the total areas of endosperm cross sections in lower kernels were significantly smaller than in upper kernels owing to the decreased cell area, and there was a significant negative correlation between the number of cells and average cell area. When the numbers and the areas of cells were analyzed using angular 30° intervals from the line connecting the center point and the dorsal vascular bundle, the MW kernels had significantly less cells than PF kernels near the ventral side at 120–180°. Thus, the decrease in the number of cells near the ventral side was a main causal factor in the decrease in MW kernel widths compared with PF kernel widths, and this suggested that cell division in MW kernels was inhibited at the early grain-filling stage.  相似文献   

Drought-induced root plasticity of two upland NERICA varieties under conditions with contrasting soil depth characteristics     

Daniel Makori Menge  Emi Kameoka  Mana Kano-Nakata  Akira Yamauchi  Shuichi Asanuma  Hidetoshi Asai 《Plant Production Science》2016,19(3):389-400

To identify differences in root plasticity patterns of two upland New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties, NERICA 1 and 4, in response to drought under conditions with contrasting soil profile characteristics, soil moisture gradients were imposed using a sloping bed system with depths ranging 30–65 cm and a line-source sprinkler system with a uniformly shallow soil layer of 20 cm depth. Varietal differences in shoot and root growths were identified only under moderate drought conditions, 11–18% v/v soil moisture content. Further, under moderate drought soil conditions where roots could penetrate into the deep soil layer, deep root development was greater in NERICA 4 than in NERICA 1, which contributed to maintaining dry matter production. However, under soil conditions with underground impediment to deep root development, higher shoot dry weight was noted for NERICA 1 than for NERICA 4 at 11–18% v/v soil moisture content, which was attributed to increased lateral root development in the shallow soil layer in NERICA 1. Enhanced lateral root development in the 0–20-cm soil layer was identified in NERICA 1 even under soil conditions without an impediment to deep root development; however, this did not contribute to maintaining dry matter production in upland rice. Thus, we show different root developmental traits associated with drought avoidance in the two NERICA varieties, and that desirable root traits for upland rice cultivation vary depending on the target soil environment, such as the distribution of soil moisture and root penetration resistance.  相似文献   

Biological control of potato scab and antibiosis by antagonistic Streptomyces sp. WoRs-501     

Yuki O. Kobayashi  Akira Kobayashi  Masayuki Maeda  Nobutaka Someya  Shigehito Takenaka 《Journal of General Plant Pathology》2015,81(6):439-448

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Biological control agent Agrobacterium vitis strain ARK-1 suppresses expression of the virD2 and virE2 genes in tumorigenic A. vitis     

Akira Kawaguchi 《European journal of plant pathology / European Foundation for Plant Pathology》2015,143(4):789-799

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Preparation of Photocrosslinked Fish Elastin Polypeptide/Microfibrillated Cellulose Composite Gels with Elastic Properties for Biomaterial Applications     

Shinya Yano  Megumi Mori  Naozumi Teramoto  Makoto Iisaka  Natsumi Suzuki  Masanari Noto  Yasuko Kaimoto  Masashi Kakimoto  Michio Yamada  Eri Shiratsuchi  Toshiaki Shimasaki  Mitsuhiro Shibata 《Marine drugs》2015,13(1):338-353

Photocrosslinked hydrogels reinforced by microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) were prepared from a methacrylate-functionalized fish elastin polypeptide and MFC dispersed in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). First, a water-soluble elastin peptide with a molecular weight of ca. 500 g/mol from the fish bulbus arteriosus was polymerized by N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC), a condensation reagent, and then modified with 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate (MOI) to yield a photocrosslinkable fish elastin polypeptide. The product was dissolved in DMSO and irradiated with UV light in the presence of a radical photoinitiator. We obtained hydrogels successfully by substitution of DMSO with water. The composite gel with MFC was prepared by UV irradiation of the photocrosslinkable elastin polypeptide mixed with dispersed MFC in DMSO, followed by substitution of DMSO with water. The tensile test of the composite gels revealed that the addition of MFC improved the tensile properties, and the shape of the stress–strain curve of the composite gel became more similar to the typical shape of an elastic material with an increase of MFC content. The rheology measurement showed that the elastic modulus of the composite gel increased with an increase of MFC content. The cell proliferation test on the composite gel showed no toxicity.  相似文献   

