Plant Growth-regulating Activities of 4-Methoxydiphenylmethanes and Their Related Compounds

The discovery that anisomycin showed plant growth-regulating activity led to the investigation of compounds having p-methoxyphenyl group; the p-anisole derivatives. 4-Methoxydiphenylmethanes and related compounds inhibited the growth of both shoots and roots in test plants. Growth-inhibitory activity in the series of 4-methoxydiphenylmethanes was lowered by an increase in the electron donating or withdrawing ability of the substituent and was parabolically dependent on the Hammett’s σ. Selective actions of these compounds in their growth inhibition are discussed based on correlations between their activities against barnyard grass and other test plants.

Some 4-methoxydiphenylmethanes induced chlorosis, a disturbance in phototropism or geotropism, and root hypertrophy.     

Sleep-related factors associated with industrial accidents among factory workers and sleep hygiene education intervention

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - This study was conducted to investigate the association between industrial accidents and sleep-related parameters in factory workers, and to examine the effectiveness...     

Parallel evolution in radiation ofOhomopterus ground beetles inferred from mitochondrial ND5 gene sequences

Molecular phylogenetic analyses using mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene sequences representing all 15 species and the majority of subspecies or races of theOhomopterus ground beetles from all over the Japanese archipelago have uncovered a remarkable evolutionary history. Clustering of the species in the molecular phylogenetic tree is linked to their geographic distribution and does not correlate with morphological characters. Taxonomically the same species or the members belonging to the same species-group fall out in more than two different places on the ND5 tree. Evidence has been presented against a possible participation of ancestral polymorphism and random lineage sorting or of hybrid individuals for the observed distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. The most plausible explanation of our results is that parallel evolution took place in different lineages. Most notably,O. dehaanii, O. yaconinus, andO. japonicus in a lineage reveal almost identical morphology with those of the same species (or subspecies) but belonging to the phylogenetically remote lineages.The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper will appear in the DDBJ, EMBL, and GenBank nucleotide sequence databases with accession numbers D50711-DD-50733 and D87131-D87186.     

Studies on Production of Biotin by Microorganisms

The utilization of hydrocarbons by microorganisms was studied in many fields, but the production of biotin vitamers by hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria has never been reported.

We have screened many hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria which produce biotin vitamers in the culture broth. The effects of cultural conditions on biotin vitamers production by strain 5–2, tentatively assigned to the genus Pseudomonas, were studied.

More than 98% of biotin vitamers produced from hydrocarbons by strain 5–2 was chromatographically determined as desthiobiotin. As nitrogen source, natural nutrients were more effective than inorganic nitrogen sources. The production of biotin vitamers was increased under the condition of good aeration. Exogenous pimelic or azelaic acid enhanced biotin vitamers production by strain 5–2.

The production of biotin vitamers from n-alkanes, n-alkenes or glucose by an isolated bacterium, strain 5-2, tentatively assigned to the genus Pseudomonas, was investigated. Among these carbon sources, n-undecane was the most excellent for biotin vitamers production.

The biosynthetic pathway of biotin vitamers, especially desthiobiotin, from n-undecane was also studied. It was found by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatographical methods that pimelic and azelaic acids were the main acid components in n-undecane culture.

This result, together with previously reported enhancement of biotin vitamers production by these acids, suggests that pimelic and azelaic acids may be the intermediates of biotin vitamers biosynthesis from n-undecane.     

(Z)- and (E)-12-Tetradecenyl Acetates: Sex Pheromone Components of Oriental Corn Borer (Lepidoptera : Pyralidae)

The female sex pheromone of the oriental corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis Guenée, was presumed to be composed of (Z)-12-tetradecenyl acetate and its geometrical isomer using electroantennogram technique. From the extracts of female moths, the presence of these compounds in a ratio of ca. 3:2 was confirmed by gas-liquid chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry in selected ion monitoring mode. Since the male moths were not attracted to mixtures of the two synthetic compounds, the presence of minor component(s) was suggested.     

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships for Antifungal 3-(3,5-Dichloropheny)-2,4-imidazolidinediones

The antifungal activity of 441-acyl derivatives of 3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-2,4-imidazol- idinedione against Botrytis cinerea, and of 10 1-sulfonyl compounds against Aiternaria kikuchi- ana were assayed by the agar medium dilution method. The structure-activity relationships for the substituents of the acyl and sulfonyl moieties were analyzed with such physicochemical parameters as hydrophobic π, inductive electronic σ₁, and steric E′^c_s and B₁ values by multiple regression. The activity of the acyl derivatives against B. cinerea was related parabolically to the hydrophobicity of the substituents. The stronger the electron-donating power, the larger the overall steric bulkiness, and the smaller the minimum width in the direction perpendicular to the bond axis of the substituents, the greater was the activity. The activity of the sulfonyl derivatives against A. kikuciana was related only to the hydrophobicity of the substituents.     

Structure and Regulation of the Movement of Human Myosin VIIA

Human myosin VIIA (HM7A) is responsible for human Usher syndrome type 1B, which causes hearing and visual loss in humans. Here we studied the regulation of HM7A. The actin-activated ATPase activity of full-length HM7A (HM7AFull) was lower than that of tail-truncated HM7A (HM7AΔTail). Deletion of the C-terminal 40 amino acids and mutation of the basic residues in this region (R2176A or K2179A) abolished the inhibition. Electron microscopy revealed that HM7AFull is a monomer in which the tail domain bends back toward the head-neck domain to form a compact structure. This compact structure is extended at high ionic strength or in the presence of Ca²⁺. Although myosin VIIA has five isoleucine-glutamine (IQ) motifs, the neck length seems to be shorter than the expected length of five bound calmodulins. Supporting this observation, the IQ domain bound only three calmodulins in Ca²⁺, and the first IQ motif failed to bind calmodulin in EGTA. These results suggest that the unique IQ domain of HM7A is important for the tail-neck interaction and, therefore, regulation. Cellular studies revealed that dimer formation of HM7A is critical for its translocation to filopodial tips and that the tail domain (HM7ATail) markedly reduced the filopodial tip localization of the HM7AΔTail dimer, suggesting that the tail-inhibition mechanism is operating in vivo. The translocation of the HM7AFull dimer was significantly less than that of the HM7AΔTail dimer, and R2176A/R2179A mutation rescued the filopodial tip translocation. These results suggest that HM7A can transport its cargo molecules, such as USH1 proteins, upon release of the tail-dependent inhibition.     

Smurf1 directly targets hPEM-2, a GEF for Cdc42, via a novel combination of protein interaction modules in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway

Smurf1, a member of HECT-type E3 ubiquitin ligases, regulates cell polarity and protrusive activity by inducing ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of the small GTPase RhoA. We report here that hPEM-2, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the small GTPase Cdc42, is a novel target of Smurf1. Pulse-chase labeling and a ubiquitination experiment using MG132, a proteasomal inhibitor, indicate that Smurf1 induces proteasomal degradation of hPEM-2 in cells. GST pull-down assays with heterologously expressed firefly luciferase-fusion proteins that include partial sequences of hPEM-2 reveal that part of the PH domain (residues 318-343) of hPEM-2 is sufficient for binding to Smurf1. In contrast, the hPEM-2 binding domain in Smurf1 was mapped to the C2 domain. Although it has been reported that the binding activities of some C2 domains to target proteins are regulated by Ca2+, Smurf1 interacts with hPEM-2 in a Ca2+-independent manner. Our discovery that hPEM-2 is, in addition to RhoA, a target protein of Smurf1 suggests that Smurf1 plays a crucial role in the spatiotemporal regulation of Rho GTPase family members.