Over-expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">FT</Emphasis> gene reduces juvenile phase and induces early flowering in ornamental gentian plants

Ornamental gentian plants are perennial and have a juvenile period of over 1 year before flowering. We transformed gentian plants with a construct comprising the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene (encoding a major component protein of the flowering hormone ‘florigen’) under the control of the rolC promoter from Agrobacterium rhizogenes, which is known to induce vascular-specific expression. The resultant rolCpro-FT transgenic gentian plants showed early flowering in vitro and the earliest line formed floral buds within 4 months after transformation. Regeneration experiments from leaf explants of these rolCpro-FT transgenic plants also confirmed the early flowering phenotype. After acclimatization, these transgenic plants showed normal floral development in a closed greenhouse. There is no effective method to induce early flowering by cultivation management in gentian, therefore these lines might be very useful as annual early season cultivars.     

Detection of a simplex RAPD marker linked to resistance to potato virus Y in a tetraploid potato

Extreme resistance to potato virus Y, derived from a wild diploid speciesSolanum chacoense, was found in Japanese cultivar Konafubuki. The segregation ratio of resistant vs susceptible in the tetraploid population from Kita-akari (susceptible) x Konafubuki (resistant) indicated that the resistance gene followed a monogenic dominant fashion. Bulked DNA samples of resistant and of susceptible clones were screened with 306 decamer primers by PCR to find RAPD markers linked to the resistance. The RAPD marker 38-530 was reproducibly detected in the resistant clones with a recombination frequency of 16.3%. Except for Konafubuki the marker band was found only in a few limited parental lines and cultivars where the resistance is not involved. Thus, using Konafubuki as a resistance gene source, the RAPD marker 38-530 would be practically and widely useful in tetraploid breeding programs.     

Physiological effects in humans induced by the visual stimulation of room interiors with different wood quantities

To clarify the visual effects of room interior with wooden materials on humans, pulse rate, blood pressure, and brain activity were measured while the subjects were exposed to visual stimuli using actual-size model rooms. The wood ratios (the ratio of the area covered with wooden material to the whole area of the ceiling, walls, and floor) of the rooms were 0%, 45%, and 90%. Subjective evaluation was also conducted. In the 0% room, diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly, but the observed change in the autonomic nervous activity was relatively small. In the 45% room, a significant decrease in the diastolic blood pressure and a significant increase in pulse rate were observed. This room tended to have the highest scores in subjective “comfortable” feeling. The 90% room caused significant and large decreases in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure at the beginning of the test, but the large coverage of wood appeared to cause a rapid decrease in brain activity and an increase in pulse rate. The present study demonstrated that a difference in wood ratio in the interior caused different physiological responses, especially in the autonomic nervous activity, by using actual-size rooms for the first time.     

Relationship between roughness parameters based on material ratio curve and tactile roughness for sanded surfaces of two hardwoods

The roughness parameters on the material ratio curves were related to tactile roughness for samples of buna and mizunara. The surfaces of the samples were sanded using various grades of coated abrasives and the roughness parameters, reduced peak height (Rpk), core roughness depth (Rk), and reduced valley depth (Rvk), were estimated on the material ratio curves, which were obtained from roughness profiles determined using robust Gaussian regression filter. The values of Rpk and Rk were almost the same for buna and mizunara under the same sanding conditions and increased exponentially with tactile roughness. The coefficients of determination of those parameters and tactile roughness were higher than 0.79 at all cutoff wavelengths. On the other hand, the value of Rvk for mizunara was significantly larger than that for buna because of the deep local valleys. There was no relationship between Rvk and tactile roughness for both species.     

Survey of gastrointestinal parasitic infections in quarantined dogs in Taiwan

Intestinal helminth and protozoan infection in the quarantined dogs in Taiwan were examined using fecal examination between January to December, 2004. Of the 376 dogs imported from 11 countries, 63 (16.8%) were found to be infected with at least one species of intestinal parasite. The parasites detected were oocysts of Isospora canis and eggs of Toxocara canis, Trichuris vulpis and hookworms. Of the 63 infected dogs, 11 were found to have a mixed infection of two different species of parasites. This paper illustrates that parasites are transmitted from one country to another through the transport of animals. Moreover, there is also a possibility of parasitic infection among quarantined dogs as well as the zoonotic potential for quarantine officers during the quarantine period.     

Fecal D- and L- lactate, succinate, and volatile fatty acid levels in young dairy calves

For evaluation of physiologically significant organic anions in the colonic environment, 87 samples of normal feces were collected from the rectum of 15 calves less than 60 days old. The calves were fed milk replacer with free access to starter diet and hay. After fecal extraction with water, pH, D- and L-lactate, succinate, and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations were determined. There was wide variation in fecal pH (4.3 to 7.7). Higher lactate concentrations were observed in feces samples with lower pH, and most of these samples were collected during the first 4 weeks of life. Elevated lactate concentrations included both the D- and L-isomers, and the D-isomer comprised approximately 30-50% of total lactate. Elevated succinate concentrations were observed in only 8 fecal samples, while other samples had lower or trace amounts of succinate. Elevated fecal succinate showed no relationship with fecal pH or VFA concentrations. Fecal VFA concentrations were lower in samples collected in the early postnatal stage, but fecal VFA concentrations were not necessarily related to age. We confirmed that fecal D- and L-lactate concentrations increased with a concomitant decrease of VFA in the acidic lumen of the colon, although acidic feces were not necessarily accompanied by elevated concentrations of lactate. In contrast, succinate production was not related to fecal pH or VFA concentrations.     

A regulatory SNP causes a human genetic disease by creating a new transcriptional promoter

We describe a pathogenetic mechanism underlying a variant form of the inherited blood disorder alpha thalassemia. Association studies of affected individuals from Melanesia localized the disease trait to the telomeric region of human chromosome 16, which includes the alpha-globin gene cluster, but no molecular defects were detected by conventional approaches. After resequencing and using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and expression analysis on a tiled oligonucleotide array, we identified a gain-of-function regulatory single-nucleotide polymorphism (rSNP) in a nongenic region between the alpha-globin genes and their upstream regulatory elements. The rSNP creates a new promoterlike element that interferes with normal activation of all downstream alpha-like globin genes. Thus, our work illustrates a strategy for distinguishing between neutral and functionally important rSNPs, and it also identifies a pathogenetic mechanism that could potentially underlie other genetic diseases.     

Assessment of decay risk of airborne wood-decay fungi II: relation between isolated fungi and decay risk

The relationship between the taxa of airborne fungi and the decay risk was investigated. Airborne fungi in 1,000 l of air were trapped on Japanese cedar disks, and incubated in a damp container kept at 26oC. After 16-week incubation, filamentous fungi grown on the disks were isolated and DNA extracted from each isolate was amplified with the primers ITS4/ITS5. The DNA sequences of the amplified products were determined and compared to the sequence data of GenBank to determine the species or genus according to a BLAST search. This search revealed that the isolate consisted of 5 major taxa, namely Bjerkandera sp., Phanerochaete sp. (A), Phanerochaete sp. (B), Polyporales sp. Polyporus arcularius, and 6 minor ones. Statistical analysis revealed that the major taxa were trapped on the disks in similar weather conditions except for Bjerkandera sp., which was trapped at a cooler temperature. The analysis also proved the disks to which Phanerochaete spp. or Polyporales sp. were attached showed higher mass loss. It is concluded that, under these experimental conditions, related species of Phanerochaete sordida play an important role in increasing the decay risk caused by airborne wood-decay fungi.