The fission yeasts are members of the fungal order Schizosaccharomycetales, a candidate deep-diverging group within Ascomycota. Although a great deal of molecular information is available from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a model eukaryote, very little is available from other members of this group. In order to better characterize mitochondrial genome evolution in this fungal lineage, the mitochon...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Pollen from Japanese hop, Humulusjaponicus, is a major cause of pollinosis in Korea. Profilin (15 kDa) from Humulus scandens has been associated with strong allergenicity in allergic Chinese patients. Profilin has also been detected in pollen extract from Korean Japanese hop by proteomic analysis and immunoglobulin (Ig) E immunoblotting. However, the allergenicity of al...

A series of phosphine-ligated palladium precatalysts based on N-methyl- and N-phenyl-2-aminobiphenyl have been developed. Substitution at the nitrogen center prevents the presence of traces of aminobiphenyls that contain a free -NH2 group from contaminating cross-coupling products. These precatalysts produce N-substituted carbazoles upon activation, which cannot consume starting materials. Thes...

The model legume Lotus japonicus was demonstrated to be amenable to classical and molecular genetic analysis, providing the basis for the genetic dissection of the plant processes underlying nodulation and nitrogen fixation. We have developed an efficient method for the sexual hybridization of L. japonicus and obtained F1 progeny derived from a cross of L. japonicus B-129-S9 Gifu x B-581 Funaku...

Apostichopus japonicus is a common sea cucumber that undergoes seasonal inactivity phases and ceases feeding during the summer months. We used this sea cucumber species as a model in which to examine phenotypic plasticity of the digestive tract in response to food deprivation. We measured the body mass, gross gut morphology and digestive enzyme activities of A. japonicus before, during, and aft...

Legumes enter into a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, leading to nodule development. Two main types of nodules have been widely studied, indeterminate and determinate, which differ in the location of the first cell division in the root cortex, and persistency of the nodule meristem. Here, we compared the control of auxin transport, content, and response during the early sta...

BACKGROUND The rhizomes of Panax japonicus are used as a folk medicine for treatment of life-style related diseases such as arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus as a substitute for ginseng roots in China and Japan. Obesity is closely associated with life-style-related diseases. This study was performed to clarify whether chikusetsusaponins p...

The metabolism of starch is of central importance for many aspects of plant growth and development. Information on leaf starch metabolism other than in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is scarce. Furthermore, its importance in several agronomically important traits exemplified by legumes remains to be investigated. To address this issue, we have provided detailed information on the genes invo...