Characterization of somatic embryogenesis initiated from the Arabidopsis shoot apex

Somatic embryogenesis is one of the best examples of the remarkable developmental plasticity of plants, in which committed somatic cells can dedifferentiate and acquire the ability to form an embryo and regenerate an entire plant. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the shoot apices of young seedlings have been reported as an alternative tissue source for somatic embryos (SEs) besides the widely studied zygotic embryos taken from siliques. Although SE induction from shoots demonstrates the plasticity of plants more clearly than the embryo-to-embryo induction system, the underlying developmental and molecular mechanisms involved are unknown. Here we characterized SE formation from shoot apex explants by establishing a system for time-lapse observation of explants during SE induction. We also established a method to distinguish SE-forming and non-SE-forming explants prior to anatomical SE formation, enabling us to identify distinct transcriptome profiles of these two explants at SE initiation. We show that embryonic fate commitment takes place at day 3 of SE induction and the SE arises directly, not through callus formation, from the base of leaf primordia just beside the shoot apical meristem (SAM), where auxin accumulates and shoot-root polarity is formed. The expression domain of a couple of key developmental genes for the SAM transiently expands at this stage. Our data demonstrate that SE-forming and non-SE-forming explants share mostly the same transcripts except for a limited number of embryonic genes and root genes that might trigger the SE-initiation program. Thus, SE-forming explants possess a mixed identity (SAM, root and embryo) at the time of SE specification

Arabidopsis Regeneration from Multiple Tissues Occurs via a Root Development Pathway

Unlike most animal cells, plant cells can easily regenerate new tissues from a wide variety of organs when properly cultured. The common elements that provide varied plant cells with their remarkable regeneration ability are still largely unknown. Here we describe the initial process of Arabidopsis in vitro regeneration, where a pluripotent cell mass termed callus is induced. We demonstrate that callus resembles the tip of a root meristem, even if it is derived from aerial organs such as petals, which clearly shows that callus formation is not a simple reprogramming process backward to an undifferentiated state as widely believed. Furthermore, callus formation in roots, cotyledons, and petals is blocked in mutant plants incapable of lateral root initiation. It thus appears that the ectopic activation of a lateral root development program is a common mechanism in callus formation from multiple organs

Characterization of somatic embryogenesis initiated from the Arabidopsis shoot apex

Somatic embryogenesis is one of the best examples of the remarkable developmental plasticity of plants, in which committed somatic cells can dedifferentiate and acquire the ability to form an embryo and regenerate an entire plant. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the shoot apices of young seedlings have been reported as an alternative tissue source for somatic embryos (SEs) besides the widely studied zygotic embryos taken from siliques. Although SE induction from shoots demonstrates the plasticity of plants more clearly than the embryo-to-embryo induction system, the underlying developmental and molecular mechanisms involved are unknown. Here we characterized SE formation from shoot apex explants by establishing a system for time-lapse observation of explants during SE induction. We also established a method to distinguish SE-forming and non-SE-forming explants prior to anatomical SE formation, enabling us to identify distinct transcriptome profiles of these two explants at SE initiation. We show that embryonic fate commitment takes place at day 3 of SE induction and the SE arises directly, not through callus formation, from the base of leaf primordia just beside the shoot apical meristem (SAM), where auxin accumulates and shoot-root polarity is formed. The expression domain of a couple of key developmental genes for the SAM transiently expands at this stage. Our data demonstrate that SE-forming and non-SE-forming explants share mostly the same transcripts except for a limited number of embryonic genes and root genes that might trigger the SE-initiation program. Thus, SE-forming explants possess a mixed identity (SAM, root and embryo) at the time of SE specification

Protocol : a method to study the direct reprogramming of lateral root primordia to fertile shoots

Background: Plants have the remarkable property to elaborate entire body plan from any tissue part. The conversion of lateral root primordium (LRP) to shoot is an ideal method for plant propagation and for plant researchers to understand the mechanism underlying trans-differentiation. Until now, however, a robust method that allows the efficient conversion of LRP to shoot is lacking. This has limited our ability to study the dynamic phases of reprogramming at cellular and molecular levels. Results: Here we present an efficient protocol for the direct conversion of LRP to a complete fertile shoot system. This protocol can be readily applied to the various ecotypes of Arabidopsis. We show that, the conversion process is highly responsive to developmental stages of LRP and changes in external environmental stimuli such as temperature. The entire conversion process can be adequately analyzed by histological and imaging techniques. As a demonstration, using a battery of cell fate specific markers, we show that confocal time-lapse imaging can be employed to uncover the early molecular events, intermediate developmental phases and relative abundance of stem cell regulators during the conversion of LRP to shoot. Conclusion: Our method is highly efficient, independent of genotypes tested and suitable to study the reprogramming of LRP to shoot in intact plants as well as in excised roots.Peer reviewe

