Limited but specific variations of seed storage proteins in Japanese common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The electrophoretic banding patterns ofgliadin in common wheat lines derived fromJapan were determined byacid-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. For the 107 wheat lines used in our study,27 different patterns were identified, 13corresponding to the -gliadin, 8 tothe , -gliadin and 6 to the-gliadin. The gliadin patterns ofJapanese wheat cultivars and landracesgreatly differed from the patterns of wheatlines from other countries, and thevariation seen in wheat lines from Japanwas limited to 46 patterns. Sevencollection or breeding areas in Japanshowed different frequencies in theirgliadin patterns. Combining the gliadinpatterns with high molecular weightglutenin subunit compositions, 67combinations were observed. One gliadinpattern consisting of -gliadinpattern F, , -gliadinpattern H and -gliadin pattern Dwas frequently found in many Japanese wheatlines, though the other patterns werelimited to only one or two wheat lines.     

Studies on absorption and hydrolysis of ethyl alpha-D-glucoside in rat intestine

Ethyl alpha-D-glucoside (alpha-EG) is normally contained in Sake, which has been taken by Japanese people since ancient times. In this study, the intestinal absorption of alpha-EG was investigated using rat everted intestinal sac. Furthermore, the alpha-EG hydrolytic activity in rat intestine was compared with disaccharides hydrolytic activities, and the effects of alpha-EG on disaccharides hydrolysis were examined using crude enzyme preparation from rat intestinal acetone powder. Glucose liberated from alpha-EG was detected in a serosal solution of everted rat intestinal sac, but it was only less than 4% of absorbed intact alpha-EG. alpha-EG absorption into small intestinal tissue was reduced by elimination of sodium ion from the mucosal solution or under the presence of phlorizin. The hydrolytic activity for alpha-EG was detected in crude enzyme preparation from rat intestinal acetone powder, but it showed a low value as compared to those for disaccharides. alpha-EG showed mixed type inhibition for maltose and sucrose hydrolysis, but inhibitory concentrations of alpha-EG required for 50% inhibition for the maltose and sucrose hydrolysis were higher than those of arabinose and acarbose. In conclusion, a small amount of alpha-EG was hydrolyzed and most of it was absorbed via SGLT1 as an intact form in the rat small intestine, and the inhibitory effect of alpha-EG on disaccharides hydrolysis was weak.     

Influences of Forest Decline on Various Properties of Soils at Mt. Hirugatake, Tanzawa Mountains, Kanto District, Japan

At Mt. Hirugatake in the Tanzawa Mountains, Kanto district, Japan, the deciduous broadleaved forests have rapidly declined. In our previous studies, we reported that the amount of soil organic matter had significantly decreased at the early and final stages of forest decline, and that the soil microbial biomass also showed a large decrease at these stages, suggesting that the composition of soil organic matter might have also changed with forest decline. To clarify the influences of forest decline on the composition of soil organic matter, the amount of humic substances, optical properties of humic acid, and the amount of soil carbohydrates in surface soils at different stages of forest decline were investigated. The amounts of humic acid and fulvic acid decreased to a lesser extent at the early and middle stages of forest decline, and showed a significant decrease at the final stage. As the amount of humin significantly decreased at the early stage, it was plausible that the distinct decrease in the total carbon content of the soil surface horizons at the early stage of forest decline was induced by the decrease in the amount of humin, and at the final stage, by the decrease in the amounts of humic acid and fulvic acid. The amount of soil carbohydrates did not change appreciably with forest decline although the soil organic matter content markedly decreased. It was suggested that most of the carbohydrates in the soil surface horizons were in a stabilized form consisting of complexes with humic substances, metals, and minerals, and would not be affected by the environmental changes associated with forest decline.     

Experimental studies on sulfur dioxide injuries in higher plants

Photosynthesis is reversibly inhibited by exposing plants to SO₂. The formation of α-hydroxy sulfonate in the exposed plants is suggested as one of the effects, because this compound inhibits glycolic oxidase which is necessary in the glycolic acid pathway. The suppression of the glycolic acid path should affect various aspects of metabolism in plants, particularly the reduction of the biosynthesis of glycine and serine. In this paper, the biosynthesis of these amino acids in plants exposed to SO₂ was investigated to estimate the significance of the formation of α-hydroxy sulfonate in the plants. The results show that photosynthetic formation of serine was reduced in the exposed plants, and that α-hydroxy sulfonate was formed.     

