103 research outputs found

    Genetic distance of inbred lines of Chinese cabbage and its relationship to heterosis

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    AbstractChinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. var. pekinensis) is an important vegetable in Asia. Most Japanese commercial cultivars of Chinese cabbage use an F1 hybrid seed production system because of the high yielding cultivars produced. An efficient method for predicting hybrid performance in the parental generations is desired, and genetic distance between parental lines might be a good indicator of the level of hybrid vigor in a cross. Information concerning the genetic relationships among parental candidate inbred lines is useful for variety protection. The number of DNA markers available that can be used to assess the purity of inbred lines is limited in B. rapa. The aim of this study is to use DNA markers to assess the genetic distance between inbred lines to examine early developmental and yield heterosis so as to develop methods for selecting the best parental lines for the production of hybrids. We screened highly polymorphic SSR and CAPS markers to assess the genetic uniformity of inbred lines and characterize their genetic relationship. We examined the early size and yield heterosis in 32 F1 hybrids of Chinese cabbage. There was a moderate correlation in mid-parent heterosis between leaf size at 21days after sowing and harvested biomass but not in best-parent heterosis. In contrast there was no correlation between genetic distance and mid-parent or best-parent heterosis, indicating that genetic distance does not predict the heterosis phenotype

    A Novel CLEIA for FGF23

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    Introduction: Measurement of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) has been reported to be clinically useful for the differential diagnosis of chronic hypophosphatemia. However, assays for research use only are available in Japan. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine the clinical utility of a novel and automated chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay for the measurement of FGF23. Materials and Methods: Participants were recruited from July 2015 to January 2017 at six facilities in Japan. Thirty-eight patients with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets (XLH; 15 males, 23 females, age 0–66 years), five patients with tumour-induced osteomalacia (TIO; 3 males, 2 females, age 60–73 years), and twenty-two patients with hypophosphatemia (11 males, 11 females, age 1–75 years) caused due to other factors participated in this study. Results: With the clinical cut-off value of FGF23 at 30.0 pg/mL indicated in the Diagnostic Guideline of Rickets/Osteomalacia in Japan, the sensitivity and specificity of FGF23-related hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia without vitamin D deficiency (disease group-1) were 100% and 81.8%, respectively, which distinguished it from non-FGF23-related hypophosphatemia (disease group-2). Furthermore, the diagnostic sensitivity of FGF23-related hypophosphatemia with vitamin D deficiency remained at 100%. Among the four patients with FGF23 levels ≥ 30.0 pg/mL in disease group-2, two patients with relatively higher FGF23 values were suspected to have genuine FGF23-related hypophosphatemia, due to the ectopic production of FGF23 in pulmonary and prostate small cell carcinomas. Conclusion: The novel FGF23 assay tested in this study is useful for the differential diagnosis of hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia in a clinical setting

    PAI-1 mediates acquired resistance to MET-targeted therapy in non-small cell lung cancer

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    Mechanisms underlying primary and acquired resistance to MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in managing non-small cell lung cancer remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the possible mechanisms acquired for crizotinib in MET-amplified lung carcinoma cell lines. Two MET-amplified lung cancer cell lines, EBC-1 and H1993, were established for acquired resistance to MET-TKI crizotinib and were functionally elucidated. Genomic and transcriptomic data were used to assess the factors contributing to the resistance mechanism, and the alterations hypothesized to confer resistance were validated. Multiple mechanisms underlie acquired resistance to crizotinib in MET-amplified lung cancer cell lines. In EBC-1-derived resistant cells, the overexpression of SERPINE1, the gene encoding plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), mediated the drug resistance mechanism. Crizotinib resistance was addressed by combination therapy with a PAI-1 inhibitor and PAI-1 knockdown. Another mechanism of resistance in different subline cells of EBC-1 was evaluated as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition with the upregulation of antiapoptotic proteins. In H1993-derived resistant cells, MEK inhibitors could be a potential therapeutic strategy for overcoming resistance with downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway activation. In this study, we revealed the different mechanisms of acquired resistance to the MET inhibitor crizotinib with potential therapeutic application in patients with MET-amplified lung carcinoma

    Molecular and cellular characteristics of hybrid vigour in a commercial hybrid of Chinese cabbage

