New field of insect science: Research on the use of insect properties

In recent years, research on “insect properties” has been attracting much attention for industrial applications of insect technology. This is a new field of research that attempts to analyze specific physiological properties of insects to develop technology for helping humankind. The term “insect properties” has been used to refer to “specific biological functions of insects” since around 1986, and it is now widely accepted in Japan. From 1996, the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science (NISES) promoted “Research for utilization of insect properties” as a “Center of Excellence (COE)” project funded by the Science and Technology Agency. At this point, a new research field called “Research for utilization of insect properties” was initiated, and this led to the recognition of this field by the academic community. In the 21st century, remarkable results, including the development of transgenic silkworms and the full decoding of the silkworm genome, have been achieved. It is expected that this advanced technology will be a powerful tool for progress of research on the use of insect properties. This review presents an overview of the current state of research on use of insect properties as a new technology.     

Epigenetic metaphors: an interdisciplinary translation of encoding and decoding

Looking at the new and often disputed science of epigenetics, we examined the challenges faced by scientists when they communicate scientific research to the public. We focused on the use of metaphors to illustrate notions of epigenetics and genetics. We studied the “encoding” by epigeneticists and “decoding” in focus groups with diverse backgrounds. We observed considerable overlap in the dominant metaphors favored by both researchers and the lay public. However, the groups differed markedly in their interpretations of which metaphors aided understanding or not. We conclude by discussing the role of metaphors and their interpretations in the context of a shift from pre-deterministic genomic metaphors to more active, dynamic and nuanced epigenetic metaphors. These reflections on the choice of metaphors and differences in encoding/decoding are important for science communication and scientific boundary-maintenance.     

Pendular activity of human upper limbs during slow and normal walking

When walking at normal and fast speeds, humans swing their upper limbs in alternation, each upper limb swinging in phase with the contralateral lower limb. However, at slow and very slow speeds, the upper limbs swing forward and back in unison, at twice the stride frequency of the lower limbs. The change from “single swinging” (in alternation) to “double swinging” (in unison) occurs consistently at a certain stride frequency for agiven individual, though different individuals may change at different stride frequencies. To explain this change in the way we use our upper limbs and individual variations in the occurrence of the change, the upper limb is modelled as a compound pendulum. Based on the kinematic properties of pendulums, we hypothesize that the stride frequency at which the change from “single swinging” to “double swinging” occurs will be at or slightly below the natural pendular frequency (NPF) of the upper limbs. Twenty-seven subjects were measured and then filmed while walking at various speeds. The mathematically derived NPF of each subject's upper limbs was compared to the stride frequency at which the subject changed from “single swinging” to “double swinging.” The results of the study conform very closely to the hypothesis, even when the NPF is artificially altered by adding weights to the subjects' hands. These results indicate that the pendulum model of the upper limb will be useful in further investigations of the function of the upper limbs in human walking. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Random copying,frequency-dependent copying and culture change

Previous evolutionary analyses of human culture have found that a simple model of random copying, analogous to neutral genetic drift, can generate the distinct power-law frequency distribution of cultural traits that is typical of various real-world cultural datasets, such as first names, patent citations and prehistoric pottery types. Here, we use agent-based simulations to explore the effects of frequency-dependent copying (e.g., conformity and anti-conformity) on this power-law distribution. We find that when traits are actively selected on the basis of their frequency, then the power-law distribution is severely disrupted. Conformity generates a “winner-takes-all” distribution in which popular traits dominate, while anti-conformity generates a “humped” distribution in which traits of intermediate frequency are favoured. However, a more passive frequency-dependent “trimming”, in which traits are selectively ignored on the basis of their frequency, generates reasonable approximations to the power-law distribution. This frequency-dependent trimming may therefore be difficult to distinguish from genuine random copying using population-level data alone. Implications for the study of both human and nonhuman culture are discussed.     

