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We investigated the effects of altered source/sink ratio by leaf or fruit pruning on leaf photosynthetic characteristics and whole-plant growth of ‘Momotaro York’, a Japanese cultivar, and ‘Dundee’, a Dutch cultivar and verified a hypothesis for sink-limitation of plant growth proposed by Tanaka and Fujita (1974) . Plants were grown hydroponically with a high-wire system in a greenhouse for 11 weeks. Light-saturated photosynthesis of young, fully expanded leaves measured at atmospheric CO2 partial pressure of 37 Pa and at an intercellular CO2 partial pressure of 20 Pa was not influenced by alteration of source/sink ratio for either cultivar. Although soluble sugars were accumulated in leaves under high source/sink conditions, the amount of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, a rate-limiting factor for CO2-limited photosynthesis, was not affected by the altered source–sink balance. Net assimilation rate of a whole plant increased with decreasing source/sink ratio, but this can be accounted for by the changes in light interception per unit leaf area, without taking the source–sink relationship into consideration. It was concluded that the altered source/sink ratio did not change leaf photosynthetic capacity and the sink-limitation hypothesis cannot be applied to either cultivar under the conditions of the present study.

Tomato has been considered as a potential biological production platform for plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs). However, information is limited for protein productivity and dynamics in tomato fruit. As part of our PMP production project, total soluble protein (TSP) content of green and red fruits was analyzed for selected six greenhouse cultivars. The six cultivars consisted of various fruit types (including cluster, cherry, mini plum, and grape types) with sizes ranging from 10 to 150 and from 14 to 188 g fresh weight for green and red fruits, respectively. In fruit TSP content per unit dry weight (DW), approximately seven- to eightfold variation was observed among cultivars for both green and red fruits. There was no significant correlation between fruit TSP content per DW and fruit DW or fruit type over the cultivars irrespective of fruit ripening stage, indicating that fruit weight or fruit type of a cultivar cannot be an indicator of the TSP content per DW. There was also an inconsistent trend in differences in fruit TSP content per whole fruit between green and red fruit among cultivars. Our results suggest that a low-yielding cultivar can produce high TSP content per unit ground area resulting from high TSP content per DW in fruit. A background tomato cultivar or genotype candidate for commercial PMP production should thus be selected from among various fruit types considering both yield potential and fruit TSP content.

Histone variants play important roles in the epigenetic regulation of genome function. The histone variant H2A.Z is evolutionarily conserved from yeast to vertebrates, and it has been reported to have multiple effects upon gene expression and insulation, and chromosome segregation. Recently two genes encoding H2A.Z were identified in the vertebrate genome. However, it is not yet clear whether the proteins transcribed from these genes are functionally distinct. To address this issue, we knocked out each gene individually in chicken DT40 cells. We found that two distinct proteins, H2A.Z-1 and H2A.Z-2, were produced from these genes, and that these proteins could be separated on a long SDS-PAGE gel. The two isoforms were deposited to a similar extent by the SRCAP chromatin-remodeling complex, suggesting redundancy to their function. However, cells lacking either one of the two isoforms exhibited distinct alterations in cell growth and gene expression, suggesting that the two isoforms have differential effects upon nucleosome stability and chromatin structure. These findings provide insight into the molecular basis of the multiple functions of the H2A.Z gene products.

Changes in the amounts of F1-V, an antigen fusion protein and a candidate subunit vaccine against plague, and total soluble protein (TSP) in green fruit of transgenic tomato plants were investigated to identify the optimum harvest timing to maximize the F1-V yields. Two T2 progenies of the transgenic plant, ‘22.11.21’ and ‘22.11.5’, were grown. The F1-V concentration rapidly decreased at the beginning of the green stage and decreased to less than 5% of the initial concentration at the late green stage in ‘22.11.21’. The F1-V concentration also decreased as fruit size increased in ‘22.11.5’, but the pattern of the decrease was linear and different from that in ‘22.11.21’. The concentration of TSP also decreased with fruit growing in both plants. When calculated on a whole fruit basis, the F1-V content linearly decreased with increasing fruit size in ‘22.11.21’. In ‘22.11.5’, the F1-V content per fruit also tended to decrease from the middle to late green stage. Based on these observations, collecting small green fruits without pruning was proposed as a harvest practice that may maximize the F1-V yields. Thus, the optimum protocols for harvesting and pruning for plant-made pharmaceutical production may be substantially different from those currently used in commercial hydroponic greenhouses for fresh market tomato.

