Challenges in studies on flowering time: interfaces between phenological research and the molecular network of flowering genes

Flowering time is a well-studied subject in ecology, evolution and molecular biology. Long-term phenological studies have shown relationships between flowering time and environmental and endogenous factors in many species. In contrast, molecular studies using model plants have revealed a complex regulatory network of flowering. We propose that flowering would be a model trait for the integrated study of ecology, evolution and molecular biology. We introduce briefly the flowering regulatory pathways of Arabidopsis thaliana, followed by molecular techniques such as transgenic manipulation, quantitative real-time PCR and detection of differentially expressed genes that could facilitate the study of ‘nonmodel' species of ecological interest but with little available genome information. Application of the flowering gene network to wild species will be illustrated by two examples: modeling and prediction of the expression of flowering genes in Arabidopsis halleri, and the latitudinal cline of bud set and cessation in Populus. Finally, we discuss the challenges in integrating knowledge of the regulatory network on flowering into ecologically unique flowering phenomena such as synchronous intermittent mass flowering—the topic of this special issu

中・老年期日本人における心血管病死予測因子としての選択反応時間と握力 : 放射線影響研究所成人健康調査

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(医学)Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Sciencedoctora

Distribution of Mast Cells in Mediastinal Lymph Nodes from Lung Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND: Mast cells have been documented to have several key functions with regards to malignant neoplasms. However, the functional significance of their accumulation is largely unknown. An analysis of the mast cell profile in mediastinal lymph nodes from lung cancer patients is reported here. METHODS: One hundred thirty-four, randomly selected lymph nodes (63 with positive pathological lymph node status) from 39 surgically treated lung cancer patients were examined. All cancer negative nodes were obtained from stage I patients. Mast cells were stained with Alcian blue and safranin O. Metastatic cancer cells were stained using anti-cytokeratin antibody. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical studies with cytokeratin revealed micro metastasis in 9/71 (12.68%) nodes previously diagnosed as histological negative. In tumor-free mediastinal lymph nodes, the mast cell count was significantly higher than in metastatic nodes. In all cases, mast cells were observed primarily in the T-cell area. CONCLUSIONS: An inverse relationship was observed between the number of mast cells and the amount of tumor tissue. The presence of mast cells primarily in the T-cell area implies a relationship between mast cells and the T-cell system. From the present study it is not possible to conclude whether mast cells in lymph nodes are for or against tumor spread