The endogenous trans-acting small interfering RNA (ta-siRNA) pathway plays a conserved role in adaxial-abaxial patterning of lateral organs in simple-leafed plant species. However, its function in compound-leafed species is largely unknown. Using the compound-leafed species Lotus japonicus, we identified and characterized two independent mutants, reduced leaflet1 (rel1) and rel3, whose most con...

We studied the possible role that marine microalgae may play during the outbreaks of WSS (white spot syndrome). In order to elucidate the possibility of marine microalgae carrying WSSV (white spot syndrome virus), six marine microalgae (Isochrysis galbana, Skeletonema costatum, Chlorella sp., Heterosigma akashiwo, Scrippsiella trochoidea, Dunaliella salina) were co-cultured with adult Marsupena...

We investigated the phylogenetic relationships and divergence times within the genus Auritibicen(Cicadidae: Cicadinae: Cryptotympanini), analyzing five Japanese species (A. japonicus, A. bihamatus,A. kyushyuensis, A. esakii and A. flammatus) and three species from East Asian mainland and Taiwan (A. atrofasciatus, A. intermedius and A. chujoi) using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (CO...

Cyanogenesis, the release of hydrogen cyanide from damaged plant tissues, involves the enzymatic degradation of amino acid-derived cyanogenic glucosides (alpha-hydroxynitrile glucosides) by specific beta-glucosidases. Release of cyanide functions as a defense mechanism against generalist herbivores. We developed a high-throughput screening method and used it to identify cyanogenesis deficient (...

We determined the nucleotide sequences of 64 TAC (transformation-competent artificial chromosome) clones selected from genomic libraries of Lotus japonicus accession Miyakojima MG-20 based on the sequence information of expressed sequence tags (ESTs), cDNAs, genes and DNA markers from L. japonicus and other legumes. The length of the DNA regions sequenced in this study was 6,370,255 bp, and the...

The study of marine invertebrates is useful in various biological research fields. However, genetic analyses of these animals are limited, mainly due to difficulties in culturing them, and the genetic resources of marine invertebrates have not been organized. Recently, advances have been made in the study of two deuterostomes, an ascidian Ciona intestinalis and a feather star Oxycomanthus japon...

BACKGROUND One marbled crayfish, Marmorkrebs, Procambarus fallax f. virginalis (Hagen, 1870), was discovered in a natural ecosystem in Japan in 2006. Because Marmorkrebs are parthenogenetic, they could establish a population from only a single individual, and thus pose a risk for becoming established in Japan, as they have in other countries. There are two major reasons to be concerned about th...

Nucleotide-binding site (NBS) disease resistance genes play a crucial role in plant defense responses against pathogens and insect pests. Many NBS-encoding genes have been detected in Lotus japonicus, an important forage crop in many parts of the world. However, most NBS genes identified so far in L. japonicus were only partial sequences. We identified 45 full-length NBS-encoding genes in the L...

Among leguminous plants, the model legume Lotus japonicus (Regel) Larsen has many biological and genetic advantages. We have developed a genetic linkage map of L. japonicus based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), simple sequence repeat polymorphism (SSRP) and derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (dCAPS). The F2 mapping population used was derived from a cross between t...

Wolbachia are maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria of arthropods and nematodes. In arthropods, they manipulate the reproduction of their hosts to facilitate their own spread in host populations, causing cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis induction, feminization of genetic males and male-killing. In this study, we investigated Wolbachia infection and studied wsp (Wolbachia surfa...