Biopharmaceutical protein production is a new application of plant biotechnology. Nevertheless, there is limited information for potential protein productivity in commercial production operation. The objective of this study was to characterize the growth and development as well as fruit and protein productivities of transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants in comparison with two nontransgenic reference cultivars under greenhouse conditions with commercially adopted cultural practice. Transgenic tomatoes expressing a predominant antigen fusion protein, F1-V, against plague were used as a model system. Three types of tomatoes were grown for this study: 1) a transgenic T2 line, ‘F1-V’; 2) the background wild-type cultivar, TA234; and 3) a commercial greenhouse cultivar well adopted in North America, Durinta. All plants were grown hydroponically in a greenhouse equipped with heating and evaporative cooling systems for 24 to 30 weeks. When comparing ‘F1-V’ with ‘TA234’, there were no significant differences in growth, cumulative fruit yield, fruit total soluble protein (TSP) concentration, nor cumulative TSP production between the two genotypes. Although there was a difference in plant leaf morphology, this suggests that the transformation event did not affect the key traits of biopharmaceutical protein production. When comparing ‘F1-V’ with ‘Durinta’, ‘Durinta’ yielded more fruit than did ‘F1-V’, although final vegetative biomass of the two genotypes was not significantly different. Cumulative fruit yield per plant of ‘Durinta’ for 13 weeks of harvest was almost twice that of ‘F1-V’. However, TSP concentration of fruits of ‘Durinta’ was only 12% to 34% of that of ‘F1-V’, making the estimated cumulative TSP production by fruits approximately half that of ‘Durinta’. Our results suggest that biomass productivity is not necessarily the high-priority trait in selecting cultivars for high-value protein production and that protein concentration of fruits may be an important factor.

Certain actin-related proteins (Arps) of budding yeast are localized in the nucleus, and have essential roles as stoichiometric components of histone acetyltransferase (HAT) and chromatin remodeling complexes. On the other hand, identification of vertebrate nuclear Arps and their functional analyses are just beginning. We show that human Arp5 (hArp5) proteins are localized in the nucleus, and that arp5Delta yeast cells are partially complemented by hArp5. Thus, hArp5 is a novel member of the nuclear Arps of vertebrates, which possess evolutionarily conserved functions from yeast to humans. We show here that hArp5 shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Furthermore, after the induction of DNA double strand breaks (DSB), cell growth and the accumulation of phosphorylated histone H2AX (gamma-H2AX) are impaired by hArp5 depletion. Association of hArp5 with the hIno80 chromatin remodeling enzyme and decrease of chromatin-bound hIno80 by hArp5-depletion indicate that hArp5 may have a role in the recruitment of the hINO80 complex to chromatin. Overexpression of hArp5 and hIno80 enhanced gamma-H2AX accumulation. These observations suggest that hArp5 is involved in the process of DSB repair through the regulation of the chromatin remodelling machinery.

Responses of photosynthetic, respiratory, and transpiration rates of plants to the levels of physical environmental factors are outlined. Water vapor movement from a leaf to the atmosphere in transpiration is quantitatively described using a gas diffusion model that incorporates the concentration gradient of water vapor and the conductance for water vapor. Changes in the levels of environmental factors affect transpiration rate directly through changes in the driving force of water vapor diffusion or indirectly through changes in stomatal aperture. In plants, there are two types of respiration, namely, dark respiration and photorespiration, although they are completely different metabolisms. Dark respiratory rate is sensitive to changes in temperature, gas concentrations, and light intensity, and the effects are summarized. Photosynthetic carbon dioxide (CO2) influx of a leaf is spatially divided into CO2 diffusion from the atmosphere to the chloroplasts and biochemical CO2 fixation within the chloroplasts. The former can be described with a model in a similar manner to that for water vapor diffusion. Net photosynthetic rate in C3 leaves shows a saturating-type increase in response to increases in CO2 concentration or photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), and the response curves are characterized by several parameters. Net photosynthetic rate is low at extremely low and high temperatures and shows an optimum level at intermediate temperatures.

