BACKGROUND Sea cucumbers are a special group of marine invertebrates. They occupy a taxonomic position that is believed to be important for understanding the origin and evolution of deuterostomes. Some of them such as Apostichopus japonicus represent commercially important aquaculture species in Asian countries. Many efforts have been devoted to increasing the number of expressed sequence tags ...

Stichopus horrens flesh was explored as a potential source for generating peptides with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory capacity using 6 proteases, namely alcalase, flavourzyme, trypsin, papain, bromelain, and protamex. Degree of hydrolysis (DH) and peptide profiling (SDS-PAGE) of Stichopus horrens hydrolysates (SHHs) was also assessed. Alcalase hydrolysate showed the highest DH ...

Although the 1st published record of Ochlerotatus japonicus japonicus in Georgia (Rabun County) occurred in 2004, we report here a 2002 collection and identification in Fulton County, Georgia (metro Atlanta). The finding of Oc. j. japonicus in Fulton County represents the most southern record of this species in the United States to date. Also, subsequent collections in North Carolina and 4 addi...

The presence of mosquito species breeding in agricultural "bunker tires" on dairy farms in New York state was evaluated. Twelve species of mosquitoes (Aedes vexans, Anopheles barberi, An. punctipenriis, An. perplexens, Culex pipiens pipiens, Cx. restuans, Cx. salinarius, Cx. territans, Toxorhynchites rutilus septentrionalis, Ochlerotatus atropalpus, Oc. japonicus japonicus, and Oc. triseriatus)...

Pot and field experiments were conducted to study the effects of mulching with straw of cadmium (Cd) tolerant plants (Ranunculus sieboldii, Mazus japonicus, Clinopodium confine and Plantago asiatica) on growth and Cd accumulation of Galinsoga parviflora in Cd-contaminated soil. In the pot experiment, mulching with M. japonicus straw increased the root biomass, stem biomass, leaf biomass, shoot ...

Cellulosic biofuels represent a powerful alternative to petroleum but are currently limited by the inefficiencies of the conversion process. While gram-positive and fungal organisms have been widely explored as sources of cellulases and hemicellulases for biomass degradation, gram-negative organisms have received less experimental attention. We investigated the ability of Cellvibrio japonicus, ...

Ochlerotatus japonicus larvae were collected from natural rockpools in New Jersey within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. Previously reported collections of Oc. japonicus in the United States have been limited to artificial containers and an occasional treehole.

We investigated in this study the anti-obesity effect of an extract of Petasites japonicus (a culinary vegetable from Eastern Asia) on a murine adipocyte cell line (3T3-L1) and on diet-induced obesity-prone mice. An ethanol extract of P. japonicus. (PJET) suppressed 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation; however, a hot water extract of P. japonicus (PJHW) exhibited no effect on cell differentiati...

The two-component systems (TCS), or histidine-to-aspartate phosphorelays, are evolutionarily conserved common signal transduction mechanisms that are implicated in a wide variety of cellular responses to environmental stimuli in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes including plants. Among higher plants, legumes including Lotus japonicus have a unique ability to engage in beneficial symbiosis with ni...