Search

Matsunami et al determine the structure of the flagellar hook cap from Salmonella enterica by X-ray crystallography. The 3.3 Å resolution structure in combination with mutagenesis analysis provides insights into a putative hook assembly mechanism.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the consumption of plant-based foods such as vegetables and grains for the purpose of disease prevention and treatment. Adlay seeds contain physiologically active substances, including coixol, coixenolide, and lactams. In this study, adlay sprouts were cultivated and harvested at various time points, specifically at 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 days after sowing. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using assays such as DPPH radical scavenging, ABTS radical scavenging, reducing power, and total polyphenol contents. The toxicity of the extracts was assessed using cell culture and the WST-1 assay. The aboveground components of the sprouts demonstrated a significant increase in length, ranging from 2.75 cm to 21.87 cm, weight, ranging from 0.05 g to 0.32 g, and biomass, ranging from 161.4 g to 1319.1 g, as the number of days after sowing advanced, reaching its peak coixol content of 39.38 mg/g on the third day after sowing. Notably, the antioxidant enzyme activity was highest between the third and fifth days after sowing. Regarding anti-inflammatory activity, the inhibition of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression was most prominent in samples harvested from the ninth to eleventh days after sowing, corresponding to the later stage of growth. While the overall production mass increased with the number of days after sowing, considering factors such as yield increase index per unit area, turnover rate, and antioxidant activity, harvesting at the early growth stage, specifically between the fifth and seventh days after sowing, was found to be economically advantageous. Thus, the quality, antioxidant capacity, and anti-inflammatory activity of adlay sprouts varied depending on the harvest time, highlighting the importance of determining the appropriate harvest time based on the production objectives. This study demonstrates the changes in the growth and quality of adlay sprouts in relation to the harvest time, emphasizing the potential for developing a market for adlay sprouts as a new food product.

A reliable, qualitative PCR-based detection method for the traceability and authentication of common and Tartary buckwheat was developed. Five InDel markers developed from chloroplast genome variation between the two species were applied for 96 buckwheat accessions and all accessions were easily differentiated as Tartary and common buckwheat using these markers. We also determined the sample detection limit by PCR and qPCR as 0.001 and 0.02 ng/µl, respectively. InDel markers could detect the mixture of two species flour up to 10% contamination. InDel markers were also applied to processed foods such as noodles and tea, and we found that species-specific PCR bands could be used to identify buckwheat even after processing. Hence, these InDel markers are simple with higher specificity and sensitivity and are reliable for the authentication of buckwheat processed foods.

Natural gas hydrates (GHs) filling sand layer pores are the most promising GHs that can be produced via conventional mechanisms in deep-sea environments. However, the seismic tracking of such thin GH-bearing sand layers is subject to certain limitations. For example, because most GH-bearing sand layers are thin and sparsely interbedded with mud layers, conventional seismic data with a maximum resolution of ~10 m are of limited use for describing their spatial distribution. The 2010 Ulleung Basin drilling expedition identified a relatively good GH reservoir at the UBGH2-6 site. However, the individual GH-bearing sand layers at this site are thin and cannot therefore be reliably tracked using conventional seismic techniques. This study presents a new thin layer tracking method using stepwise seismic inversion and 3D seismic datasets with two different resolutions. The high-resolution acoustic impedance volume obtained is then used to trace thin layers that cannot be harnessed with conventional methods. Moreover, we estimate the high-resolution regional GH distribution based on GH saturation derived from acoustic impedance at UBGH2-6. The thin GH layers, previously viewed as a single layer because of limited resolution, are further subdivided, traced, and characterized in terms of lateral variation.

The bacterial flagellar hook is made up of many copies of the protein FlgE. Here, the authors report the full structure of the hook from Campylobacter jejuni and show that its overall structure is different from that of the previously published filament.

We report the chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) obtained by next-generation sequencing technology and compared this with the previously reported common buckwheat (F. esculentum ssp. ancestrale) cp genome. The cp genome of F. tataricum has a total sequence length of 159,272 bp, which is 327 bp shorter than the common buckwheat cp genome. The cp gene content, order, and orientation are similar to those of common buckwheat, but with some structural variation at tandem and palindromic repeat frequencies and junction areas. A total of seven InDels (around 100 bp) were found within the intergenic sequences and the ycf1 gene. Copy number variation of the 21-bp tandem repeat varied in F. tataricum (four repeats) and F. esculentum (one repeat), and the InDel of the ycf1 gene was 63 bp long. Nucleotide and amino acid have highly conserved coding sequence with about 98% homology and four genes--rpoC2, ycf3, accD, and clpP--have high synonymous (Ks) value. PCR based InDel markers were applied to diverse genetic resources of F. tataricum and F. esculentum, and the amplicon size was identical to that expected in silico. Therefore, these InDel markers are informative biomarkers to practically distinguish raw or processed buckwheat products derived from F. tataricum and F. esculentum.

Primary microcephaly (MCPH) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global reduction in cerebral cortical volume. The microcephalic brain has a volume comparable to that of early hominids, raising the possibility that some MCPH genes may have been evolutionary targets in the expansion of the cerebral cortex in mammals and especially primates. Mutations in ASPM, which encodes the human homologue of a fly protein essential for spindle function, are the most common known cause of MCPH. Here we have isolated large genomic clones containing the complete ASPM gene, including promoter regions and introns, from chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and rhesus macaque by transformation-associated recombination cloning in yeast. We have sequenced these clones and show that whereas much of the sequence of ASPM is substantially conserved among primates, specific segments are subject to high Ka/Ks ratios (nonsynonymous/synonymous DNA changes) consistent with strong positive selection for evolutionary change. The ASPM gene sequence shows accelerated evolution in the African hominoid clade, and this precedes hominid brain expansion by several million years. Gorilla and human lineages show particularly accelerated evolution in the IQ domain of ASPM. Moreover, ASPM regions under positive selection in primates are also the most highly diverged regions between primates and nonprimate mammals. We report the first direct application of TAR cloning technology to the study of human evolution. Our data suggest that evolutionary selection of specific segments of the ASPM sequence strongly relates to differences in cerebral cortical size.