Frontiers of torenia research: innovative ornamental traits and study of ecological interaction networks through genetic engineering

Advances in research in the past few years on the ornamental plant torenia (Torenia spps.) have made it notable as a model plant on the frontier of genetic engineering aimed at studying ornamental characteristics and pest control in horticultural ecosystems. The remarkable advantage of torenia over other ornamental plant species is the availability of an easy and high-efficiency transformation system for it. Unfortunately, most of the current torenia research is still not very widespread, because this species has not become prominent as an alternative to other successful model plants such as Arabidopsis, snapdragon and petunia. However, nowadays, a more global view using not only a few selected models but also several additional species are required for creating innovative ornamental traits and studying horticultural ecosystems. We therefore introduce and discuss recent research on torenia, the family Scrophulariaceae, for secondary metabolite bioengineering, in which global insights into horticulture, agriculture and ecology have been advanced. Floral traits, in torenia particularly floral color, have been extensively studied by manipulating the flavonoid biosynthetic pathways in flower organs. Plant aroma, including volatile terpenoids, has also been genetically modulated in order to understand the complicated nature of multi-trophic interactions that affect the behavior of predators and pollinators in the ecosystem. Torenia would accordingly be of great use for investigating both the variation in ornamental plants and the infochemical-mediated interactions with arthropods

Seismic performance of group pile foundation with ground improvement during liquefaction

A pile foundation with ground improvement under the footing is a composite foundation with the objectives of enhancing the seismic performance and rationalizing the substructure by combining the pile foundation with ground improvement. Although the effectiveness of this method has been confirmed in previous studies for application to soft grounds, the applicability of this method to liquefiable grounds has yet to be fully investigated. In this study, therefore, centrifuge model tests and finite element analyses were conducted to clarify the effectiveness of this method and to ascertain the improvement in strength (stiffness) when the method is applied to a liquefiable ground. Firstly, in order to investigate the effect of an improved ground on the behavior of the pile foundation during liquefaction, dynamic centrifuge model tests were conducted for three cases with different strengths of the improved ground. Then, three-dimensional soil–water coupled finite element analyses of the centrifuge model experiments were performed to validate the applicability of the analytical method. After that, parametric studies, in which the strength of the improved ground and the input ground motion were changed, were conducted using the same analytical model. The results confirmed that the horizontal displacement of the pile heads was reduced by the improved ground even in the liquefiable ground, and that the effect of this reduction was more remarkable in cases of high stiffness of the improved ground. Furthermore, it was possible to reduce the bending moments at the pile heads by applying the ground improvement. However, since the bending moment at the boundary between the improved ground and the natural ground became the local maximum, there was an optimum stiffness of the ground improvement at which the maximum bending moment of the piles was reduced. This is because improving the ground around the pile heads has the same effect as extending the footing. It was thus concluded that the behavior of the pile foundation is similar to that of a composite foundation comprised of a caisson and group piles

A Case of Hiatal Hernia with Upside Down Stomach and Incarcerated Transverse Colon Successfully Treated by Laparoscopic Floppy Nissen Fundoplication

