Contents
Original Papers
Roles of the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 gene in floral organ development in Arabidopsis thaliana
Sumie Keta, Hidekazu Iwakawa, Masaya Ikezaki, Endang Semiarti, Shoko Kojima, Yasunori Machida and Chiyoko Machida. . . . . . . 1[PDF]
The ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 (AS2) and AS1 genes in Arabidopsis thaliana repress the expression of class 1 KNOX and abaxial determinant genes, and are involved in the development of a symmetrical and flat leaf lamina. In this study we showed the expression pattern of AS2 in reproductive stages. We also showed that the ratios of lengths of each organ were abnormal in as2 and as1, and this abnormality was suppressed by mutations of class 1 KNOX genes. Our results indicate that AS2 and AS1 control the balance of the floral organ lengths via repressing class 1 KNOX genes in reproductive stages
Low sodium chloride priming increases seedling vigor and stress tolerance to Ralstonia solanacearum in tomato
Makoto Nakaune, Kazunori Tsukazawa, Hiroyuki Uga, Erika Asamizu, Shunsuke Imanishi, Chiaki Matsukura and Hiroshi Ezura. . . . . . . 9[PDF][Supplement1][Supplement2]
We examined the effect of seed priming with a lower NaCl concentration than conventional method in tomato. The seedling emergence was markedly promoted by 300 mM of NaCl-priming. Seedling growth was also promoted and the seedlings exhibited an increased tolerance to Ralstonia solanacearum by NaCl-priming. A comprehensive gene expression analysis showed that the genes related to seedling growth and stress responses were up-regulated by NaCl-priming
Multiple hormone treatment revealed novel cooperative relationships between abscisic acid and biotic stress hormones in cultured cells
Mami Okamoto, Yuuri Tsuboi, Hideki Goda, Takeshi Yoshizumi, Yukihisa Shimada and Takashi Hirayama. . . . . . . 19[PDF][Supplement1][Supplement2][Supplement3][Supplement4][Supplement5]
To understand the cellular response to multiple stimuli, microarray analysis was conducted for Arabidopsis cultured cells exposed abscisic acid and salicylic acid or jasmonic acid simultaneously. Obtained data imply that the expression levels in the double treatment of most of genes are expressed as the sum of those of each treatment, and that double treatment induces a unique set of genes
DNA-binding and transcriptional activation properties of tobacco NIC2-locus ERF189 and related transcription factors
Tsubasa Shoji and Takashi Hashimoto. . . . . . . 35[PDF]
Tobacco ERF189 and related transcription factors of NIC2 locus directly activate nicotine metabolic and transport genes. Multiple ERF189-binding sites were found in the target promoters. DNA-binding and trans-activation properties of ERF189 and related factors were compared
A long 5′ UTR of the rice OsMac1 mRNA enabling the sufficient translation of the downstream ORF
Hiroshi Teramura, Yusuke Enomoto, Hiromi Aoki, Tadamasa Sasaki and Hiroaki Shimada. . . . . . . 43[PDF]
The rice OsMac1 mRNA had a 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR) composed of more than 500 nucleotides. We found three splicing variants of the 5′ UTR derived from the alternative splicing. A reporter analysis indicated that only the longest one showed a significant ability for the translational enhancement of the downstream ORF, whereas the others showed no effect. These results suggested that the additional 38-nt sequence unique to this 5′ UTR was involved in enhancement of the translation of the downstream ORF
Role of the plant-specific endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducible gene TIN1 in the formation of pollen surface structure in Arabidopsis thaliana
Yuji Iwata, Tsuneyo Nishino, Megumi Iwano, Seiji Takayama and Nozomu Koizumi. . . . . . . 51[PDF]
Tunicamycin induced 1 (TIN1), is a plant-specific ER stress-inducible gene identified from Arabidopsis thaliana. In this study, we showed that TIN1 is highly expressed in pollen. A T-DNA insertion mutant of TIN1 has abnormal pollen surface morphology suggesting physiological function of TIN1 during pollen development
The effects of introduction of a fungal glutamate dehydrogenase gene (gdhA) on the photosynthetic rates, biomass, carbon and nitrogen contents in transgenic potato
Tomohito Egami, Masataka Wakayama, Naohiro Aoki, Haruto Sasaki, Hiroaki Kisaka, Tetsuya Miwa and Ryu Ohsugi. . . . . . . 57[PDF]
We report the effects of introduction of the gdhA gene, encoding NADP (H)-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, from Aspergillus nidulans into potato. Our findings show that the gdhA gene is a powerful tool to increase tuber dry matter and improve efficiency of nitrogen use of potato.