Plant leaves do not only sense and respond to their local environment but also the environment experienced by the other leaves within the same plant. This long-distance signaling is involved in the systemic regulation of various photosynthesis-related phenotypic features of leaves. Here, we summarize the recent research on light- and CO2-dependent, leaf-to-leaf systemic regulation. In the short term, leaves can pre-acclimate to excess light at the transcriptional level, in response to systemic signals from other leaves. Several substances, including reactive oxygen species and phytohormones, have been suggested to play key roles in the signaling pathway. In the long term, the light and CO2 environment around mature leaves systemically regulates stomatal development, anatomical structure, and photosynthetic characteristics of young leaves. Possible mechanisms underlying the systemic regulation and the potential importance of systemic regulation in horticultural crop production are discussed.

The most important role of a leaf is capturing light energy and fixing CO2 into carbohydrates (i.e., photosynthesis). Fundamental knowledge on the optical and physiological properties of an individual leaf of a C3 plant is summarized below. A leaf adjusts light absorption, at the scales of both whole-leaf and intra-leaf, in order to efficiently capture light energy and to avoid photodamage caused by excessive light energy. Several interacting factors involved in orchestrating these optical properties, such as leaf orientation, mesophyll structure, chloroplast movement, and the absorption properties of phytopigments, are outlined. Photosynthesis consists of two reactions that are spatially separated within the chloroplast. Light energy is converted into reducing power and chemical energy via the electron transport chain. These are then consumed during CO2 fixation in the carbon assimilation process. The electron transport reaction is affected significantly by the spectral distribution of light due to the optical properties of the leaf. Photosynthesis is closely related to other physiological processes. CO2 uptake accompanies water vapor release (transpiration). Produced photosynthates are transported to the other plant organs (translocation). Brief information about the significance and the machinery of these photosynthesis-related processes is provided.

Blue light has been suggested to participate in the acclimation of photosynthesis to growth irradiance. We analyzed the effects of blue light intensity on the photosynthetic properties of leaves with regard to acclimation to irradiance. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) plants were grown under mixtures of blue and red light with blue-light photon flux densities (PFDs) of 0, 30, 100 and 150 µmol m−2 s−1 at a total photosynthetic PFD of 300 µmol m−2 s−1. The light-saturated rate of photosynthesis under white light, leaf N content per unit leaf area, leaf dry weight per unit leaf area and the ratio of cytochrome (Cyt) f content to light-harvesting chlorophyll-binding protein of photosystem II (LHCII) content were evaluated. The photosynthetic rate tended to increase with increasing blue-light PFD up to 100 µmol m−2 s−1, and this was associated with an increase in leaf N content per unit leaf area. However, the increase in leaf N content per unit leaf area did not necessarily result from an increase in ...

The association and dissociation of DNA damage response (DDR) factors with damaged chromatin occurs dynamically, which is crucial for the activation of DDR signaling in a spatiotemporal manner. We previously showed that the TIP60 histone acetyltransferase complex acetylates histone H2AX, to facilitate H2AX exchange at sites of DNA damage. However, it remained unclear how the acetylation of histone H2AX by TIP60 is related to the DDR signaling. We found that the acetylation but not the phosphorylation of H2AX is essential for the turnover of NBS1 on damaged chromatin. The loss of H2AX acetylation at Lys 5 by TIP60 in cells disturbed the accumulation of NBS1 at sites of DNA damage. Although the phosphorylation of H2AX is also reportedly required for the retention of NBS1 at damage sites, our data indicated that the acetylation-dependent NBS1 turnover by TIP60 on damaged chromatin restricts the dispersal of NBS1 foci from the sites of DNA damage. These findings indicate the importance of the acetylation-dependent dynamic binding of NBS1 to damaged chromatin, created by histone H2AX exchange, for the proper accumulation of NBS1 at DNA damage sites.