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    Abstract Background Heterosis or hybrid vigour is a phenomenon in which hybrid progeny exhibit superior performance compared to their parental inbred lines. Most commercial Chinese cabbage cultivars are F1 hybrids and their level of hybrid vigour is of critical importance and is a key selection criterion in the breeding system. Results We have characterized the heterotic phenotype of one F1 hybrid cultivar of Chinese cabbage and its parental lines from early- to late-developmental stages of the plants. Hybrid cotyledons are larger than those of the parents at 4 days after sowing and biomass in the hybrid, determined by the fresh weight of leaves, is greater than that of the larger parent line by approximately 20 % at 14 days after sowing. The final yield of the hybrid harvested at 63 days after sowing is 25 % greater than the yield of the better parent. The larger leaves of the hybrid are a consequence of increased cell size and number of the photosynthetic palisade mesophyll cells and other leaf cells. The accumulation of plant hormones in the F1 was within the range of the parental levels at both 2 and 10 days after sowing. Two days after sowing, the expression levels of chloroplast-targeted genes in the cotyledon cells were upregulated in the F1 hybrid relative to their mid parent values. Shutdown of chlorophyll biosynthesis in the cotyledon by norflurazon prevented the increased leaf area in the F1 hybrid. Conclusions In the cotyledons of F1 hybrids, chloroplast-targeted genes were upregulated at 2 days after sowing. The increased activity levels of this group of genes suggested that their differential transcription levels could be important for establishing early heterosis but the increased transcription levels were transient. Inhibition of the photosynthetic process in the cotyledon reduced heterosis in later seedling stages. These observations suggest early developmental events in the germinating seedling of the hybrid may be important for later developmental vigour and yield advantage.This work was supported in part by a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (24113509) (JSPS), by the Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant (24–517) from The Japan Science Society, by Grant for Promotion of Niigata University Research Projects (23C024) and by PREST (12101066) (JST) to R. Fujimoto

    Impact of Hands-on Experience of a Cadaver Dissection on the Professional Identity Formation of Health Sciences Students

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    [Background] In Japan, some nursing and health science universities that train nurses and/or clinical laboratory technicians have a curriculum in which students observe medical students performing a cadaver dissection. Observing a cadaver dissection is believed to affect the formation of a student’s professional identity. This study aimed to investigate the effects of observing a cadaver dissection on the professional identity of nursing and clinical laboratory science students to find an effective educational support system for developing professional identity. [Methods] Sophomores majoring in nursing science or clinical laboratory science were asked to complete a questionnaire with a professional identity scale before and after hands-on experience of a cadaver dissection performed by medical students. After their hands-on session was complete, they responded to a free-answer question about acquiring a professional identity. [Results] The professional identity score of nursing students significantly decreased after the hands-on experience of the cadaver dissection. No significant change in professional identity score was observed in the clinical laboratory science students. However, the effect size (r) was moderate. [Conclusion] Although professional identity formation fluctuates immediately after the experience of the hands-on experience of a cadaver dissection, the findings do suggest that these hands-on sessions will be effective for developing their professional identity if educational support is provided to help them utilize what they learned through reflection

    Long noncoding RNAs in Brassica rapa L. following vernalization

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    © 2019, The Author(s). Brassica rapa L. is an important agricultural crop that requires a period of prolonged cold for flowering. This process is known as vernalization. Studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in abiotic stress responses and several cold-responsive noncoding RNAs have been suggested to be involved in vernalization. We examined the transcriptome of the Chinese cabbage inbred line (B. rapa L. var. pekinensis) RJKB-T24, and identified 1,444 long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs), 551 natural antisense transcripts (NATs), and 93 intronic noncoding RNAs (incRNAs); 549 of the 2,088 lncRNAs significantly altered their expression in response to four weeks of cold treatment. Most differentially expressed lncRNAs did not lead to a change of expression levels in mRNAs covering or near lncRNAs, suggesting that the transcriptional responses to four weeks of cold treatment in lncRNA and mRNA are independent. However, some differentially expressed mRNAs had NATs with expression altered in the same direction. These genes were categorized as having an abiotic stress response, suggesting that the paired-expression may play a role in the transcriptional response to vernalization or cold treatment. We also identified short-term cold treatment induced NATs in BrFLC and BrMAF genes, which are involved in vernalization. The lncRNAs we identified differed from those reported in Arabidopsis thaliana, suggesting the role of lncRNAs in vernalization differ between these two species

