\u27Nothing\u27 between a Novelist and a Playwright in Nostromo

千葉大学社会文化科学研究科研究プロジェクト報告書第107集『モダニズム研究-国際比較の観点から』所収The study of modernism : from the international comparative perspective : report on the research project

Crystal structure and electrical properties of textured Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics

Highly textured Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramic was prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). X-ray diffraction of the ceramics revealed the coexistence of a major ferroelectric phase (Space group, SG: B2cb) and a minor paraelectric phase (SG: I4/mmm) at room temperature. A diffused phase transition was observed at around 240 °C. The evolution of the switching current peaks in the electric current vs. electric field (I-E) loops with increasing temperature was interpreted by the structural changes and temperature dependent polarisation reversal processes. The slim polarisation vs. electric field (P-E) loops, the extra switching current peaks in the I-E loops and the non-zero piezoelectric d33 coefficient indicate that Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 is a relaxor ferroelectric material. The recoverable energy density (0.41 ± 0.01 J/cm3) of Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics in the perpendicular direction to the SPS pressing direction is close to that of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-based ceramics. The obtained results suggest Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramics might be promising for energy storage applications

The Pectin Lyases in <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>: Evolution, Selection and Expression Profiles

<div><p>Pectin lyases are a group of enzymes that are thought to contribute to many biological processes, such as the degradation of pectin. However, until this study, no comprehensive study incorporating phylogeny, chromosomal location, gene duplication, gene organization, functional divergence, adaptive evolution, expression profiling and functional networks has been reported for <em>Arabidopsis</em>. Sixty-seven pectin lyase genes have been identified, and most of them possess signal sequences targeting the secretory pathway. Phylogenetic analyses identified five gene groups with considerable conservation among groups. Pectin lyase genes were non-randomly distributed across chromosomes and clustering was evident. Functional divergence and adaptive evolution analyses suggested that purifying selection was the main force driving pectin lyase evolution, although some critical sites responsible for functional divergence might be the consequence of positive selection. A stigma- and receptacle-specific expression promoter was identified, and it had increased expression in response to wounding. Two hundred and eighty-eight interactions were identified by functional network analyses, and most of these were involved in cellular metabolism, cellular transport and localization, and stimulus responses. This investigation contributes to an improved understanding of the complexity of the <em>Arabidopsis</em> pectin lyase gene family.</p> </div

Predicted numbers and locations of codons under positive selection within different pectin lyase groups.

<p>Bold codon sites indicate codons that were at least identified with two methods.</p

Phylogenetic relationships and exon-intron organization of pectin lyase genes in <i>Arabidopsis</i>.

<p>Phylogeny tree was constructed using full-length pectin lyase protein sequences. Numbers associated with branches showed bootstrap support values for maximum likelihood analyses. Five major groups designated from I to V were marked with different color. Insertion positions of 0 phase intron, 1 phase intron and 2 phase intron were shown in red, blue and emerald green, respectively.</p

Targeting and signal peptide predictions of 67 <i>Arabidopsis</i> pectin lyases using either TargetP V1.1, PredoTar V1.03 and SignalP 4.0.

<p>Mw: molecular weight; pI: isoelectric point; cTP: chloroplast transit peptide; mTP: mitochondrial targeting peptide; SP: secretory pathway signal peptide; S: secretory pathway; M: mitochondria; C: chloroplast; ER: endoplasmic reticulum.</p

Evidence for positive selection in pectin lyase coding sequences.

<p>LRT: likelihood ratio test.</p

Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for <i>Arabidopsis</i> Group I pectin lyase genes under wound stress.

<p>Bold indicates up-regulated gene expression under wound treatment.</p

Chromosomal locations of the pectin lyase genes.

<p>67 pectin lyase genes mapped to the five <i>Arabidopsis</i> chromosomes are shown. Paralogous regions in the putative ancestral constituents of the <i>Arabidopsis</i> genome are depicted using the same colors according to Blanc et al. (2000) <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0046944#pone.0046944-Blanc2" target="_blank">[41]</a>.</p

Functional divergence estimated in <i>Arabidopsis</i> pectin lyase paralogs.

1<p>θ is the coefficient of functional divergence.</p>2<p>SE: standard error.</p>3<p>LRT is a likelihood ratio test.</p>4<p>N(0.5) and N(0.7) means the numbers of divergent residues when the cut-off value is 0.5 and 0.7, respectively.</p