Estrogen-inducible GFP expression patterns in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

We investigated estrogen-inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression patterns using an estrogen receptor fused chimeric transcription activator, XVE, in the monocotyledonous model plant rice (Oryza sativa L.). This system has been shown to be an effective chemical-inducible gene expression system in Arabidopsis and has been applied to other plants in order to investigate gene functions or produce marker-free transgenic plants. However, limited information is available on the correlation between inducer concentration and the expression level of the gene induced in monocots. Here, we produced a transgenic rice integrated estrogen-inducible GFP expression vector, pLex:GFP, and investigated dose–response and time-course patterns of GFP induction in rice calli and seedlings for the first time. With 17-β-estradiol treatment at >5 μM, GFP signals were detected in the entire surface of calli within 2 days of culture. Highest GFP signals were extended for 8 days with estradiol treatment at 25 μM. In three-leaf-stage seedlings, GFP signals in the leaves of pLex:GFP-integrated transgenic lines were weaker than those in the leaves of p35S:GFP-integrated transgenic lines. However, GFP signals in the roots of pLex:GFP- and p35S:GFP-integrated transgenic lines were similar with estradiol treatment at >10 μM. With regard to controlling appropriate gene expression, these results might provide helpful indications on estradiol treatment conditions to be used for the XVE system in rice and other monocots

Random regression for modeling soybean plant response to irrigation changes using time-series multispectral data

Plant response to drought is an important yield-related trait under abiotic stress, but the method for measuring and modeling plant responses in a time series has not been fully established. The objective of this study was to develop a method to measure and model plant response to irrigation changes using time-series multispectral (MS) data. We evaluated 178 soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) accessions under three irrigation treatments at the Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Japan in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The irrigation treatments included W5: watering for 5 d followed by no watering 5 d, W10: watering for 10 d followed by no watering 10 d, D10: no watering for 10 d followed by watering 10 d, and D: no watering. To capture the plant responses to irrigation changes, time-series MS data were collected by unmanned aerial vehicle during the irrigation/non-irrigation switch of each irrigation treatment. We built a random regression model (RRM) for each of combination of treatment by year using the time-series MS data. To test the accuracy of the information captured by RRM, we evaluated the coefficient of variation (CV) of fresh shoot weight of all accessions under a total of nine different drought conditions as an indicator of plant’s stability under drought stresses. We built a genomic prediction model (MTRRM model) using the genetic random regression coefficients of RRM as secondary traits and evaluated the accuracy of each model for predicting CV. In 2020 and 2021,the mean prediction accuracies of MTRRM models built in the changing irrigation treatments (r = 0.44 and 0.49, respectively) were higher than that in the continuous drought treatment (r = 0.34 and 0.44, respectively) in the same year. When the CV was predicted using the MTRRM model across 2020 and 2021 in the changing irrigation treatment, the mean prediction accuracy (r = 0.46) was 42% higher than that of the simple genomic prediction model (r =0.32). The results suggest that this RRM method using the time-series MS data can effectively capture the genetic variation of plant response to drought

Relationship between adenovirus DNA replication proteins and nucleolar proteins B23.1 and B23.2

Adenovirus infection subverts nucleolar structure and function. B23 is a nucleolar protein present in two isoforms (B23.1 and B23.2) and both isoforms have been identified as stimulatory factors for adenovirus DNA replication. Here, it is demonstrated that the two isoforms of B23, B23.1 and B23.2, interact and co-localize differently with viral DNA replication proteins pTP and DBP in adenovirus-infected cells. Thus, the mechanism by which the two proteins stimulate viral DNA replication is likely to differ. These data also demonstrate the importance of testing both isoforms of B23 for interactions with viral proteins and nucleic acids

Survey Interviews on How Teachers and Students Recognize our Community Clinical Psychological Support Activities for an Evening High School