症例は50歳の女性。食後の呼吸困難感のため近医より紹介受診となった。上部消化管造影検査では胃全体が縦隔内に脱出していた。またCT検査では横行結腸の縦隔内への脱出も認めた。以上より，横行結腸嵌入を伴う upside down stomach を呈する食道裂孔ヘルニアと診断し腹腔鏡下手術を行った。食道裂孔より縦隔内の胃や横行結腸を腹腔内に還納したが虚血を疑う所見や狭窄所見は認めなかった。開大した食道裂孔を縫合閉鎖した後にメッシュを用いた食道裂孔の補強と floppy Nissen 法による噴門形成術を施行し，術後経過は良好であった。食道裂孔ヘルニアへの横行結腸嵌入はまれな病態であるが，狭窄・壊死・穿孔のため緊急手術の報告もあり早期に手術治療を行う必要があると考えられた。A 50-year-old woman suffering from dyspnea after meals consulted a nearby hospital. In the upper gastrointestinal series, the whole stomach had herniated into the mediastinum. An abdominal CT scan showed the transverse colon to have prolapsed into mediastinum. Esophageal hiatal hernia with upside down stomach and incarcerated transverse colon was diagnosed, and laparoscopic surgery was performed. We returned the stomach and transverse colon to the abdominal cavity, they didn’t become ischemic and constricted. We sutured a dilated opening of hiatal hernia by simple crural closure, additionally closed with a mesh, and a floppy Nissen fundoplication was performed. The postoperative course of the patient was uneventful. Although hiatal hernia with incarcerated transverse colon is very rare, it was necessary that surgical treatment was performed earlier because some emergency laparotomy were reported with transverse colon resection

Strict De Novo Methylation of the 35S Enhancer Sequence in Gentian

A novel transgene silencing phenomenon was found in the ornamental plant, gentian (Gentiana triflora × G. scabra), in which the introduced Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter region was strictly methylated, irrespective of the transgene copy number and integrated loci. Transgenic tobacco having the same vector did not show the silencing behavior. Not only unmodified, but also modified 35S promoters containing a 35S enhancer sequence were found to be highly methylated in the single copy transgenic gentian lines. The 35S core promoter (−90)-introduced transgenic lines showed a small degree of methylation, implying that the 35S enhancer sequence was involved in the methylation machinery. The rigorous silencing phenomenon enabled us to analyze methylation in a number of the transgenic lines in parallel, which led to the discovery of a consensus target region for de novo methylation, which comprised an asymmetric cytosine (CpHpH; H is A, C or T) sequence. Consequently, distinct footprints of de novo methylation were detected in each (modified) 35S promoter sequence, and the enhancer region (−148 to −85) was identified as a crucial target for de novo methylation. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) showed that complexes formed in gentian nuclear extract with the −149 to −124 and −107 to −83 region probes were distinct from those of tobacco nuclear extracts, suggesting that the complexes might contribute to de novo methylation. Our results provide insights into the phenomenon of sequence- and species- specific gene silencing in higher plants

A case of pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma metastatic to skin

We report a rare case of pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma with widespread metastases in a 68-year-old woman who presented with subcutaneous nodules as the initial symptom. Computed tomography showed a pancreatic mass with hepatic tumors and enlarged lymph nodes besides ring-enhanced subcutaneous nodules. Magnetic resonance diffusionweighted imaging detected the presence of lesions in other organs. Histological analysis of a colonic polypoid lesion revealed carcinoma with endocrine and acinar differentiation compatible with pancreatic origin. Regrettably, she died of a cerebral infarction without any treatment, and autopsy findings confirmed our diagnosis

Genome Analysis Revives a Forgotten Hybrid Crop Edo-dokoro in the Genus Dioscorea

忘れられた作物「えどどころ」の起原 --ゲノム解析が明らかにする青森県三八上北地域に残る栽培イモの歴史--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.A rhizomatous Dioscorea crop “Edo-dokoro” was described in old records of Japan, but its botanical identify has not been characterized. We found that Edo-dokoro is still produced by four farmers in Tohoku-machi of Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Rhizomes of Edo-dokoro are a delicacy to the local people and are sold in the markets. Morphological characters of Edo-dokoro suggest its hybrid origin between the two species, D. tokoro and D. tenuipes. Genome analysis revealed that Edo-dokoro is likely originated by hybridization of a male D. tokoro to a female D. tenuipes, followed by a backcross with a male plant of D. tokoro. Edo-dokoro is a typical minor crop possibly maintained for more than 300 years but now almost forgotten from the public. We hypothesize that there are many such uncharacterized genetic heritages passed over generations by small scale farmers that await serious scientific investigation for future use and improvement by using modern genomics information

