The Gene Encoding Flavanone 3-Hydroxylase is Expressed Normally in the Pale Yellow Flowers of the Japanese Morning Glory Carrying the speckled Mutation Which Produce Neither Flavonol nor Anthocyanin but Accumulate Chalcone, Aurone and Flavanone

The Japanese morning glory carrying the recessive mutable speckledallele with the dominant speckled-activator bears colorlessflowers with fine and round colored spots distributed over thecorolla whereas the plant without the speckled-activator producespale yellow flowers. Previous chemical analysis has indicatedthat a mutation in the gene for flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H)is a likely candidate for the speckled allele. However, theF3HmRNA without sequence alteration accumulates normally inthe pale yellow flowers, indicating that the speckled alleleis neither the F3H gene nor a regulatory gene acting on theF3H gene expression. (Received April 4, 1997; Accepted June 2, 1997)     

Transition in the Character of Immunological Memory in Mice after Immunization

The immunological memory in antibody response of mice to bovine serum albumin was investigated at the level of IgM and IgG antibody-forming cells. The antigen at a dose much lower than required for eliciting a detectable level of the primary antibody response could latently activate the immune machinery to an extent adequate for specific recall, whereas higher doses of antigen were effective in evoking strong anamnestic response. The potentiality to develop the anamnestic response was found even in the latent phase of the primary antibody response and was maintained for more than 2 months. The immunological memory acquired in an early phase after the primary immunization mainly involved IgM antibody response and late memory concerned IgG response.     

Consistent appearance of microtubules in cells productively infected with various strains of type 2 herpes simplex virus

Electron microscopic examination showed microtubular structures in FL cells infected with all 18 strains of HSV-2 examined, but not in cells infected with 9 strains of HSV-1. These structures were also detected in other cultured cells (Vero and Earle's L cells) infected with HSV-2, and also in vivo in cells, such as neuronal cells of the spinal ganglia and liver cells, of one-day-old suckling mice (DDD strain) infected with this type of virus. Thus the microtubules were consistently detected in cells productively infected with HSV-2. No other herpesviruses so far examined produced microtubular structures such as those observed in HSV-2 infected cells.     

Prosody Discrimination by Songbirds (Padda oryzivora)

In human verbal communication, not only lexical information, but also paralinguistic information plays an important role in transmitting the speakers’ mental state. Paralinguistic information is conveyed mainly through acoustic features like pitch, rhythm, tempo and so on. These acoustic features are generally known as prosody. It is known that some species of birds can discriminate certain aspects of human speech. However, there have not been any studies on the discrimination of prosody in human language which convey different paralinguistic meanings by birds. In the present study, we have shown that the Java sparrow (Padda oryzivora) can discriminate different prosodic patterns of Japanese sentences. These birds could generalize prosodic discrimination to novel sentences, but could not generalize sentence discrimination to those with novel prosody. Moreover, unlike Japanese speakers, Java sparrows used the first part of the utterance as the discrimination cue.     

Heritable pulmonary lobation anomaly in the rat

A new mutant gene which caused fusion of lung lobes was found in the Wistar rat. The genetic analysis revealed an autosomal recessive inheritance and the mutant gene was named fused pulmonary lobes (gene symbol: fpl). The right lung of the fpl/fpl homozygotes had fused lobes of varying degrees. The fpl/fpl homozygotes were semilethal at the neonatal stage and had externally visible associated malformations such as malocclusion of incisors, eyelid anomalies, and digit abnormalities in the fore- and hindlimbs with different incidences. These traits were considered to be caused by the pleiotropic effects of the fpl gene.     

Lycodes nishimurai, a new deep-sea eelpout (Teleostei: Zoarcidae) from the Sea of Japan

A new zoarcid fish, Lycodes nishimuari, is described on the basis of four specimens from the Yamato Bank, the Sea of Japan, at depths of 642–669 m. Although this species resembles Lycodes diapterus, L. hubbsi, L. pectoralis, L. macrochir, and L. nakamurae in having a deep notch in the pectoral fin and a single lateral line on the body, it is distinguished from them by the following combination of characters: no scales on pectoral fin base; scales on dorsum before dorsal fin origin; suborbital, preopercular, and last postorbital pores with risen rim; whitish lips; no whitish transverse bars on body; pectoral fin membrane and anterior part of dorsal fin membrane without black spots; basal color of vertical fins black. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic format at .     

Spawning site of the fluvial eight-barbel loach, Lefua sp., in the natural environment

The spawning site of the fluvial eight-barbel loach, Lefua sp. (sensu Hosoya, 1993; Japanese name: nagare-hotoke-dojo), an endangered species, was investigated by searching for fertilized eggs in June and July 1995–1997 in an upper reach of the Kako River, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. We obtained one egg each by a random sampling with agitating the river bottom (80 trials) and by collecting drift samples (89 trials). This finding indicates that the eggs were not scattered on the bottom or into the water column after being spawned. Two individual males were observed to patrol around particular interstices occurring under the buried cobbles and under the boulders that formed the riverbank. Males pecked other individuals that approached around the interstices. We obtained 9 and 15 eggs, respectively, from two such interstices in only two collection trials. The interstices were suggested to function as the spawning sites of this endangered fish in nature.     

Diabetic modifier QTLs identified in F2 intercrosses between Akita and A/J mice

To identify novel genetic modifiers of type 2 diabetes (T2D), we performed quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis on F₂ progeny of hypoinsulinemic diabetic Akita mice, heterozygous for the Ins2 gene Cys96Tyr mutation, and nondiabetic A/J mice. We generated 625 heterozygous (F₂-Hetero) and 338 wild-type (F₂-Wild) mice with regard to the Ins2 mutation in F₂ intercross progeny. We measured quantitative traits, including plasma glucose and insulin concentrations during the intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT), and body weight (BW). We observed three significant QTLs in hypoinsulinemic hyperglycemic male F₂-Hetero mice, designated Dbm1, Dbm3, and Dbm4 on Chromosomes 6, 14, and 15, respectively. They showed linkage to plasma glucose concentrations, with significant maximum logarithm of odds (LOD) scores of 4.12, 4.17, and 6.17, respectively, all exceeding threshold values by permutation tests. In normoinsulinemic normoglycemic male F₂-Wild mice, Dbm1 on Chromosome 6 showed linkage to both plasma insulin concentrations and BW, and Dbm2 on Chromosome 11 showed linkage to plasma glucose concentrations only, with LOD scores of 4.52 and 6.32, and 5.78, respectively. Based on these results, we concluded that Dbm1, Dbm2, Dbm3, and Dbm4 represent four major modifier QTLs specifically affecting T2D-related traits and that these diabetic modifier QTLs are conditional on the heterozygous Ins2 gene mutation and sex to exert their modifier functions. Identification of the genes responsible for these QTLs would provide new drug development targets for human T2D. Electronic Supplementary Material Electronic Supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users.