Initial Results from the Nobeyama Molecular Gas Observations of Distant Bright Galaxies

We present initial results from the CO survey toward high redshift galaxies using the Nobeyama 45m telescope. Using the new wide bandwidth spectrometer equipped with a two-beam SIS receiver, we have robust new detections of three high redshift (z=1.6-3.4) submillimeter galaxies (SXDF 1100.001, SDP9, and SDP17), one tentative detection (SDSS J160705+533558), and one non-detection (COSMOS-AzTEC1). The galaxies observed during the commissioning phase are sources with known spectroscopic redshifts from previous optical or from wide-band submm spectroscopy. The derived molecular gas mass and line widths from Gaussian fits are ~10^11 Msun and 430-530 km/s, which are consistent with previous CO observations of distant submm galaxies and quasars. The spectrometer that allows a maximum of 32 GHz instantaneous bandwidth will provide new science capabilities at the Nobeyama 45m telescope, allowing us to determine redshifts of bright submm selected galaxies without any prior redshift information.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, PASJ Letter Accepte

Altered branching patterns of Purkinje cells in mouse model for cortical development disorder

Disrupted cortical cytoarchitecture in cerebellum is a typical pathology in reeler. Particularly interesting are structural problems at the cellular level: dendritic morphology has important functional implication in signal processing. Here we describe a combinatorial imaging method of synchrotron X-ray microtomography with Golgi staining, which can deliver 3-dimensional(3-D) micro-architectures of Purkinje cell(PC) dendrites, and give access to quantitative information in 3-D geometry. In reeler, we visualized in 3-D geometry the shape alterations of planar PC dendrites (i.e., abnormal 3-D arborization). Despite these alterations, the 3-D quantitative analysis of the branching patterns showed no significant changes of the 77 ± 8° branch angle, whereas the branch segment length strongly increased with large fluctuations, comparing to control. The 3-D fractal dimension of the PCs decreased from 1.723 to 1.254, indicating a significant reduction of dendritic complexity. This study provides insights into etiologies and further potential treatment options for lissencephaly and various neurodevelopmental disorders

Role of BMP, FGF, Calcium Signaling, and Zic Proteins in Vertebrate Neuroectodermal Differentiation

More than a decade has passed since Zic family zinc finger proteins were discovered to be transcription factors controlling neuroectodermal differentiation (neural induction) in Xenopus laevis embryos. Although BMP-signal blocking has been shown to be a major upregulator of Zic genes in neuroectodermal differentiation, recent studies have revealed that FGF signaling and intracellular calcium elevation are also involved in regulating the expression of Zic genes. Different regulatory mechanisms have been found for the Zic1 and Zic3 genes, raising the possibility that functional synergism between them partly accounts for the integration of BMP-signal blocking and FGF signaling in neuroectodermal differentiation. Furthermore, mammalian Zic1 and Zic3 have been found to be neural-cell-fate-inducing and pluripotency-maintaining factors, respectively, leading us to the intriguing question of whether the mechanism underlying amphibian neuroectodermal differentiation is applicable to mammals. Comprehensive understanding of the Zic family genes is therefore essential for the study of the neuroectodermal differentiation and stem cell biology

Ionotropic Glutamate Receptor AMPA 1 Is Associated with Ovulation Rate

Ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate most excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system by opening ion channels upon the binding of glutamate. Despite the essential roles of glutamate in the control of reproduction and anterior pituitary hormone secretion, there is a limited understanding of how glutamate receptors control ovulation. Here we reveal the function of the ionotropic glutamate receptor AMPA-1 (GRIA1) in ovulation. Based on a genome-wide association study in Bos taurus, we found that ovulation rate is influenced by a variation in the N-terminal leucine/isoleucine/valine-binding protein (LIVBP) domain of GRIA1, in which serine is replaced by asparagine. GRIA1Asn has a weaker affinity to glutamate than GRIA1Ser, both in Xenopus oocytes and in the membrane fraction of bovine brain. This single amino acid substitution leads to the decreased release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in immortalized hypothalamic GT1-7 cells. Cows with GRIA1Asn have a slower luteinizing hormone (LH) surge than cows with GRIA1Ser. In addition, cows with GRIA1Asn possess fewer immature ovarian follicles before superovulation and have a lower response to hormone treatment than cows with GRIA1Ser. Our work identified that GRIA1 is a critical mediator of ovulation and that GRIA1 might be a useful target for reproductive therapy

Gene Knock-Outs of Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors Types 1 and 2 Result in Perturbation of Cardiogenesis

Rs in cardiogenesis remain unclear.Rs mimicked the phenotype of the AV valve defect that result from the inhibition of calcineurin, and it could be rescued by constitutively active calcineurin.Rs in cardiogenesis in part through the regulation of calcineurin-NFAT signaling

Molecular structure and developmental expression of zebrafish atp2a genes

[[abstract]]We isolated two atp2a genes, atp2a1 and atp2a2a, from embryonic zebrafish. Amino acid sequences deduced from zebrafish atp2a genes are aligned with orthologue proteins from other species, the results showed that they share high percentage of identities (82%–94%) and acidic pIs (5.03–5.33). Whole mount in situ hybridization experiments showed that atp2a1 and atp2a2a are maternal inherited genes which can be detected at 1-cell stage embryos and express in the entire animal pole from 6 hours post-fertilization (hpf) to 12 hpf. At the later stages (48–96 hpf), expression of atp2a1 was restricted in head and trunk muscles as well as in some neurons. In contrast to the strongly expression of atp2a1 in head muscle, expression of atp2a2a was detected in head muscle in a fainter manner. In addition, transcripts of atp2a2a were observed in the developing heart during early cardiogenesis. The present studies not only help us to comparatively analyze atp2a genes across species, but also provide useful information about expressions during early embryogenesis that will help in further investigations of functional studies of Atp2a in the future.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