The net photosynthetic rate of a leaf becomes acclimated to the plant's environment during growth. These rates are often measured, evaluated and compared among leaves of plants grown under different light conditions. In this study, we compared net photosynthetic rates of cucumber leaves grown under white light-emitting diode (LED) light without and with supplemental far-red (FR) LED light (W- and WFR-leaves, respectively) under three different measuring light (ML) conditions: their respective growth light (GL), artificial sunlight (AS) and blue and red (BR) light. The difference in the measured photosynthetic rates between W- and WFR-leaves was greater under BR than under GL and AS. In other words, an interaction between supplemental FR light during growth and the spectral photon flux density distribution (SPD) of ML affected the measured net photosynthetic rates. We showed that the comparison and evaluation of leaf photosynthetic rates and characteristics can be biased depending on the SPD of ML, especially for plants grown under different photon flux densities in the FR waveband. We also investigated the mechanism of the interaction. We confirmed that the distribution of excitation energy between the two photosystems (PSs) changed in response to the SPD of GL, and that this change resulted in the interaction, as suggested in previous reports. However, changes in PS stoichiometry could not completely explain the adjustment in excitation energy distribution observed in this study, suggesting that other mechanisms may be involved in the interaction.

The effects of blue light supplementation to red light on growth, morphology and N utilization in rice plants (Oryza sativa L. cv. Sasanishiki and Nipponbare) were investigated. Plants were grown under two light quality treatments, red light alone (R) or red light supplemented with blue light (RB; red/blue-light photosynthetic photon flux density [PPFD] ratio was 4/1), at 380 mol m−2 s−1 PPFD. The biomass production of both cultivars grown under RB conditions was higher than that of plants grown under R conditions. This enhancement of biomass production was caused by an increase in the net assimilation rate (NAR). The higher NAR was associated with a higher leaf N content per leaf area at the whole-plant level, which was accompanied by higher contents of the key components of photosynthesis, including Rubisco and chlorophyll. In Sasanishiki, preferential biomass investment in leaf blades and expansion of wider and thinner leaves also contributed to the enhancement of biomass production. These mor...

Grafted tomato (scion : Lycoperisicon esculentum Mill. cv. Momotaro ; rootstock : cv. Helper M) plug seedlings were stored at 10°C for 21 d under photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 2μmol m-2s-1 using mixed light from red and blue light LEDs, with different red/ blue PPFD ratios (100/0: R100, 97/3 : R97B3 and 50/50: R50B50) . The stored seedlings were transplanted and cultivated for 14 d at 25/18°C (day/night) and 300μmol m-2s-1 PPFD. The seedlings in R100 tended to lose their dry weight (DW) during storage, while those in R97B3 and R50B50 did not. On the last day of the storage, the contents of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and chlorophyll tended to be greater with decreasing the red/ blue PPFD ratio. However, there was no difference in DW of tomato plants at the last day of cultivation among the treatments. These results indicated that the difference in the contents of Rubisco and chlorophyll caused by different red/blue PPFD ratios did not affect the growth during cultivation following the storage. On the last day of the storage, the contents of carbohydrate were extremely small in all stored seedlings irrespective of the red/blue PPFD ratios. They may lead to no difference in the growth of tomato plant during cultivation following the storage. However, blue light mixing both in R97B3 and R50B50 was effective for maintaining DW and the visual quality due to the greater chlorophyll content during the low temperature storage of grafted tomato seedlings.

