Cytokinin oxidase regulates rice grain production

Most agriculturally important traits are regulated by genes known as quantitative trait loci (QTLs) derived from natural allelic variations. We here show that a QTL that increases grain productivity in rice, Gn1a, is a gene for cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (OsCKX2), an enzyme that degrades the phytohormone cytokinin. Reduced expression of OsCKX2 causes cytokinin accumulation in inflorescence meristems and increases the number of reproductive organs, resulting in enhanced grain yield. QTL pyramiding to combine loci for grain number and plant height in the same genetic background generated lines exhibiting both beneficial traits. These results provide a strategy for tailormade crop improvement.     

6─氨基己酸二聚体水解酶基因在异源宿主中的表达

将起源于黄色菌（Ｆｌａｖｏｂａｃｔｅｒｉｕｍｓｐ．ＫＩ７２）的６─氨基己酸二聚体水解酶（ＥⅡ）基因以质粒ｐＴＳ１２０９为载体，转入假单孢菌ＰｓｅｕｄｏｍｏｎａｓｐｕｔｉｄａＮＴ１１２６中，得到具有ＥⅡ高表达活性转基因株，表明以假单胞菌为宿主进行ＥⅡ酶分子育种的可行性，并为ＥⅡ酶尚处于进化中的推论提供了旁证。     

Protostellar feedback halts the growth of the first stars in the universe

The first stars fundamentally transformed the early universe by emitting the first light and by producing the first heavy elements. These effects were predetermined by the mass distribution of the first stars, which is thought to have been fixed by a complex interplay of gas accretion and protostellar radiation. We performed radiation-hydrodynamics simulations that followed the growth of a primordial protostar through to the early stages as a star with thermonuclear burning. The circumstellar accretion disk was evaporated by ultraviolet radiation from the star when its mass was 43 times that of the Sun. Such massive primordial stars, in contrast to the often-postulated extremely massive stars, may help explain the fact that there are no signatures of the pair-instability supernovae in abundance patterns of metal-poor stars in our galaxy.     

From a single-band metal to a high-temperature superconductor via two thermal phase transitions

The nature of the pseudogap phase of cuprate high-temperature superconductors is a major unsolved problem in condensed matter physics. We studied the commencement of the pseudogap state at temperature T* using three different techniques (angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, polar Kerr effect, and time-resolved reflectivity) on the same optimally doped Bi2201 crystals. We observed the coincident, abrupt onset at T* of a particle-hole asymmetric antinodal gap in the electronic spectrum, a Kerr rotation in the reflected light polarization, and a change in the ultrafast relaxational dynamics, consistent with a phase transition. Upon further cooling, spectroscopic signatures of superconductivity begin to grow close to the superconducting transition temperature (T(c)), entangled in an energy-momentum-dependent manner with the preexisting pseudogap features, ushering in a ground state with coexisting orders.     

Oxygen isotopic compositions of asteroidal materials returned from Itokawa by the Hayabusa mission

Meteorite studies suggest that each solar system object has a unique oxygen isotopic composition. Chondrites, the most primitive of meteorites, have been believed to be derived from asteroids, but oxygen isotopic compositions of asteroids themselves have not been established. We measured, using secondary ion mass spectrometry, oxygen isotopic compositions of rock particles from asteroid 25143 Itokawa returned by the Hayabusa spacecraft. Compositions of the particles are depleted in (16)O relative to terrestrial materials and indicate that Itokawa, an S-type asteroid, is one of the sources of the LL or L group of equilibrated ordinary chondrites. This is a direct oxygen-isotope link between chondrites and their parent asteroid.     

Ciguatoxin: isolation and chemical nature

Ciguatoxin, the agent responsible for ciguatera, a disease produced in humans from ingestion of certain fishes, has been isolated from specimens of the moray eel, Gymnothorax javanicus. The toxin is apparently a lipid containing quaternary nitrogen, hydroxyl, and carbonyl functions.     

Nitrogenase MoFe-protein at 1.16 A resolution: a central ligand in the FeMo-cofactor

A high-resolution crystallographic analysis of the nitrogenase MoFe-protein reveals a previously unrecognized ligand coordinated to six iron atoms in the center of the catalytically essential FeMo-cofactor. The electron density for this ligand is masked in structures with resolutions lower than 1.55 angstroms, owing to Fourier series termination ripples from the surrounding iron and sulfur atoms in the cofactor. The central atom completes an approximate tetrahedral coordination for the six iron atoms, instead of the trigonal coordination proposed on the basis of lower resolution structures. The crystallographic refinement at 1.16 angstrom resolution is consistent with this newly detected component being a light element, most plausibly nitrogen. The presence of a nitrogen atom in the cofactor would have important implications for the mechanism of dinitrogen reduction by nitrogenase.     

Quantitative nested real-time PCR detection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Verticillium longisporum</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">V. dahliae</Emphasis> in the soil of cabbage fields

Verticillium longisporum and V. dahliae, causal agents of Verticillium wilt, are spreading through the cabbage fields of Gunma Prefecture. Using the V. longisporum-specific intron within the 18S rDNA and differences between ITS 5.8S rDNA sequences in Japanese isolates of V. longisporum and V. dahliae, we developed three quantitative nested real-time (QNRT) PCR assays. The QNRT-PCR quantification of V. longisporum or V. dahliae in cabbage field soil was consistent with the severity of Verticillium wilt disease in those fields. In field trials of resistant cultivar YR Ranpo grown for three seasons in soil infested with the pathogen, disease severity and pathogen density in the soil were significantly reduced in a field moderately contaminated by V. dahliae, but only slightly reduced in a highly contaminated field. These results suggest that continuous cultivation of a resistant cultivar is an effective way to reduce the pathogen population. QNRT-PCR assays provide a powerful analytical tool to evaluate the soil population dynamics of V. longisporum and V. dahliae for disease management.     

Effect of Application of Acidified Porous Hydrate Calcium Silicate and Porous Hydrated Calcium Silicate on the Growth of Rice Plants (Oryza sativa L.)

The effect of the application of acidified porous hydrate calcium silicate (APS) in nursery bed soil and porous hydrate calcium silicate (PS) in paddy fields on the growth of rice plants ( Oryza sativa L. cv. Hitomebore) was examined in 2002 and 2003. The results revealed the following: 1) Shoot dry weight of rice seedlings increased by APS treatment in nursery bed soil. The tiller number of rice plants after transplanting in both years also increased by APS treatment in nursery bed soil, and in 2003, the tiller number in the treatment with a combination of APS in nursery bed soil and PS in paddy fields was significantly higher than that in the other treatments until the maximum tiller number stage. Furthermore, the root length of rice plants 14 d after transplanting increased by APS treatment in nursery bed soil. 2) Silicon concentration in the soil solution significantly increased by PS treatment in paddy fields, and the concentration of dissolved carbon oxide increased by APS treatment in nursery bed soil. 3) Only in the APS treatment the rice yield was 341 g m⁻², while 400 and 450 g m⁻² in the PS and both APS and PS treatments, respectively, in 2003. Percentages of ripened grains in the plots without PS treatment ranged from 57 to 63%, respectively, while, those in the PS treated plots were 82%. The numbers of panicles and ripened grains in both APS and PS treatments were the highest among the treatments. Based on the above results, we concluded that both APS in nursery bed soil and PS in paddy field treatments were effective in improving the silicon nutrition and growth of rice plants, and that this effect was enhanced by a combination of treatments with the two.