The efficacy of incretin therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Although incretin therapy is clinically available in patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing hemodialysis, no study has yet examined whether incretin therapy is capable of maintaining glycemic control in this group of patients when switched from insulin therapy. In this study, we examined the efficacy of incretin therapy in patients with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS: Ten type 2 diabetic patients undergoing hemodialysis received daily 0.3 mg liraglutide, 50 mg vildagliptin, and 6.25 mg alogliptin switched from insulin therapy on both the day of hemodialysis and the non-hemodialysis day. Blood glucose level was monitored by continuous glucose monitoring. After blood glucose control by insulin, patients were treated with three types of incretin therapy in a randomized crossover manner, with continuous glucose monitoring performed for each treatment. RESULTS: During treatment with incretin therapies, severe hyperglycemia and ketosis were not observed in any patients. Maximum blood glucose and mean blood glucose on the day of hemodialysis were significantly lower after treatment with liraglutide compared with treatment with alogliptin (p < 0.05), but not with vildagliptin. The standard deviation value, a marker of glucose fluctuation, on the non-hemodialysis day was significantly lower after treatment with liraglutide compared with treatment with insulin and alogliptin (p < 0.05), but not with vildagliptin. Furthermore, the duration of hyperglycemia was significantly shorter after treatment with liraglutide on both the hemodialysis and non-hemodialysis days compared with treatment with alogliptin (p < 0.05), but not with vildagliptin. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented here suggest that patients with type 2 diabetes undergoing hemodialysis and insulin therapy could be treated with incretin therapy in some cases

Extensive Atrophic Gastritis Increases Intraduodenal Hydrogen Gas

Objective. Gastric acid plays an important part in the prevention of bacterial colonization of the gastrointestinal tract. If these bacteria have an ability of hydrogen (H2) fermentation, intraluminal H2 gas might be detected. We attempted to measure the intraluminal H2 concentrations to determine the bacterial overgrowth in the gastrointestinal tract. Patients and methods. Studies were performed in 647 consecutive patients undergoing upper endoscopy. At the time of endoscopic examination, we intubated the stomach and the descending part of the duodenum without inflation by air, and 20 mL of intraluminal gas samples of both sites was collected through the biopsy channel. Intraluminal H2 concentrations were measured by gas chromatography. Results. Intragastric and intraduodenal H2 gas was detected in 566 (87.5%) and 524 (81.0%) patients, respectively. The mean values of intragastric and intraduodenal H2 gas were 8.5 ± 15.9 and 13.2 ± 58.0 ppm, respectively. The intraduodenal H2 level was increased with the progression of atrophic gastritis, whereas the intragastric H2 level was the highest in patients without atrophic gastritis. Conclusions. The intraduodenal hydrogen levels were increased with the progression of atrophic gastritis. It is likely that the influence of hypochlorhydria on bacterial overgrowth in the proximal small intestine is more pronounced, compared to that in the stomach

A comprehensive survey on quantum computer usage: How many qubits are employed for what purposes?

Quantum computers (QCs), which work based on the law of quantum mechanics, are expected to be faster than classical computers in several computational tasks such as prime factoring and simulation of quantum many-body systems. In the last decade, research and development of QCs have rapidly advanced. Now hundreds of physical qubits are at our disposal, and one can find several remarkable experiments actually outperforming the classical computer in a specific computational task. On the other hand, it is unclear what the typical usages of the QCs are. Here we conduct an extensive survey on the papers that are posted in the quant-ph section in arXiv and claim to have used QCs in their abstracts. To understand the current situation of the research and development of the QCs, we evaluated the descriptive statistics about the papers, including the number of qubits employed, QPU vendors, application domains and so on. Our survey shows that the annual number of publications is increasing, and the typical number of qubits employed is about six to ten, growing along with the increase in the quantum volume (QV). Most of the preprints are devoted to applications such as quantum machine learning, condensed matter physics, and quantum chemistry, while quantum error correction and quantum noise mitigation use more qubits than the other topics. These imply that the increase in QV is fundamentally relevant, and more experiments for quantum error correction, and noise mitigation using shallow circuits with more qubits will take place.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, figures regenerate

Electrical detection of magnetic domain wall in Fe4N nanostrip by negative anisotropic magnetoresistance effect

The magnetic structure of the domain wall (DW) of a 30-nm-thick Fe4N epitaxial film with a negative spin polarization of the electrical conductivity is observed by magnetic force microscopy and is well explained by micromagnetic simulation. The Fe4N film is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a SrTiO3(001) substrate and processed into arc-shaped ferromagnetic nanostrips 0.3 μm wide by electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching with Cl2 and BCl3 plasma. Two electrodes mounted approximately 12 μm apart on the nanostrip register an electrical resistance at 8 K. By changing the direction of an external magnetic field (0.2 T), the presence or absence of a DW positioned in the nanostrip between the two electrodes can be controlled. The resistance is increased by approximately 0.5 Ω when the DW is located between the electrodes, which signifies the negative anisotropic magnetoresistance effect of Fe4N. The electrical detection of the resistance change is an important step toward the electrical detection of current-induced DW motion in Fe4N