Long Term Trend of Chemical Constituents in Tokyo Metropolitan Area in Japan

In recent years, acid rain has been a social problem all over the world. In Japan, it is also a big problem especially in the metropolitan area. Then, we have measured major ions such as H⁺, Na⁺, NH₄ ⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl^?, NO₃ ^?, and SO₄ ^2? in precipitation and dry deposition samples which had been collected at 9 sampling sites at Hiyoshi, Mita, Kashiwa, Shiki, Fujisawa, Yokosuka, Mitaka, Hachiouji, and Ashikaga in Tokyo Metropolitan area for 10 years since 1990. The average pH of precipitation in their sites was 4.56 (n=1906). As the results of multiple regression analysis showed that pH of precipitation was determined by 5 ions such as NH₄ ⁺, nssCa²⁺(non sea salt calcium), nssCl^?(non sea salt chloride), NO₃ ^?, nssSO₄ ^2?(non sea salt sulfate) in the most of the sampling sites. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the behavior of these ions to understand the acidification of rain in Tokyo Metropolitan area. In this study, a long term trend of each ion concentration in precipitation and wet deposition was also investigated the base on the data we had observed at 7 sites for 10 years by the statistical method.     

Commercialized European bumblebee can cause pollination disturbance: An experiment on seven native plant species in Japan

Non-native pollinator species are now widely utilized to facilitate pollination of agricultural crops. Evaluation of the ecological risk of alien pollinators is necessary because they could have a large impact on native ecosystems through disturbing native plant-pollinator interactions. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to examine the impact of the non-native commercialized European bumblebees, Bombus terrestris, on the pollination success of seven Japanese bumblebee-pollinated plant species. Plants were exposed to three groups of bumblebees: native bumblebee(s) only (NATIVE treatment); the alien bee only (ALIEN) and a mix of the two (MIX). ALIEN treatment had negative effects on fruitset and/or fruit quality of five plants, including self-incompatible and compatible, herb and woody, and queen- and worker-pollinated species. The negative effects were caused by a decrease in legitimate flower visitation due to (1) physical inaccessibility to nectary in deep-corolla flowers by the alien bee with insufficient tongue length and, (2) biased flower preference between short-corolla flowers. Fruitset tended to decrease drastically for the self-incompatible species while fruit quality decreased moderately for the self-compatible species. Effects of MIX were not intermediate between NATIVE and ALIEN in most plant species, and caused pollination success to vary in an unpredictable manner amongst plant species, probably due to interaction between native and alien bees. This non-linear relationship between plants’ pollination success and the relative density of the alien suggests that the alien bee can disturb pollination of a plant species even when only representing a small fraction of the total pollinator community.     

Solute effects on the interaction between water and ethanol in aged whiskey

The hydrogen-bonding structure of water-ethanol in whiskey was examined on the basis of (1)H NMR chemical shifts of the OH of water and ethanol. Phenolic acids and aldehydes (gallic, vanillic, and syringic acids; vanillin and syringaldehyde) exhibited their structure-making effects regardless of the presence or absence of 0.1 or 0.2 mol dm(-3) acetic acid. The OH-proton chemical shifts were measured for 32 malt whiskey samples of a distillery, aged for 0-23 years in five different types of casks. The OH-proton chemical shift values of the whiskies shifted toward the lower field in proportion to their contents of total phenols. It can be concluded that the strength of the hydrogen bonding in aged whiskies is directly predominated by acidic and phenolic components gained in oak wood casks and not dependent on just the aging time.     

Importance of rubberwood in wood export of Malaysia and Thailand

We examined the contribution of rubberwood to the timber export markets of Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia, rubberwood has grown from 26% of total exported wood products in 1998 to 35% in 2007. A high proportion of furniture products (80%) is rubberwood, whereas the contribution of rubberwood to other wooden products is less than 20%. Only 10% of sawn timber and logs is rubberwood. In Thailand, rubberwood contributes to around 60% of total exported wood products, arising from a high share of not only furniture products (70%) but also other wood products (around 50%) and sawn timber and logs, which have increased in share from 40% in 1998 to 79% in 2007. We conclude that the high proportion of rubberwood products in the wood export markets of these two countries is a result of: (1) scarcity of raw wood materials because of strict controls on the logging of natural forests; and (2) governmental support to rubberwood production, including financial support to rubber planters and technical assistance to downstream timber processors.     

Estimation of rubberwood production in Cambodia

We estimated the production of rubberwood from 1996 to 2011 in Cambodia. We employed data from interview surveys with three rubberwood processing companies and statistics from estate rubber plantations and wood retailing companies. The result was that the end use of rubberwood in Cambodia was the sawntimber products, being exported to Vietnam and China. The yield rate from rubberwood stumpage into sawn timber was between 11.6 and 14.9%, closely matching the rates of Malaysia and Thailand. The average production of rubberwood roundwood from 1996 to 2011 was 254,697 m³/year, of which sawn timber as well as residuals in secondary processing was 84,559 and 170,138 m³/year, respectively. Although the timber production of Cambodia has declined sharply due to the strict restriction of natural forest logging, rubberwood could explain more than 60% of the domestic industrial roundwood production from 2000. We suggest the necessity of monitoring the expansion of rubber plantations in new rubber producing countries and linking the rubberwood production with the regional wood resource management.