これまで筆者らは、ある定時制高校において相談室の開室やグループワークなどの支援活動を続け、その報告を行ってきた。しかし、ユーザーである先生方や生徒らからどのように認識されているのかは明らかになっていなかった。そこで今回、校内支援委員会の先生方と相談室を利用していた生徒を対象にインタビューを実施し、活動がどのように認識されており、どのようなニーズがあるのかについて調査した。その結果、筆者らの活動が、生徒らにとって“安心して話せる居場所”を提供していたことと、生徒同士や、先生と生徒という関係とは異なる「斜めの関係」（平井，1997；文部科学省）で生徒とつながっていることなど、筆者らならではの意義が示された。また、支援活動へのニーズとして、①先生方との情報共有、②学習支援、③就職・キャリア支援の3 点が明らかとなった。今後の課題は①校内支援委員会の機会を持ったり、共有ノートを活用していくこと、②筆者らの専門性を活かしながら関係づくりを行い、生徒らの登校意欲や学習意欲向上につなげること、③筆者らの体験談を生徒に語ることで、生徒らの進路について共に考えていく場を作っていくことなどが考えられた。さらに、相談室をより親しみのあるものにしていくため、「相談室」という名称を見直していく必要性についても考察された。The authors have been reporting on our activities to provide community clinical psychological support for an evening high school. However, thus far, the issue of how teachers and students recognize our activities, have not been addressed. Hence, interviews were conducted. The interviews found that our activities have been offering some space for students to feel safe in a "diagonal" relationship that has a different quality from that between students and teachers. It also became apparent from the interviews that we are expected to: 1) share information with the teachers; 2) assist students for learning in class; and 3) engage further in students\u27 career development. We are hoping to: 1) have a meeting together and share a notebook with teachers; 2) motivate students to attend school and study with our own expertise; and 3) offer some opportunities for students to consider career and academic development by disclosing our own personal experiences. In addition, the possibility of changing the name of the room from "consulting room" to something else in order to make it more accessible for students was discussed

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of kabocha squash (Cucurbita moschata Duch) induced by wounding with aluminum borate whiskers

An efficient genetic transformation method for kabocha squash (Cucurbita moschata Duch cv. Heiankogiku) was established by wounding cotyledonary node explants with aluminum borate whiskers prior to inoculation with Agrobacterium. Adventitious shoots were induced from only the proximal regions of the cotyledonary nodes and were most efficiently induced on Murashige–Skoog agar medium with 1 mg/L benzyladenine. Vortexing with 1% (w/v) aluminum borate whiskers significantly increased Agrobacterium infection efficiency in the proximal region of the explants. Transgenic plants were screened at the T0 generation by sGFP fluorescence, genomic PCR, and Southern blot analyses. These transgenic plants grew normally and T1 seeds were obtained. We confirmed stable integration of the transgene and its inheritance in T1 generation plants by sGFP fluorescence and genomic PCR analyses. The average transgenic efficiency for producing kabocha squashes with our method was about 2.7%, a value sufficient for practical use

Community Clinical Psychological Support of an Evening High School (III)

筆者らは今年度もある定時制高校への心理臨床的な支援を行ってきた。今年は高校の先生方が筆者らを校内支援委員会に招いたり、生徒の情報を積極的に提供してくださったりするなど、筆者らの支援活動の意義が先生方に確かに認められていることを感じる年であった。そこで、本稿はいつものように、本年度1年間の活動経過を記述のうえで、先生方との連携が強くなっていることを示す2つの事例を描写する。そして、このような高校支援のあり方に関するモデルを提示する。For the past two years, the authors have been continuing to provide psychological support to an evening high school. Some changes have occurred; school teachers invited us to attend an in-school committee and constantly shared information about students in difficult situations. It implies that our activity and its significance have been recognized among the teachers. In this article, the details of our activity is reported with two cases which show growth in our coalition with the teachers. A model for providing psychological support to high schools is also introduced

Relationship between hybridization frequency of Brassica juncea ^|^times; B. napus and distance from pollen source (B. napus) to recipient (B. juncea) under field conditions in Japan

We describe two data structures that preprocess a set S of n points in R(d) (d constant) so that the sum of Euclidean distances of points in S to a query point q can be quickly approximated to within a factor of ε. This preprocessing technique has several applications in clustering and facility location. Using it, we derive an O(nlogn) time deterministic and O(n) time randomized ε-approximation algorithm for the so called Fermat-Weber proble