Systematic studies on the Pompilidae occurring in Japan: Genus Agenioideus Ashmead (Hymenoptera), supplement

Two species of the pompilid genus Agenioideus occurring in Japan are described: A . ( Agenioideus ) kokyo and A . ( A .) cinctellus . The former is new to science and the latter is recorded from Japan and Taiwan for the first time. A brief summary of the biology of A. cinctellus , distinguishing characters between A. ( A. ) ishikawai Shimizu, 1989 and its relatives, and a key to all Japanese species of this genus are presented. Psammochares cinctellus f. rufa Haupt, 1938 and A . ( A. ) pacificus Lelej, 1994 are newly synonymized with A. cinctellus . A new combination is proposed: A . ( A .) maculipes (Smith, 1870) (= Pompilus maculipes Smith), which is found in Southeast Asia to South Asia. Agenioideus ishikawai is newly recorded from Korea and China.     

Human apolipoprotein B transgenic SHR/NDmcr-cp rats show exacerbated kidney dysfunction

Nephropathy frequently co-occurs with metabolic syndrome in humans. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of metabolic diseases including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, and some previous studies revealed that dyslipidemia contributes to the progression of kidney dysfunction. To establish a new nephropathy model with metabolic syndrome, we produced human apolipoprotein B (apoB) transgenic (Tg.) SHR/NDmcr-cp (SHR-cp/cp) rats, in which dyslipidemia is exacerbated more than in an established metabolic syndrome model, SHR-cp/cp rats. Human apoB Tg. SHR-cp/cp rats showed obesity, hyperinsulinemia, hypertension, and severe hyperlipidemia. They also exhibited exacerbated early-onset proteinuria, accompanied by increased kidney injury and increased oxidative and inflammatory markers. Histological analyses revealed the characteristic features of human apoB Tg. SHR-cp/cp rats including prominent glomerulosclerosis with lipid accumulation. Our newly established human apoB Tg. SHR-cp/cp rat could be a useful model for the nephropathy in metabolic syndrome and for understanding the interaction between dyslipidemia and renal dysfunction in metabolic syndrome.     

TRANSCRIPTIONAL CONTROL OF PROTEIN SYNTHISIS IN THE DEVELOPING OVARIES OF BOMBYX MORI*

Amino acid incorporation was studied with cell-free extracts and ribosomes prepared from pupal ovaries at different ages of Bombyx mori. Poly(U)-directed ³H-phenylalanine incorporation attained a maximum rate at a certain stage of development, but soon dropped to a low level and was replaced by ³H-leucine incorporation, which was due to endogenous mRNA. The latter incorporation occurred at the stage when actual protein synthesis takes place in the ovaries. “Run-off” of the ribosomes which had a high endogenous activity resulted in an enhancement of the poly(U)-dependent activity. The results indicate that the protein synthesis in the ovary is mainly controlled at the level of mRNA. This was further supported by the fact that the relative amount of an ovarian poly(A)-containing “mRNA” fraction increased in parallel with the endogenous activity.     

The allopolyploid Arabidopsis kamchatica originated from multiple individuals of Arabidopsis lyrata and Arabidopsis halleri

Polyploidization, or genome duplication, has played a critical role in the diversification of animals, fungi and plants. Little is known about the population structure and multiple origins of polyploid species because of the difficulty in identifying multiple homeologous nuclear genes. The allotetraploid species Arabidopsis kamchatica is closely related to the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and is distributed in a broader climatic niche than its parental species. Here, we performed direct sequencing of homeologous pairs of the low-copy nuclear genes WER and CHS by designing homeolog-specific primers, and obtained also chloroplast and ribosomal internal transcribed spacer sequences. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 50 individuals covering the distribution range including North America are allopolyploids derived from Arabidopsis lyrata and Arabidopsis halleri . Three major clusters within A. kamchatica were detected using Bayesian clustering. One cluster has widespread distribution. The other two are restricted to the southern part of the distribution range including Japan, where the parent A. lyrata is not currently distributed. This suggests that the mountains in Central Honshu and surrounding areas in Japan served as refugia during glacial–interglacial cycles and retained this diversity. We also found that multiple haplotypes of nuclear and chloroplast sequences of A. kamchatica are identical to those of their parental species. This indicates that multiple diploid individuals contributed to the origin of A. kamchatica . The haplotypes of low-copy nuclear genes in Japan suggest independent polyploidization events rather than introgression. Our findings suggest that self-compatibility and gene silencing occurred independently in different origins.     

Cell Elongation and Division of Chloroplasts

Before undertaking the permanent culture of chloroplasts, theirpower to divide in vitro was investigated. The results suggestthat factors or conditions which govern cell elongation alsocontrol chloroplast division.     

Ganglioside Expression in Melanomas From Japanese Individuals: Unusual Pattern in Two Patients With Metastatic Lesions of Acral Lentiginous Melanomas

Melanoma among Japanese is rare, and differs in its clinical and histological characteristics from that found in Caucasians. In this study, the ganglioside expression of melanoma specimens obtained from Japanese was determined and compared with previously published data on Caucasians. The ganglioside composition of 25 biopsy melanoma specimens, including 13 primary and 12 metastatic lesions, was studied using thin layer chromatography. Four gangliosides (G_M3, G_D3, G_M2, G_D2) were most commonly expressed in melanomas in Japanese. The expression of gangliosides was quite variable in both primary and metastatic melanomas as seen in previous reports. No significant differences were observed between gangliosides from primary and metastatic sites. A new type of ganglioside expression, in which G_M3 was nearly the only ganglioside (>95%), was found in metastatic tumors from two Japanese patients with acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM), which is the most common clinical and histopathological type of melanoma among Japanese but is very unusual among Caucasians. The patterns of expression were similar to those in Caucasians except for the detection of a “new” pattern.