A novel superior factor widely controlling the rice grain quality

Synthesis of storage starch and protein accumulation is the main action of endosperm organogenesis in term of the economic importance of rice. This event is strongly disturbed by abiotic stresses such as high temperature; thus, the upcoming global warming will cause a crisis with a great impact on food production^1,2^. The enzymes for the protein storage and starch synthesis pathway should work in concert to carry out the organogenesis of rice endosperm^3-5^, but the regulatory mechanism is largely unknown. Here we show that a novel regulatory factor, named OsCEO1, acts as the conductor of endosperm organogenesis during the rice grain filling stage. The physiological properties of _floury-endosperm-2_ (_flo2_) mutants showed many similarities to symptoms of grains developed under high-temperature conditions, suggesting important roles of the responsible gene in sensitivity to high-temperature stress. Our map-based cloning identified the responsible gene for the _flo2_ mutant, _OsCEO1_, which has no homology to any genes of known function. The _OsCEO1_ belongs to a novel conserved gene family and encodes a protein composed of 1,720 amino acid residues containing a TPR (tetratricopeptide repeat) motif, which is considered to mediate a protein-protein interaction. The yeast two-hybrid analysis raised an unknown protein showing homology to a late embryogenesis abundant protein and a putative basic helix-loop-helix protein as candidates for the direct interactor for _OsCEO1_, whereas no enzyme genes for the synthesis of storage substances were detected. The _flo2_ mutant exhibited reduced expression of several genes for putative regulatory proteins as well as many enzymes involved in storage starch and proteins. These results suggest that _OsCEO1_ is a superior conductor of the novel regulatory cascade of endosperm organogenesis and may have important roles in the response to high-temperature stress

OATL1, a novel autophagosome-resident Rab33B-GAP, regulates autophagosomal maturation

The GAP activity of OATL1, which is recruited to autophagosomes by Atg8, regulates autophagosome–lysosome fusion

秋田県における高校3年生の性意識と性行動(第1報)

近年,高校生の性意識および性行動は,開放的・積極的になりつつある。秋田県内の高校3年生男子122人,女子451人を対象に性行動と性意識について調査し,全国的調査の結果と比較した。その結果,以下のような結論が得られた。1)自分一人の部屋とテレビ,ビデオの両方を保有する者は,男女とも全国調査より高い(p<0.01)。2)性に関する行動や意識に影響しているものは,男子は「ビデオ」,女子は「友人」が最も多く,男子「ビデオ」は女子に比べて高い(p<0.01)。3)婚前性交に対する考えは,「愛し合っていれば・お互い納得していればかまわない」が約87～90%を占め,全国調査および東京都の調査結果と同じ傾向にある。4)性交経験率は,男子が女子よりわずかに上回っているが全国調査と差はない。また,「好奇心から」で「単なる友人」と初めて性交経験をする男子が女子より高い(p<0.05)。5)性交時「妊娠を気にする」は,男女とも85%以上である。「エイズや性病が気になる」は,男子35%,女子50.7%と予想に反して低く,全国調査結果と比較しても低い(p<0.05)。Recent high school students\u27 sexual consciousness and behavior seem active and open. We made researches on sexual consciousness and behavior for 122 boys and 451 girls of the third year high school students in Akita and compared the results with those of the nationwide survey in Japan (JASE). The results are as follows : 1) More students of boys and girls in Akita, have their own rooms with television sets and Videos than the average number of students of JASE. 2) The most effective factors which influence on their sexual consciousness and behavior are "Videos" for boys and "friends" for girls. Boys are most affected by "Videos" and the girs by "friends". 3) According to their opinions, it is no problem to have sexual activity before theirmarriage as long as they love each other or they agree. This shows the same tendency as in JASE. 4) The rate of sexual experience for boys is a little higher than that for girls. The motive of first sexual intercourse for many boys is curiousity and their curiousity is stronger than the girls. That is to say, they are more friends each other. 5) While mere than 85% of boys and girls "worry about getting pregnancy during sexual activity", only 35% of boys and 50.7% of girls "worry about AIDS or sexual disease"

Development of a high throughput system to screen compounds that revert the activated hepatic stellate cells to a quiescent-like state

Abstract Chronic liver injury induces fibrosis that often proceeds to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, indicating that prevention and/or resolution of fibrosis is a promising therapeutic target. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the major driver of fibrosis by expressing extracellular matrices (ECM). HSCs, in the normal liver, are quiescent and activated by liver injury to become myofibroblasts that proliferate and produce ECM. It has been shown that activated HSCs (aHSCs) become a "quiescent-like" state by removal of liver insults. Therefore, deactivation agents can be a therapeutic drug for advanced liver fibrosis. Using aHSCs prepared from human induced pluripotent stem cells, we found that aHSCs were reverted to a quiescent-like state by a combination of chemical compounds that either inhibit or activate a signaling pathway, Lanifibranor, SB431542, Dorsomorphin, retinoic acid, palmitic acid and Y27632, in vitro. Based on these results, we established a high throughput system to screen agents that induce deactivation and demonstrate that a single chemical compound can induce deactivation