Interaction between myostatin and extracellular matrix components

Myostatin, a member of the TGF-β superfamily, is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle mass. We have recently demonstrated that decorin binds to myostatin in vitro , and that immobilized decorin within the collagen matrix prevents myostatin-mediated inhibition of myoblast proliferation. However, little is known about other ECM molecules that bind to myostatin and modulate its activity. Thus, in the present study, we investigated the interaction of several other ECM molecules with myostatin. We here show that fibromodulin, fibronectin and laminin bind to myostatin in the presence of Zn²⁺ with a dissociation constant ( K_D ) of 10⁻¹⁰∼10⁻⁸ mol/L. Fibromodulin shows the highest affinity for myostatin among them. These results suggest that these ECM molecules may modulate myostatin activity like decorin does.     

Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold cross-breed cats

Two Scottish Fold mixed cats are described in this report. Case 1 is a mixed Scottish Fold and Munchkin cat. Extremities of this cat resembled the Munchkin cat, while the ear pinna were folded forward like the Scottish Fold cat. Case 2 is a mixed Scottish Fold and American Curl cat. The ear pinna were curled caudally like the American Curl. Severe exostosis in the hind leg was observed in radiographs taken around one year of age in both cats. Both cats were dominant homozygous for c.1024G>T of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 gene, responsible for osteochondrodysplasia in the Scottish Fold cat. Cross breeding with Scottish Fold cats could produce unknown phenotypes, and should be avoided.     

Virulence of the Populations of the Whitebacked Planthopper, Sogatella furcifera Reared on Different Resistant Rice Varieties

ARC and ND colony were obtained by rearing the whitebacked planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera(Horvath), exclusively on ARC10239 (ARC, carrying resistance gene Wbph2) and N‘Diang Marie (ND, carrying resistance gene WbphS) till 15 generations. Taichung Native 1 (TN1) and Rathu Heenati (RHT) served as susceptible and resistant check, respectively. The results of electronic recording revealed that duration of salivation and X-waveform of the two colonies on their corresponding hosts was short while the duration of phloem ingestion was long. The amount of honeydew excreted by ARC and ND colony did not differ on their corresponding host varieties from TN1 and was much higher than that of RHT. The number of eggs laid on their host varieties and TN1 were significantly higher than that on RHT. No distinct change was observed for these two colonies in term of percentage of developed eggs. The nymph survival rate of ND colony on its selection host was 45.0%, significantly different from that on TN1(71.4%0) and RHT(21.0%), while that of ARCcolony was 68. 3%, not significantly different from that on TN1(77.5%), but much higher than that on RHT(22.6%).The nymphal development duration of these two colonies on the corresponding hosts was not different from that on TN1, but significantly shorter than that on RHT. In brief, these two colonies had almost adapted to their corresponding host varieties based on feeding and oviposition, but the nymphal survival rate of ND colony was still low.     

Synthesis and herbicidal activity of optically active cinmethylin,its enantiomer,and C3-substituted cinmethylin analogs

We investigated the synthesis and herbicidal activity of optically active cinmethylin, its enantiomer, and C3-substituted cinmethylin analogs. Optically active cinmethylin could be obtained in seven steps with the Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of α-terpinene. The synthesized cinmethylin and its enantiomer showed similar herbicidal activity, which was independent of the stereochemistry. Next, we synthesized cinmethylin analogs with various substituents at the C3 position. We found that analogs with methylene, oxime, ketone, or methyl groups at the C3 position show excellent herbicidal activity.     

Physiological and behavioural effects of an intracerebroventricular injection of corticotropin releasing hormone in goats

This study investigated the effects of an intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) on physiological and behavioural responses in goats. In Experiment 1, saline (control) or saline plus 25 microg of ovine CRH was injected into the third ventricle of castrated male goats. CRH increased plasma cortisol (Cor) levels markedly within 15 min, but had little effect on plasma glucose (Glu). Compared with saline injected goats, CRH decreased the total duration of lying behaviour but increased its frequency, and suppressed rumination and self-grooming. In Experiment 2, the effects of an intravenous (IV) injection of human adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (1-24) (0.1mg) were examined and an IV injection of saline was used as control. ACTH increased plasma Cor levels markedly, but did not change any behaviour compared with controls. It was concluded that CRH mediated the response of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and behaviour following stress in goats, although the CRH-induced behavioural changes were independent of the HPA axis and seemed to be the result of direct action within the central nervous system.     