Identification of a 4-Deoxy-l-erythro-5-hexoseulose Uronic Acid Reductase,FlRed, in an Alginolytic Bacterium Flavobacterium sp. Strain UMI-01     

Akira Inoue  Ryuji Nishiyama  Shogo Mochizuki  Takao Ojima 《Marine drugs》2015,13(1):493-508

In alginate-assimilating bacteria, alginate is depolymerized to unsaturated monosaccharide by the actions of endolytic and exolytic alginate lyases (EC 4.2.2.3 and EC 4.2.2.11). The monosaccharide is non-enzymatically converted to 4-deoxy-l-erythro-5-hexoseulose uronic acid (DEH), then reduced to 2-keto-3-deoxy-d-gluconate (KDG) by a specific reductase, and metabolized through the Entner–Doudoroff pathway. Recently, the NADPH-dependent reductase A1-R that belongs to short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDR) superfamily was identified as the DEH-reductase in Sphingomonas sp. A1. We have subsequently noticed that an SDR-like enzyme gene, flred, occurred in the genome of an alginolytic bacterium Flavobacterium sp. strain UMI-01. In the present study, we report on the deduced amino-acid sequence of flred and DEH-reducing activity of recombinant FlRed. The deduced amino-acid sequence of flred comprised 254 residues and showed 34% amino-acid identities to that of A1-R from Sphingomonas sp. A1 and 80%–88% to those of SDR-like enzymes from several alginolytic bacteria. Common sequence motifs of SDR-superfamily enzymes, e.g., the catalytic tetrad Asn-Lys-Tyr-Ser and the cofactor-binding sequence Thr-Gly-x-x-x-Gly-x-Gly in Rossmann fold, were completely conserved in FlRed. On the other hand, an Arg residue that determined the NADPH-specificity of Sphingomonas A1-R was replaced by Glu in FlRed. Thus, we investigated cofactor-preference of FlRed using a recombinant enzyme. As a result, the recombinant FlRed (recFlRed) was found to show high specificity to NADH. recFlRed exhibited practically no activity toward variety of aldehyde, ketone, keto ester, keto acid and aldose substrates except for DEH. On the basis of these results, we conclude that FlRed is the NADH-dependent DEH-specific SDR of Flavobacterium sp. strain UMI-01.  相似文献   

Entry Inhibition of Influenza Viruses with High Mannose Binding Lectin ESA-2 from the Red Alga Eucheuma serra through the Recognition of Viral Hemagglutinin     

Yuichiro Sato  Kinjiro Morimoto  Takanori Kubo  Takemasa Sakaguchi  Akira Nishizono  Makoto Hirayama  Kanji Hori 《Marine drugs》2015,13(6):3454-3465

Lectin sensitivity of the recent pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1-2009) was screened for 12 lectins with various carbohydrate specificity by a neutral red dye uptake assay with MDCK cells. Among them, a high mannose (HM)-binding anti-HIV lectin, ESA-2 from the red alga Eucheuma serra, showed the highest inhibition against infection with an EC₅₀ of 12.4 nM. Moreover, ESA-2 exhibited a wide range of antiviral spectrum against various influenza strains with EC₅₀s of pico molar to low nanomolar levels. Besides ESA-2, HM-binding plant lectin ConA, fucose-binding lectins such as fungal AOL from Aspergillus oryzae and AAL from Aleuria aurantia were active against H1N1-2009, but the potency of inhibition was of less magnitude compared with ESA-2. Direct interaction between ESA-2 and a viral envelope glycoprotein, hemagglutinin (HA), was demonstrated by ELISA assay. This interaction was effectively suppressed by glycoproteins bearing HM-glycans, indicating that ESA-2 binds to the HA of influenza virus through HM-glycans. Upon treatment with ESA-2, no viral antigens were detected in the host cells, indicating that ESA-2 inhibited the initial steps of virus entry into the cells. ESA-2 would thus be useful as a novel microbicide to prevent penetration of viruses such as HIV and influenza viruses to the host cells.  相似文献