In Drosophila, trunk visceral mesoderm, a derivative of dorsal mesoderm, gives rise to circular visceral muscles. It has been demonstrated that the trunk visceral mesoderm parasegment is subdivided into at least two domains by connectin expression, which is regulated by Hedgehog and Wingless emanating from the ectoderm. We now extend these findings by examining a greater number of visceral mesodermal genes, includinghedgehog and branchless. Each visceral mesodermal parasegment appears to be divided into five or six regions, based on differences in expression patterns of these genes. Ectodermal Hedgehog and Wingless differentially regulate the expression of these metameric targets in trunk visceral mesoderm. hedgehog expression in trunk visceral mesoderm is responsible for maintaining its own expression and conexpression. hedgehog expressed in visceral mesoderm parasegment 3 may also be required for normal decapentaplegic expression in this region and normal gastric caecum development. branchless expressed in each trunk visceral mesodermal parasegment serves as a guide for the initial budding of tracheal visceral branches. The metameric pattern of trunk visceral mesoderm, organized in response to ectodermal instructive signals, is thus maintained at a later time via autoregulation, is required for midgut morphogenesis and exerts feedback effect on trachea, ectodermal derivatives.

In contrast to planes, three-dimensional (3D) structures such as tubes are physically anisotropic. Tubular organs exhibit a striking orientation of landmarks according to the physical anisotropy of the 3D shape, in addition to planar cell polarization. However, the influence of 3D tissue topography on the constituting cells remains underexplored. Here, we identify a regulatory network polarizing cellular biochemistry according to the physical anisotropy of the 3D tube geometry (tube cell polarization) by a genome-wide, tissue-specific RNAi screen. During Drosophila airway remodelling, each apical cellular junction is equipotent to establish perpendicular actomyosin cables, irrespective of the longitudinal or transverse tube axis. A dynamic transverse enrichment of atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) shifts the balance and transiently targets activated small GTPase RhoA, myosin phosphorylation and Rab11 vesicle trafficking to longitudinal junctions. We propose that the PAR complex translates tube physical anisotropy into longitudinal junctional anisotropy, where cell-cell communication aligns the contractile cytoskeleton of neighbouring cells.

Background Feline infectious peritonitis is a fatal disease of cats caused by infection with feline coronavirus (FCoV). For detecting or genotyping of FCoV, some RT-PCR plus nested PCR techniques have been reported previously. However, referring to the whole genome sequences (WGSs) registered at NCBI, there are no detection methods that can tolerate the genetic diversity among FCoV population. In addition, the quasispecies nature of FCoV, which consists of heterogeneous variants, has been also demonstrated; thus, a universal method for heteropopulations of FCoV variants in clinical specimens is desirable. Results To develop an RT-PCR method for detection and genotyping of FCoV, we performed comparative genome analysis using WGSs of 32 FCoV, 7 CCoV and 5 TGEV strains obtained from NCBI. As the PCR target, we focused on the nsp14 coding region, which is highly conserved and phylogenetically informative, and developed a PCR method targeting nsp14 partial sequences. Among 103 ascites, 45 pleural effusion and 214 blood specimens from clinically ill cats, we could detect FCoV in 55 (53.4%), 14 (31.1%) and 19 (8.9%) specimens using the present method. Direct sequencing of PCR products and phylogenetic analysis allowed discrimination between type I- and II-FCoV serotypes. Our nsp14 amino acid sequence typing (nsp14 aa ST) showed that the FCoV clone with sequence type (ST) 42, which was the most predominant genotype of WGS strains, was prevalent in domestic cats in Japan. Conclusions Our nsp14 PCR scheme will contribute to virus detection, epidemiology and ecology of FCoV strains. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0372-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Time-averaged net photosynthetic rate (P n) under pulsed light (PL) is known to be affected by the PL frequency and duty ratio, even though the time-averaged photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) is unchanged. This phenomenon can be explained by considering that photosynthetic intermediates (PIs) are pooled during light periods and then consumed by partial photosynthetic reactions during dark periods. In this study, we developed a kinetic model to estimate P n of cos lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia) leaves under PL based on the dynamics of the amount of pooled PIs. The model inputs are average PPFD, duty ratio, and frequency; the output is P n. The rates of both PI accumulation and consumption at a given moment are assumed to be dependent on the amount of pooled PIs at that point. Required model parameters and three explanatory variables (average PPFD, frequency, and duty ratio) were determined for the simulation using P n values under PL based on several combinations of the three variables. The model simulation for various PL levels with a wide range of time-averaged PPFDs, frequencies, and duty ratios further demonstrated that P n under PL with high frequencies and duty ratios was comparable to, but did not exceed, P n under continuous light, and also showed that P n under PL decreased as either frequency or duty ratio was decreased. The developed model can be used to estimate P n under various light environments where PPFD changes cyclically.