The 3′-Phosphoadenosine 5′-Phosphosulfate Transporters, PAPST1 and 2, Contribute to the Maintenance and Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Recently, we have identified two 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS) transporters (PAPST1 and PAPST2), which contribute to PAPS transport into the Golgi, in both human and Drosophila. Mutation and RNA interference (RNAi) of the Drosophila PAPST have shown the importance of PAPST-dependent sulfation of carbohydrates and proteins during development. However, the functional roles of PAPST in mammals are largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether PAPST-dependent sulfation is involved in regulating signaling pathways required for the maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), differentiation into the three germ layers, and neurogenesis. By using a yeast expression system, mouse PAPST1 and PAPST2 proteins were shown to have PAPS transport activity with an apparent Km value of 1.54 µM or 1.49 µM, respectively. RNAi-mediated knockdown of each PAPST induced the reduction of chondroitin sulfate (CS) chain sulfation as well as heparan sulfate (HS) chain sulfation, and inhibited mESC self-renewal due to defects in several signaling pathways. However, we suggest that these effects were due to reduced HS, not CS, chain sulfation, because knockdown of mouse N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase, which catalyzes the first step of HS sulfation, in mESCs gave similar results to those observed in PAPST-knockdown mESCs, but depletion of CS chains did not. On the other hand, during embryoid body formation, PAPST-knockdown mESCs exhibited abnormal differentiation, in particular neurogenesis was promoted, presumably due to the observed defects in BMP, FGF and Wnt signaling. The latter were reduced as a result of the reduction in both HS and CS chain sulfation. We propose that PAPST-dependent sulfation of HS or CS chains, which is regulated developmentally, regulates the extrinsic signaling required for the maintenance and normal differentiation of mESCs

Hybrid anode design of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis cells for ultra-high current density operation with low platinum group metal loading

Reducing platinum group metal (PGM) loading and high current density operation are both essential for minimizing the capital expenditure (CAPEX) of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Catalyst-integrated porous transport electrodes (PTEs) in which iridium acts as both a catalyst and a conductive coating on porous transport layer (PTL) surfaces, enable the preparation of Pt-coating-free PTLs, but can also result in relatively high activation and ohmic overvoltages. Here, a novel hybrid anode design combining an intermediate catalyst layer and a catalyst-integrated PTE is developed. This hybrid anode demonstrates that Ir on PTL can contribute to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and exhibits comparable electrolysis performance to a conventional anode consisting of Pt-coated PTL with the same Ir loadings despite Pt-coating-free on the PTL of the hybrid anode. This novel anode eliminates the need for a Pt coating whilst also enabling ultra-high current density operations up to 20 A cm−2 with a total PGM loading of only around 0.6 mg cm−2 on the anode side. This paper proposes a next-generation anode structure with new functions of PTLs for ultra-high current density operation with low PGM loading to significantly reduce green hydrogen costs

Ru-core Ir-shell electrocatalysts deposited on a surface-modified Ti-based porous transport layer for polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis

Novel Ru-core Ir-shell catalyst-integrated porous transport electrodes (PTEs) for polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) cells are prepared, in which Ru-core Ir-shell catalyst nanostructures are directly deposited onto a porous transport layer (PTL) via arc plasma deposition (APD). The PTL has a nanostructured TiO2 surface prepared via NaOH etching, acting as a catalyst support. The performance and durability of these Ru-core Ir-shell catalysts depend strongly on the ratio of Ir and Ru. The current-voltage (I–V) characteristics of PEMWE cells were improved by applying these core-shell catalysts with a low Ir loading of around 0.1 mg cm−2. The core-shell catalyst-integrated PTEs can operate at current densities of up to 10 A cm−2 without exhibiting limiting current behavior. This unique combination of the core-shell catalyst and the PTE structure enables PEMWE cell operation with low iridium loading and high current density, potentially reducing the cost of green hydrogen