Analysis of gene-trap Ds rice populations in Korea

Insertional mutagen-mediated gene tagging populations have been essential resources for analyzing the function of plant genes. In rice, maize transposable elements have been successfully utilized to produce transposant populations. However, many generations and substantial field space are required to obtain a sufficiently sized transposant population. In rice, the japonica and indica subspecies are phenotypically and genetically divergent. Here, callus cultures with seeds carrying Ac and Ds were used to produce 89,700 lines of Dongjin, a japonica cultivar, and 6,200 lines of MGRI079, whose genome is composed of a mixture of the genetic backgrounds of japonica and indica. Of the more than 3,000 lines examined, 67% had Ds elements. Among the Ds-carrying lines, 81% of Dongjin and 63% of MGRI079 contained transposed Ds, with an average of around 2.0 copies. By examining more than 15,000 lines, it was found that 12% expressed the reporter gene GUS during the early-seedling stage. GUS was expressed in root hairs and crown root initials at estimated frequencies of 0.78% and 0.34%, respectively. The 5,271 analyzed Ds loci were found to be randomly distributed over all of the rice chromosomes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Sung Han Park, Nam Soo Jun, Chul Min Kim are contributed equally to this paper     

Interrelation between long-chain fatty acid oxidation rate and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 activity with different isoforms in rat tissues

This study examined the interrelation between the long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) oxidation rate and the carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) 1 activity in various tissues containing L-CPT1 or M-CPT1. The Liver, kidney, heart, white and red gastrocnemius muscles, and white and brown adipose tissues obtained from Sprague-Dawley rats were examined. In the tissues containing L-CPT1 the liver showed a significantly higher (P<0.01) palmitate oxidation rate and CPT1 activity than the kidney. Among the tissues containing M-CPT1, the brown adipose tissue showed the highest palmitate oxidation rate and CPT1 activity. The tissues containing M-CPT1 (r2=0.907, p<0.001) showed a strong positive correlation between the palmitate oxidation rate and the CPT1 activity. The ratios of the palmitate oxidation rate to the CPT1 activity were calculated. The ratio in the liver was highest and the ratio in the kidney was lowest among the tissues. The ratios of the tissues containing M-CPT1 were similar. These results showed that the LCFA oxidation rates in the tissues containing M-CPT1 were directly proportional to the CPT1 activity, but not similarly proportional to the CPT1 activity in the tissues containing L-CPT1. In conclusion, CPT1 activity seems very important factor for LCFA oxidation, but it might be not the only rate-limiting step in LCFA oxidation.     

广州地区中华按蚊生理年龄的组成

中华按蚊是我国平原地区的传疟媒介,研究中华按蚊的生态学,对于疟疾的流行病学及预防均具有重要的意义。生理年龄及生殖营养环的研究,不但可以进一步认识中华按蚊在自然界的一些生态学问题,更重要的是有助于分析其传疟的作用,作为防制的依据。     

Adipose Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Regulates Metabolic Homeostasis through Angiogenesis

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Highlights? Two-way modulations of adipose VEGF were generated with aP2-Cre transgene ? Adipose VEGF KO reduces vasculature, increases hypoxia and inflammation in fat ? Adipose VEGF KO accelerates the development of metabolic disease in high-fat diet ? Induced adipose VEGF has opposite effect on fat and restores metabolic homeostasis     

Reprogramming of the activity of the activator/dissociation transposon family during plant regeneration in rice

Many aspects of epigenetic phenomena have been elucidated via studies of transposable elements. An active transposable element frequently loses its ability to mobilize and goes into an inactive state during development. In this study, we describe the cyclic activity of a maize transposable element dissociation (Ds) in rice. In rice genome, Ds undergoes the spontaneous loss of mobility. However, an inactive state of Ds can be changed into an active state during tissue culture. The recovery of mobility accompanies not only changes in the methylation patterns of the terminal region of Ds, but also alteration in the steady state level of the activator (Ac) mRNA that is expressed by a constitutive CaMV 35S promoter. Furthermore, the Ds-reactivation process is not random, but stage-specific during plantlet regeneration. Our findings have expanded previous observations on Ac reactivation in the tissue culture of maize.     

Relation of coenzyme F420 to the activity of methanogenic microorganisms

Summary The relationship between the coenzyme F₄₂₀ content and the activity of methanogenic microorganisms was investigated under different cultivation conditions in anaerobic reactors. The coenzyme F₄₂₀ concentration depends on the substrate used and the cultivation conditions. Coenzyme F₄₂₀ appears not to be a measure of the total methanogenic activity but rather a measure of the amount of methanogenic microorganisms in mixed anaerobic cultures.     

Differentiating Coptis chinensis from Coptis japonica and other Coptis species used in Coptidis Rhizoma based on partial trnL-F intergenic spacer sequences

Dried rhizomes of Coptis species are utilized as “Coptidis Rhizoma” (CR), an important herbal medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine. Almost all CRs traded in the Korean herbal medicine market originate from Coptis chinensis (“Chun Hwang-Lyun” in Korean medical terminology). Other minor CRs originate from Coptis japonica (“Il Hwang-Lyun”). Although there is an obvious discrepancy in the price of traded CRs in the herbal market depending on the Coptis species, CRs originating from C. chinensis and C. japonica are often confused. Furthermore, the CR traded as “Chun Hwang-Lyun” is occasionally mixed with rhizomes of Coptis deltoidea and/or Coptis omeiensis. Therefore, we sought to discriminate C. chinensis from C. japonica, as well as C. deltoidea and C. omeiensis, by using nucleotide sequence differences in the partial trnL-F intergenic spacer. We developed an efficient real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based discrimination assay to separate samples of C. chinensis from those of C. japonica without the need to separate the DNA markers by using gel electrophoresis. In addition, we developed a multiplex PCR method with which we were able to discriminate samples of C. chinensis from those of C. deltoidea and C. omeiensis by amplifying the 153-bp DNA marker in C. chinensis in a single PCR process.     

Development and validation of reverberation-chamber type whole-body exposure system for mobile-phone frequency

We developed whole-body exposure systems for in-vivo study at cellular (848.5 MHz) and Personal Communication System (PCS, 1,762.5 MHz) frequency, utilizing reverberation chamber. The field uniformities in the test area of the designed chambers were verified by simulation and measurement. In the whole-body exposure environment, Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) distributions inside of mice were calculated using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation. Key results are presented in this article.