    The Differentiable Functions from R into Rⁿ

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    In control engineering, differentiable partial functions from R into Rⁿ play a very important role. In this article, we formalized basic properties of such functions.Narita Keiko - Hirosaki-city, Aomori, JapanKorniłowicz Artur - Institute of Informatics, University of Białystok, Sosnowa 64, 15-887 Białystok, PolandShidama Yasunari - Shinshu University, Nagano, JapanGrzegorz Bancerek. The fundamental properties of natural numbers. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):41-46, 1990.Grzegorz Bancerek. The ordinal numbers. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):91-96, 1990.Grzegorz Bancerek and Krzysztof Hryniewiecki. Segments of natural numbers and finite sequences. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):107-114, 1990.Czesław Byliński. The complex numbers. Formalized Mathematics, 1(3):507-513, 1990.Czesław Byliński. Finite sequences and tuples of elements of a non-empty sets. Formalized Mathematics, 1(3):529-536, 1990.Czesław Byliński. Functions and their basic properties. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):55-65, 1990.Czesław Byliński. Functions from a set to a set. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):153-164, 1990.Czesław Byliński. Partial functions. Formalized Mathematics, 1(2):357-367, 1990.Czesław Byliński. The sum and product of finite sequences of real numbers. Formalized Mathematics, 1(4):661-668, 1990.Agata Darmochwał. The Euclidean space. Formalized Mathematics, 2(4):599-603, 1991.Noboru Endou and Yasunari Shidama. Completeness of the real Euclidean space. Formalized Mathematics, 13(4):577-580, 2005.Noboru Endou, Yasunari Shidama, and Keiichi Miyajima. Partial differentiation on normed linear spaces Rn. Formalized Mathematics, 15(2):65-72, 2007, doi:10.2478/v10037-007-0008-5.Hiroshi Imura, Morishige Kimura, and Yasunari Shidama. The differentiable functions on normed linear spaces. Formalized Mathematics, 12(3):321-327, 2004.Takao Inoué, Adam Naumowicz, Noboru Endou, and Yasunari Shidama. Partial differentiation of vector-valued functions on n-dimensional real normed linear spaces. Formalized Mathematics, 19(1):1-9, 2011, doi: 10.2478/v10037-011-0001-x.Keiichi Miyajima and Yasunari Shidama. Riemann integral of functions from R into Rn. Formalized Mathematics, 17(2):179-185, 2009, doi: 10.2478/v10037-009-0021-y.Keiko Narita, Artur Kornilowicz, and Yasunari Shidama. More on the continuity of real functions. Formalized Mathematics, 19(4):233-239, 2011, doi: 10.2478/v10037-011-0032-3.Takaya Nishiyama, Keiji Ohkubo, and Yasunari Shidama. The continuous functions on normed linear spaces. Formalized Mathematics, 12(3):269-275, 2004.Hiroyuki Okazaki, Noboru Endou, Keiko Narita, and Yasunari Shidama. Differentiable functions into real normed spaces. Formalized Mathematics, 19(2):69-72, e2011, doi: 10.2478/v10037-011-0012-7.Hiroyuki Okazaki, Noboru Endou, and Yasunari Shidama. More on continuous functions on normed linear spaces. Formalized Mathematics, 19(1):45-49, 2011, doi: 10.2478/v10037-011-0008-3.Beata Padlewska and Agata Darmochwał. Topological spaces and continuous functions. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):223-230, 1990.Jan Popiołek. Real normed space. Formalized Mathematics, 2(1):111-115, 1991.Konrad Raczkowski and Paweł Sadowski. Topological properties of subsets in real numbers. Formalized Mathematics, 1(4):777-780, 1990.Yasunari Shidama. Banach space of bounded linear operators. Formalized Mathematics, 12(1):39-48, 2004.Andrzej Trybulec. Binary operations applied to functions. Formalized Mathematics, 1(2):329-334, 1990.Zinaida Trybulec. Properties of subsets. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):67-71, 1990.Edmund Woronowicz. Relations and their basic properties. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):73-83, 1990.Edmund Woronowicz. Relations defined on sets. Formalized Mathematics, 1(1):181-186, 1990.Hiroshi Yamazaki and Yasunari Shidama. Algebra of vector functions. Formalized Mathematics, 3(2):171-175, 1992

    The role of FRIGIDA and FLOWERING LOCUS C genes in flowering time of Brassica rapa leafy vegetables

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    © 2019, The Author(s). There is a wide variation of flowering time among lines of Brassica rapa L. Most B. rapa leafy (Chinese cabbage etc.) or root (turnip) vegetables require prolonged cold exposure for flowering, known as vernalization. Premature bolting caused by low temperature leads to a reduction in the yield/quality of these B. rapa vegetables. Therefore, high bolting resistance is an important breeding trait, and understanding the molecular mechanism of vernalization is necessary to achieve this goal. In this study, we demonstrated that BrFRIb functions as an activator of BrFLC in B. rapa. We showed a positive correlation between the steady state expression levels of the sum of the BrFLC paralogs and the days to flowering after four weeks of cold treatment, suggesting that this is an indicator of the vernalization requirement. We indicate that BrFLCs are repressed by the accumulation of H3K27me3 and that the spreading of H3K27me3 promotes stable FLC repression. However, there was no clear relationship between the level of H3K27me3 in the BrFLC and the vernalization requirement. We also showed that if there was a high vernalization requirement, the rate of repression of BrFLC1 expression following prolonged cold treatments was lower
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