Family Dinner and Adolescent Overweight

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine both cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations between frequency of family dinner and overweight status in a large sample of 9‐ to 14‐year‐old children. Research Methods and Procedures: We studied a cohort of 7784 girls and 6647 boys, 9 to 14 years of age at baseline in 1996, participating in the Growing Up Today Study. From annual mailed surveys, we calculated BMI from self‐reported height and weight and assessed frequency of family dinner over the previous year. We defined “overweight” as age‐ and sex‐specific BMI >85th percentile. We performed multiple logistic regression analyses; the longitudinal analyses assessed the association of previous year family dinner consumption with 1‐year incidence of becoming overweight, using prospective data from 1996 through 1999. Results: At baseline in 1996, 16% of participants had family dinner “never or some days,” 40% on “most days,” and 44% “every day.” Across these categories, overweight prevalence for girls was 19.4%, 16.6%, and 16.7% and for boys was 24.6%, 23.3%, and 22.7%, respectively. In cross‐sectional analyses, adjusting for potential confounders, the odds of being overweight was 0.85 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.76, 0.96] among children who ate family dinner on “most days” or “every day” compared with those who ate family dinner “never or some days.” In longitudinal multivariate models, the odds ratios between previous year frequency of eating family dinner and 1‐year incidence of becoming overweight were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.16) and 1.04 (95% CI: 0.85, 1.27) for children who ate family dinner on “most days” and “every day,” respectively, compared with those who ate family dinner “never or some days.” Discussion: The frequency of eating family dinner was inversely associated with overweight prevalence at baseline but not with likelihood of becoming overweight in longitudinal analyses.     

Polyconfiguron-model for the A-protein of coliphage MS2

An algorithm is presented for decoding mRNA to give the tertiary structure of A-protein of MS2 coliphage. The scale model for the A-protein was assembled by stepwise “translation” of each codon into the corresponding amino acid configuron, so that a polyconfiguron composed of the 393 amino acid residues of the A-protein was generated. This polyconfiguron has the topography of native A-protein, as it has been predicted by a variety of functional and physicochemical procedures.     

A systems analog mime for color vision disorders in humans

A multiunit processing system mime for human color vision is presented. This processing system is composed of a sequence of black box units which encode the visual field and subsequently decode the visual field in the following manner. A “primary retinal encoder” performs an internal digitization of the visual field in both color and intensity. A “fundamental symbol translating unit” encodes the color and intensity patterns into a new pattern containing the fundamental symbols. This encoding is done via a Gödel transformation of the fundamental symbol patterns. The symbols needed to execute this transformation are found in an encoded table called the “symbol translation table.” Finally, the “Gödel signal generator” translates the fundamental symbol pattern into an electrical signal which is sent to a decoding region in the visual cortex and lateral geniculate body. This region is also tied to the symbol translation table, and is then used to decode the electrical signal back to the visual field. It is shown that various errors/failures in these black box units may lead to a wide variety of visual problems which mimic human disorders. These disorders include color blindness, color weakness, dyslexic problems, and a new disorder called visual field fluctuation.     

Nonlinear scattering of two counterpropagating laser pulses in an underdense plasma

A study is made of the interaction (“collision”) of two laser pulses with the same frequency but different durations, propagating toward one another in a low-density plasma. It is found that, in the interaction region, the excitation of small-scale plasma fields localized within a distance on the order of the length of the longer pulse is accompanied by the backscattering of each of the pulses. The frequency shift of the backscattered radiation and its duration depend strongly on the lengths of the interacting pulses. It is shown that the spectrum of the long backscattered radiation “tail” that arises behind the shorter pulse as a result of its interaction with the longer pulse contains satellites shifted from the laser frequency by the plasma frequency.     

Stereospecificity of aminoglycoside-ribosomal interactions

Aminoglycoside antibiotics bind to the A-site decoding region of bacterial rRNA causing mistranslation and/or premature message termination. Aminoglycoside binding to A-site RNA decoding region constructs is established here to be only weakly stereospecific. Mirror-image prokaryotic A-site decoding region constructs were prepared in the natural D-series and the enantiomeric L-series and tested for binding to a series of aminoglycosides. In general, aminoglycosides bind to the D-series decoding region constructs with 2-3-fold higher affinities than they bind to the enantiomeric L-series. Moreover, L-neamine, the enantiomer of naturally occurring D-neamine, was prepared and shown to bind approximately 2-fold more weakly than D-neamine to the natural series decoding region construct, a result consistent with weakly stereospecific binding. The binding of naturally occurring D-neamine and its synthetic L-enantiomer was further evaluated with respect to binding to prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes. Here, weak stereospecifcity was again observed with L-neamine being the more potent binder by a factor of approximately 2. However, on a functional level, unnatural L-neamine proved to inhibit in vitro translation with significantly lower potency (approximately 5-fold) than D-neamine. In addition, both L- and D-neamine are bacteriocidal toward Gram-(-) bacteria. L-Neamine inhibits the growth of E. coli and P. aeruginosa with 8- and 3-fold higher MIC than D-neamine. Interestingly, L-neamine also inhibits the growth of aminoglycoside-resistant E. coli, which expresses a kinase able to phosphorylate and detoxify aminoglycosides of the D-series. These observations suggest that mirror-image aminoglycosides may avoid certain forms of enzyme-mediated resistance.     

