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The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) has developed a Sr optical lattice clock and optical ion clocks employing In+and Ca+. The centimeter-level uncertainty of site elevation is the cause of 10^(-18)-level frequency uncertainties of optical frequency standards. It is significantly important to understand frequency changes caused by solid-earth tides that often range from 10 to 20 cm in amplitude, by oceanic tidal loading, crustal deformations due to earthquakes, and ground movements with groundwater changes for the stable operation of optical atomic clocks.NICT and partners including the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) have been jointly conducting leveling surveys and relative gravimeter observations at NICT’s headquarters in Koganei. These observations reduce the contribution of gravitational redshift to the total uncertainty of the optical lattice clock to the 10^(-19)level. With the support of National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), absolute gravity measurements were performed in August 2019 and May 2022 to evaluate the effects of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake on postseismic crustal movement. The obtained absolute gravity change between the two periods was -43.8 μGal, which matches the trend of GNSS vertical movement obtained by GSI. We have introduced a Micro-g LaCoste’s gPhoneX gravimeter for continuous gravity measurements nearby the optical clocks in the end of 2021 and have started to investigate the temporal variation of the ground water level in Koganei. We will present preliminary results of these geodetic measurements., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

Quantitative multicolor fluorescence microscopy relies on the careful spatial matching of color channels acquired at different wavelengths. Due to chromatic aberration and the imperfect alignment of cameras, images acquired in each channel may be shifted, and magnified, as well as rotated relative to each other in any of the three dimensions. With the classical calibration method, chromatic shifts are measured by multicolor beads attached to the surface of a coverslip, and a number of software are available to measure the chromatic shifts from such calibration samples. However, chromatic aberration can vary with depth, change with observation conditions and be induced by the biological sample itself, thus hindering determination of the true amount of chromatic shift in the sample of interest and across the volume. Correcting chromatic shifts at higher accuracy is particularly relevant for super-resolution microscopy where only slight chromatic shifts may affect quantitative analyses and alter the interpretation of multicolor images. We have developed an open-source software Chromagnon and accompanying methods to measure and correct 3D chromatic shifts in biological samples. Here we provide a detailed application protocol that includes special requirements for sample preparation, data acquisition, and software processing to measure chromatic shifts in biological samples of interest.

High-pressure synthesis of denser glass has been a longstanding interest in condensed-matter physics and materials science because of its potentially broad industrial application. Nevertheless, understanding its nature under extreme pressures has yet to be clarified due to experimental and theoretical challenges. Here we reveal the formation of OSi4 tetraclusters associated with that of SiO7 polyhedra in SiO2 glass under ultrahigh pressures to 200 gigapascal confirmed both experimentally and theoretically. Persistent homology analyses with molecular dynamics simulations found increased packing fraction of atoms whose topological diagram at ultrahigh pressures is similar to a pyrite-type crystalline phase, although the formation of tetraclusters is prohibited in the crystalline phase. This critical difference would be caused by the potential structural tolerance in the glass for distortion of oxygen clusters. Furthermore, an expanded electronic band gap demonstrates that chemical bonds survive at ultrahigh pressure. This opens up the synthesis of topologically disordered dense oxide glasses. acceptedVersion

In budding yeast, Set2 catalyzes di- and trimethylation of H3K36 (H3K36me2 and H3K36me3) via an interaction between its Set2-Rpb1 interaction (SRI) domain and C-terminal repeats of RNA polymerase II (Pol2) phosphorylated at Ser(2) and Ser(5) (CTD-S2,5-P). H3K36me2 is sufficient for recruitment of the Rpd3S histone deacetylase complex to repress cryptic transcription from transcribed regions. In fission yeast, Set2 is also responsible for H3K36 methylation, which represses a subset of RNAs including heterochromatic and subtelomeric RNAs, at least in part via recruitment of Clr6 complex II, a homolog of Rpd3S. Here, we show that CTD-S2P-dependent interaction of fission yeast Set2 with Pol2 via the SRI domain is required for formation of H3K36me3, but not H3K36me2. H3K36me3 silenced heterochromatic and subtelomeric transcripts mainly through post-transcriptional and transcriptional mechanisms, respectively, whereas H3K36me2 was not enough for silencing. Clr6 complex II appeared not to be responsible for heterochromatic silencing by H3K36me3. Our results demonstrate that H3K36 methylation has multiple outputs in fission yeast; these findings provide insights into the distinct roles of H3K36 methylation in metazoans, which have different enzymes for synthesis of H3K36me1/2 and H3K36me3.

Some long noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) transcribed by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) are retained on chromatin, where they regulate RNAi and chromatin structure. The molecular basis of this retention remains unknown. We show that in fission yeast serine 7 (Ser7) of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNAPII is required for efficient siRNA generation for RNAi-dependent heterochromatin formation. Surprisingly, Ser7 facilitates chromatin retention of nascent heterochromatic RNAs (hRNAs). Chromatin retention of hRNAs and siRNA generation requires both Ser7 and an RNA-binding activity of the chromodomain of Chp1, a subunit of the RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS) complex. Furthermore, RITS associates with RNAPII in a Ser7-dependent manner. We propose that Ser7 promotes cotranscriptional chromatin retention of hRNA by recruiting the RNA-chromatin connector protein Chp1, which facilitates RNAi-dependent heterochromatin formation. Our findings reveal a function of the CTD code: linking ncRNA transcription to RNAi for heterochromatin formation.