Overexpression of a basic helix-loop-helix gene Antagonist of PGL1 (APG) decreases grain length of rice
Dany Heang and Hidenori Sassa. . . . . . . 65[PDF]
Previously we reported that suppression of a basic helix-loop-helix gene named ANTAGONIST OF PGL1 (APG) resulted in elongated grain length of rice. This study provides further evidence that APG is a negative regulator of grain length in rice. Overexpression of APG resulted in short grain. Inner epidermal cell layer of lemma from APG overexpression lines showed reduced cell length.
Ionic compositions play an important role on in vitro propagation of PLBs of spring-flowering Calanthe
Masao Yamamoto, Kazumitsu Miyoshi, Syoichi Ichihashi and Masahiro Mii. . . . . . . 71[PDF]
The effect of ionic composition in medium on proliferation of protocorm-like bodies of two Calanthe species was investigated by using the media with 12 different ionic compositions, based on the composition of modified B5 medium which had been used previously for these species. Consequently, suitable media for yielding high PLB proliferation were developed for these 2 species.
Interspecific hybridization of Begonia semperflorens (section Begonia) with B. pearcei (section Eupetalum) for introducing yellow flower color
Yen-Ming Chen and Masahiro Mii. . . . . . . 77[PDF]
Interspecific hybrids were successfully obtained from crosses between 12 cultivars of Begonia semperflorens and B. pearcei, an yellow flower species, by in vitro culture of mature and immature seeds. They are expected to utilize as the important breeding materials to produce yellow flower cultivars of B. semperflorens.
Enhanced resistance to gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) in transgenic potato plants expressing thionin genes isolated from Brassicaceae species
Ken Hoshikawa, Go Ishihara, Hiroko Takahashi and Ikuo Nakamura. . . . . . . 87[PDF]
Five new thionin genes were isolated from three Brassicaceae species (Brassica oleracea, Nasturtium officinale, Barbarea vulgaris) and connected with CaMV 35S promoter on the pEKH binary vector. Transgenic potato plants were generated using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Five thionin transgenes conferred similar level of resistance against gray mold (Botrytis cinerea), respectively.
Gentian lipid transfer protein homolog with antimicrobial properties confers resistance to Botrytis cinerea in transgenic tobacco
Akinori Kiba, Takashi Nakatsuka, Saburo Yamamura and Masahiro Nishihara. . . . . . . 95[PDF]
Antifungal proteins, GtLTP1 and GtLTP2 were isolated from the leaves of Gentiana triflora. Both GtLTP1 and GtLTP2 were present as a multi-gene family in the genome and were strongly expressed in the roots and stems. Overexpression of GtLTP1 in tobacco plants improved tolerance against B. cinerea, demonstrating that GtLTP1 is a useful molecular tool for genetic engineering of disease-resistant plants.
Rice OsHOL1 and OsHOL2 proteins have S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyltransferase activities toward iodide ions
Yuko Takekawa and Tatsuo Nakamura. . . . . . . 103[PDF]
Understanding iodine metabolism in plants is important for tackling iodine deficiency. Enzymatic analyses of two rice HARMLESS TO OZONE LAYER proteins, named OsHOL1 and OsHOL2, showed high methyltransferase activities toward iodide ions. The obtained results suggested that OsHOL1 and OsHOL2 are involved in iodine metabolism in rice.
MatchedIonsFinder: A software tool for revising alignment matrices of spectrograms from liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
Naoki Yamamoto, Tatsuya Suzuki, Takeshi Ara, Nozomu Sakurai, Sayaka Shinpo, Yoshihiko Morishita, Ryosuke Sasaki, Taneaki Tsugane, Hideyuki Suzuki and Daisuke Shibata. . . . . . 109[PDF]
Here, we developed a software tool, MatchedIonsFinder, that revises alignments obtained from multiple liquid chromatography-mass spectrograms. This program was used to revise an aligned matrix of tomato fruit metabolite ions produced by metabolome analysis software. The matrix revised using the program was comparable to the matrix that was revised manually.
Differences in intron-mediated enhancement of gene expression by the first intron of cytosolic superoxide dismutase gene from rice in monocot and dicot plants
Shigeto Morita, Shigefumi Tsukamoto, Atsushi Sakamoto, Hideshi Makino, Emi Nakauji, Hironori Kaminaka, Takehiro Masumura, Yasunari Ogihara, Shigeru Satoh and Kunisuke Tanaka. . . . . . . 115[PDF]
Introns have an enhancing effect on gene expression known as intron-mediated enhancement. We found that the first intron of rice superoxide dismutase sodCc2 gene has an enhancing effect in monocot but not in dicot plants. In silico search revealed two conserved motifs among the sodCc2 intron and 11 enhancing introns in rice that contain a consensus sequence, GATCTG