Differential pattern of misreading induced by streptomycin in vitro

A simplified, plasmid-directed coupled system was used to study the effect of streptomycin on the accuracy of natural messenger translation in vitro. The interaction of six different codons with their cognate tRNAs and 18 non-cognate tRNAs was analysed in the presence and absence of the antibiotic. Streptomycin appeared to modify, to a varying extent, the frequency of errors in codon-anticodon recognition. From this observation, some rules for mistranslation were inferred.     

An estimate of the global error frequency in translation

Summary Electrophoretic heterogeneity in a set of selected proteins is used to estimate the average error frequency during translation. Estimates based upon streptomycin-induced heterogeneity as well as mistranslation of an ochre codon yield an average error frequency of 4x10^-4 for normally growing cells.     

前列腺Ⅰ号抗炎镇痛作用以及抗前列腺炎的实验研究

采用热板法和扭体法观察前列腺Ⅰ号抗炎、镇痛以及抗大鼠实验性前列腺炎的作用。采用小鼠耳廓二甲苯制炎法观察抗炎作用,前列腺炎模型采用向大鼠前列腺组织内注入角叉菜胶的方法。结果显示前列腺Ⅰ号能减少小鼠扭体反应数,延长小鼠热板法引起的痛反应潜伏期,对小鼠耳廓肿胀有明显的抑制作用,前列腺炎模型试验中,前列腺液检查卵磷脂小体明显增加,白细胞数降低。因此前列腺Ⅰ号具有明显的抗炎、镇痛以及抗前列腺炎的作用。     

REGIONAL,LOCAL AND MICROGEOGRAPHIC ALLELE FREQUENCY VARIATION BETWEEN APPLE AND HAWTHORN POPULATIONS OF RHAGOLETIS POMONELLA IN WESTERN MICHIGAN

In the preceding study (Feder et al., 1990), we report that paired apple and hawthorn infesting populations of Rhagoletis pomonella are genetically differentiated for six allozymes. Here, we show that patterns of intra- and inter-host allele frequency variation seen for these six loci across the eastern United States are consistent on a more fine grained spatial scale in western Michigan. Malic enzyme, Aconitase-2, Mannose phosphate isomerase, and Hydroxyacid dehydrogenase all displayed significant linear relationships with latitude among five “regional” hawthorn populations sampled along a north-south transect between the cities of Cadillac and Portage, Michigan. Clines were not as evident among “regional” apple populations in western Michigan, although allele frequencies for Malic enzyme¹⁰⁰, Mannose phosphate isomerase¹⁰⁰ and Aconitase-2⁹⁵ varied with latitude among six “local” apple populations within a 60 km² area near the town of Grant. Significant allele frequency differences were observed between hawthorn and apple populations at all “regional” and “local” collecting sites analyzed in the study (a total of 20 different apple and hawthorn populations). As was the case in the geographic survey of the eastern United States, the magnitude and pattern of inter-host frequency differences at “regional” and “local” sites were a function of latitude. Host related genetic differentiation was consistent on a “microgeographic” scale as well. Allele frequencies for Malic enzyme¹⁰⁰ and Aconitase-2⁹⁵ were significantly higher over a four-year period (1984 to 1987) for flies sampled from individual hawthorn trees (N = 6) than apple trees (N = 7) within an old field (0.09-km² area) located near Grant. The fine level of genetic subdivision between hawthorn and apple populations of R. pomonella in western Michigan substantiates the existence of host associated polymorphism in the fly and supports a sympatric mode of divergence for the “apple race”.     

Streptomycin-induced, third-position misreading of the genetic code

Streptomycin was used to increase the frequency of errors in protein synthesis in vivo. In the system under study two misreading errors were observed. Both involved the erroneous insertion of lysine at asparagine codons, because of misreading of a pyrimidine as a purine at the 3' position of the codon. Streptomycin increased the errors at the two codons AAU and AAC to the same extent, thereby maintaining the error ratio found for basal level mistranslation.     