Wind tunnel study on aerodynamic characteristics of shrubby specimens of three tree species

With the popularization of green roofing systems, their wind resistant performance is becoming more and more important especially in typhoon areas. A prerequisite study was carried out to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of suitable trees to provide basic scientific data. Shrubby specimens of three tree species appropriate for intensive green roofs with different aerodynamic forms were tested through a boundary layer wind tunnel experiment, including one deciduous tree, one coniferous tree and one broadleaf evergreen tree. Drags and overturning moments under different wind speeds were measured; wind-speed-specific frontal areas and tip displacements were recorded. After initial tests, trees were pruned to investigate the effect of crown porosity, and the effects of view angle and turbulence intensity were also considered. The results showed that even considering frontal area reduction due to increasing wind speeds, drag coefficients decreased with increase in wind speed for deciduous and coniferous trees. Drag coefficient characteristics for different trees agreed well with those obtained from previous researches. The effect of crown porosity varied among tree species, but view angle and turbulence intensity did not significantly affect it.     

Dietary phytase increases the true absorption and endogenous fecal excretion of zinc in growing pigs given a corn-soybean meal based diet

We investigated the effect of dietary phytase on the true absorption and endogenous fecal excretion of zinc (Zn) using ⁶⁷Zn in growing pigs given a corn-soybean meal based diet. Ten crossbred barrows were fed the control diet containing 90-mg/kg Zn, 2.3-g/kg phytate-phosphorus and 3.7-g/kg non-phytate-phosphorus or the phytase diet containing similar amounts of Zn and phytate-phosphorus, and 1.4-g/kg non-phytate-phosphorus with 750-PU/kg phytase for 12 h/day. On day 6, the pigs were given 200 g of the corresponding diet labeled by ⁶⁷Zn for 2 h. We measured feed intake, fecal Zn concentration and ⁶⁷Zn abundance for the determination of apparent absorption, true absorption and endogenous fecal excretion of Zn. Although the apparent absorption of Zn did not significantly differ between the dietary groups, the phytase group had significantly more ( P  < 0.05) true absorption of Zn than the control group. The endogenous fecal excretion of Zn tended to be more ( P  = 0.07) in the phytase group than in the control group. These results suggest that dietary phytase improves Zn bioavailability through increasing the true absorption of Zn in growing pigs, which results in stimulating the endogenous fecal excretion of Zn when dietary Zn satisfies its requirement.     

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Brassica oxyrrhina and comparative analysis of the region containing orf108, a male sterility gene for mustard (Brassica juncea), among B. oxyrrhina,Diplotaxis erucoides and Sinapis species

To date, several cytoplasms of wild species have been introduced to Brassica juncea, for inducing cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). One of the causal genes of CMS is orf108, which is widely distributed in Brassicaceae including Brassica oxyrrhina. To further understand the origin of orf108, we assembled the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of B. oxyrrhina. We also determined the DNA sequences upstream of atp1 including orf108 for D. erucoides and five Sinapis species. The orf108 was definitively placed in the mitochondrial genome of B. oxyrrhina consisting of 247,936 bp. In S. alba, previously reported to possess orf108, the gene was not present, whereas Sinapis arvensis and Sinapis turgida contained orf108. The orf108 sequence in the two Sinapis species showed a novel nucleotide substitution compared to D. erucoides. Northern hybridization suggested, furthermore, that orf108 mRNA was processed in the two species similarly to that in B. oxyrrhina. The results clarified the interspecific differentiation of orf108‐apt1 region in Sinapis.     

Identification and characterization of proteoglycans in bovine neonatal skeletal muscle

In order to provide background for understanding biological roles of proteoglycans (PG) in developing skeletal muscle, we have isolated and characterized PG in bovine neonatal skeletal muscle. Two types of PG were isolated from skeletal muscle by density gradient ultracentrifugation and ion‐exchange chromatography. One was a small PG (PG‐S) with a molecular size of 100–130 kDa, another was a large PG (PG‐L) with a molecular size of 300–500 kDa. The glycosaminoglycan chains of PG‐S and PG‐L were dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate, respectively, judged by cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis. Immunoblot assays revealed that both PG bound to type I, II, III and IV collagen, laminin and fibronectin. Unlike PG‐S, PG‐L bound to type V collagen and hyaluronic acid. Small proteoglycans had a core protein of 45 kDa, which reacted with the antibody against the decorin core protein. The N‐terminal amino acid sequence of the PG‐S core protein was consistent with that of decorin from bovine bone and tendon. Thus, PG‐S from neonatal skeletal muscle was identified as decorin in bovines. Immunohistochemical analysis with antibodies against PG‐L and PG‐S demonstrated that PG‐L was located both in the perimysium and endomysium, but PG‐S was localized exclusively in the perimysium. These findings suggest that the characterized PG may have distinct roles in the ECM construction of developing skeletal muscle.