Homologous recombination plays essential roles in mitotic DNA double strand break (DSB) repair and meiotic genetic recombination. In eukaryotes, RAD51 promotes the central homologous-pairing step during homologous recombination, but is not sufficient to overcome the reaction barrier imposed by nucleosomes. RAD54, a member of the ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling factor family, is required to promote the RAD51-mediated homologous pairing in nucleosomal DNA. In higher eukaryotes, most nucleosomes form higher-ordered chromatin containing the linker histone H1. However, the mechanism by which RAD51/RAD54-mediated homologous pairing occurs in higher-ordered chromatin has not been elucidated. In this study, we found that a histone chaperone, Nap1, accumulates on DSB sites in human cells and DSB repair is substantially decreased in Nap1-knockdown cells. We determined that Nap1 binds to RAD54, enhances the RAD54-mediated nucleosome remodeling by evicting histone H1 and eventually stimulates the RAD51-mediated homologous pairing in higher-ordered chromatin containing histone H1.

We investigate the consistency of a scenario in which the baryon asymmetry, dark matters, as well as the cosmic density perturbation are generated simultaneously through the evaporation of primordial black holes (PBHs). This scenario can explain the coincidence of the dark matter and the baryon density of the universe, and is free from the isocurvature perturbation problem. We show that this scenario predicts the masses of PBHs, right-handed neutrinos and dark matters, the Hubble scale during inflation, the non-gaussianity and the running of the spectral index. We also discuss the testability of the scenario by detecting high frequency gravitational waves from PBHs.

The objectives of this work using Phaseolus vulgaris were to examine whether the light spectrum incident on mature primary leaves (PLs) is related to leaf-to-leaf systemic regulation of developing trifoliate leaves (TLs) in photosynthetic characteristics, and to investigate the relative importance of spectrum and photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) in light-induced systemic regulation. Systemic regulation was induced by altering PPFD and the spectrum of light incident on PLs using a shading treatment and lighting treatments including either white, blue, green or red light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Photosynthetic characteristics were evaluated by measuring the light-limited and light-saturated net photosynthetic rates and the amounts of nitrogen (N), chlorophyll (Chl) and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco; EC 4.1.1.39). Shading treatment on PLs decreased the amounts of N, Chl and Rubisco of TLs and tended to decrease the photosynthetic rates. However, we observed no systemic effects induced by the light spectrum on PLs in this study, except that a higher amount of Rubisco of TLs was observed when the PLs were irradiated with blue LEDs. Our results imply that photoreceptors in mature leaves have little influence on photosynthetic rates and amounts of N and Chl of developing leaves through systemic regulation, although the possibility of the action of blue light irradiation on the amount of Rubisco cannot be ruled out. Based on these results, we concluded that the light spectrum incident on mature leaves has little systemic effect on developing leaves in terms of photosynthetic characteristics and that the light-induced systemic regulation was largely accounted for by PPFD.