麋鹿行为谱及PAE编码系统

以麋鹿为实例,通过辨识行为的基本单元,区别了“姿势”、“动作”和“环境”,分解了动物行为的层次,然后根据行为的适应和社群机能归类,建立了以“姿势—动作—环境”为轴心的,以生态功能为分类依据的动物行为分类编码系统（PAE编码分类系统）。PAE编码分类系统以集合论为基础,明确了动物行为的三要素：姿势、动作和生态环境之间的关系,避免了笼统地将动物的姿势、动作和行为混为一谈的做法,区分了动物行为的组成要素和结构层次。行为要素编码方法为动物行为学研究提供了一个新的生长点。在继承前人工作的基础上,记录了有关麋鹿的姿势、动作和行为达200多种,还区别了各种行为在雄性、雌性和幼体之间的相对发生频次以及发生季节。     

Mistranslation Reduces Mutation Load in Evolving Proteins through Negative Epistasis with DNA Mutations

Translational errors during protein synthesis cause phenotypic mutations that are several orders of magnitude more frequent than DNA mutations. Such phenotypic mutations may affect adaptive evolution through their interactions with DNA mutations. To study how mistranslation may affect the adaptive evolution of evolving proteins, we evolved populations of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in either high-mistranslation or low-mistranslation Escherichia coli hosts. In both hosts, we first evolved GFP under purifying selection for the ancestral phenotype green fluorescence, and then under directional selection toward the new phenotype yellow fluorescence. High-mistranslation populations evolved modestly higher yellow fluorescence during each generation of evolution than low-mistranslation populations. We demonstrate by high-throughput sequencing that elevated mistranslation reduced the accumulation of deleterious DNA mutations under both purifying and directional selection. It did so by amplifying the fitness effects of deleterious DNA mutations through negative epistasis with phenotypic mutations. In contrast, mistranslation did not affect the incidence of beneficial mutations. Our findings show that phenotypic mutations interact epistatically with DNA mutations. By reducing a population’s mutation load, mistranslation can affect an important determinant of evolvability.     

Mistranslation and its control by tRNA synthetases

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases are ancient proteins that interpret the genetic material in all life forms. They are thought to have appeared during the transition from the RNA world to the theatre of proteins. During translation, they establish the rules of the genetic code, whereby each amino acid is attached to a tRNA that is cognate to the amino acid. Mistranslation occurs when an amino acid is attached to the wrong tRNA and subsequently is misplaced in a nascent protein. Mistranslation can be toxic to bacteria and mammalian cells, and can lead to heritable mutations. The great challenge for nature appears to be serine-for-alanine mistranslation, where even small amounts of this mistranslation cause severe neuropathologies in the mouse. To minimize serine-for-alanine mistranslation, powerful selective pressures developed to prevent mistranslation through a special editing activity imbedded within alanyl-tRNA synthetases (AlaRSs). However, serine-for-alanine mistranslation is so challenging that a separate, genome-encoded fragment of the editing domain of AlaRS is distributed throughout the Tree of Life to redundantly prevent serine-to-alanine mistranslation. Detailed X-ray structural and functional analysis shed light on why serine-for-alanine mistranslation is a universal problem, and on the selective pressures that engendered the appearance of AlaXps at the base of the Tree of Life.     

A text mining analysis of the climate change literature in industrial ecology

The literature on climate change research has evolved tremendously since the 1990s. The goal of this study is to use text mining to review the climate change literature and study the evolution of the main trends over time. Specific keywords from articles published in the special issue “ Industrial Ecology for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience” in the Journal of Industrial Ecology are first selected. Details of over 35,000 publications containing these keywords are downloaded from the Web of Science from 1990 to 2018. The number of publications and co‐occurrence of keywords are analyzed. Moreover, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)—a probabilistic approach that can retrieve topics from large and unstructured text documents—is applied on the abstracts to uncover the main topics (consisting of new terms) that naturally emerge from them. The evolution in time of the importance of some emerging topics is then analyzed on the basis of their relative frequency. Overall, a rapid growth in climate change publications is observed. Terms such as “climate change adaptation” appear on the rise, whereas other terms are declining such as “pollution.” Moreover, several terms tend to co‐occur frequently, such as “climate change adaptation” and “resilience.” The database collected and the LiTCoF (Literature Topic Co‐occurrence and Frequency) Python‐based tool developed for this study are also made openly accessible. This article met the requirements for a gold – gold JIE data openness badge described http://jie.click/badges .