Role of hepatic STAT3 in brain-insulin action on hepatic glucose production

SummarySTAT3 regulates glucose homeostasis by suppressing the expression of gluconeogenic genes in the liver. The mechanism by which hepatic STAT3 is regulated by nutritional or hormonal status has remained unknown, however. Here, we show that an increase in the plasma insulin concentration, achieved either by glucose administration or by intravenous insulin infusion, stimulates tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT3 in the liver. This effect of insulin was mediated by the hormone's effects in the brain, and the increase in hepatic IL-6 induced by the brain-insulin action is essential for the activation of STAT3. The inhibition of hepatic glucose production and of expression of gluconeogenic genes induced by intracerebral ventricular insulin infusion was impaired in mice with liver-specific STAT3 deficiency or in mice with IL-6 deficiency. These results thus indicate that IL-6-STAT3 signaling in the liver contributes to insulin action in the brain, leading to the suppression of hepatic glucose production

Extended-knee walk for humanoid robot with parallel link legs

10.1142/S0219843609001917International Journal of Humanoid Robotics64565-58

The map-based sequence of the rice genome

Rice, one of the world's most important food plants, has important syntenic relationships with the other cereal species and is a model plant for the grasses. Here we present a map-based, finished quality sequence that covers 95% of the 389Mb genome, including virtually all of the euchromatin and two complete centromeres. A total of 37,544 nontransposable- element-related protein-coding genes were identified, of which 71% had a putative homologue in Arabidopsis. In a reciprocal analysis, 90% of the Arabidopsis proteins had a putative homologue in the predicted rice proteome. Twenty-nine per cent of the 37,544 predicted genes appear in clustered gene families. The number and classes of transposable elements found in the rice genome are consistent with the expansion of syntenic regions in the maize and sorghum genomes. We find evidence for widespread and recurrent gene transfer from the organelles to the nuclear chromosomes. The map-based sequence has proven useful for the identification of genes underlying agronomic traits. The additional single-nucleotide polymorphisms and simple sequence repeats identified in our study should accelerate improvements in rice production