The spatial organization of chromatin in the nucleus contributes to genome function and is altered during the differentiation of normal and tumorigenic cells. Although nuclear actin-related proteins (Arps) have roles in the local alteration of chromatin structure, it is unclear whether they are involved in the spatial positioning of chromatin. In the interphase nucleus of vertebrate cells, gene-dense and gene-poor chromosome territories (CTs) are located in the center and periphery, respectively. Here we analyzed the chicken DT40 cells in which Arp6 had been knocked out conditionally, and showed that the radial distribution of CTs was impaired in these knockout cells. Arp6 is an essential component of the SRCAP chromatin remodeling complex, which deposits the histone variant H2A.Z into chromatin. The redistribution of CTs was also observed in H2A.Z-deficient cells in gene-rich microchromosomes, but to lesser extent in gene-poor macrochromosomes. These results indicate that Arp6 and H2A.Z contribute to the radial distribution of CTs through different mechanisms. Microarray analysis suggested that the localization of chromatin to the nuclear periphery per se is insufficient for the repression of most genes.

Blue light effects on the acclimation of energy partitioning characteristics in PSII and CO2 assimilation capacity in spinach to high growth irradiance were investigated. Plants were grown hydroponically in different light treatments that were a combination of two light qualities and two irradiances,i.e. white light and blue-deficient light at photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFDs) of 100 and 500 micromol m(-2) s(-1). The CO2 assimilation rate, the quantum efficiency of PSII(PhiPSII) and thermal dissipation activity (F(v)/F(m)-F'(v)/F'(m)) in young, fully expanded leaves were measured under 1,600 micromol m(-2) s(-1) white light. The CO2 assimilation rate and (PhiPSII) were higher, while F(v)/F(m)-F'(v)/F'(m) was lower in plants grown under high irradiance than in plants grown under low irradiance. These responses were observed irrespective of the presence or absence of blue light during growth. The extent of the increase in the CO2 assimilation rate and PhiPSII and the decrease in F(v)/F(m)-F'(v)/F'(m) by high growth irradiance was smaller under blue light-deficient conditions. These results indicate that blue light helps to boost the acclimation responses of energy partitioning in PSII and CO2 assimilation to high irradiance. Similarly, leaf N, Cyt f and Chl contents per unit leaf area increased by high growth irradiance, and the extent of the increment in leaf N, Cyt f and Chl was smaller under blue light-deficient conditions. Regression analysis showed that the differences in energy partitioning in PSIIand CO2 assimilation between plants grown under high white light and high blue-deficient light were closely related to the difference in leaf N.

In rice plants grown under red light supplemented with blue light (red/blue-light PPFD ratio was 4/1), photosynthetic rates per unit leaf area measured under white light at 1,600 and 250 μmol m - 2 s - 1 were higher than those in the plants grown under red light alone. The higher photosynthetic rates were associated with higher total N content of leaves, which was accompanied by larger amounts of key components of photosynthesis-limiting processes, including Rubisco, Cyt f, Chl and LHCII. These results suggested that the increase in total N content of leaves induced by supplemental blue light enhanced both light-saturated and light-limited photosynthesis.

Poly(4-hydroxystyrene) (PHS) has been used in current lithography as a backbone polymer and is also a promising material for EUV and electron beam (EB) lithography. PHS is efficiently deprotonated after the ionization of its radical cation at a low pK a (850 kcal/mol).

近年，IoTに基づく「つながる工場」に関する技術開発が着目され，日本の次世代の製造業を支えるために，新しい研究開発が求められている．特に機械加工の現場では，異常検知や適応制御のために加工現象を精確かつリアルタイムにモニタできる技術が必要とされている．そこで，マシニングセンタなどの工作機械において，回転工具の加工中に多チャンネルで各種の物理量を切削点近傍にてモニタ可能な無線多機能ホルダを開発し，様々な工具，加工方法を対象にその有効性を示した．, Currently, a smart monitoring technology has been attracting particular attention in the factory automation fields regarding the Internet of things (IoT). Particularly in the machining site, the technology of monitoring the processing phenomenon in precision and real-time is required for abnormality detection or adaptive control. Then, we developed a novel tool holder equipped with a wireless communication function to monitor the tool temperature and vibrating accelerations near the cutting point during a tool rotating operation, and we showed effectiveness for various tools and processing method., Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Doshisha University