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Regulation of Il6 expression by single CpG methylation in downstream of Il6 transcription initiation site
No full textThe innate immune system is an immediate defense against infectious pathogens by the production of inflammatory cytokines and other mediators. Deficiencies of epigenetic regulatory enzymes, such as Tet1 and Dnmt1, cause dysregulation of cytokine expression. However, it is unclear if DNA methylation at a single CpG dinucleotide in a specific gene locus can regulate gene expression. In this study, we demonstrated that CpG+286 and CpG+348 in exon 2 of the Il6 gene are similar in various primary mouse cells. In lipopolysaccharide-stimulated condition, hypomethylated CpG+286 promoted Il6 expression whereas deletion of CpG+348 led to a reduction in Il6 expression associated with enhanced CTCF binding to the Il6 locus. Moreover, hypomethylation at CpG+286 in alveolar macrophages from aged mice led to higher Il6 expression in response to LPS compared with young mice. Thus, DNA methylation at specific CpG dinucleotides plays an important regulatory role in Il6 expression.journal articl
Tetraploidization promotes radial stem growth in poplars
No full textSomatic polyploidization often increases cell and organ size, thereby contributing to plant biomass production. However, as most woody plants do not undergo polyploidization, explaining the polyploidization effect on organ growth in trees remains difficult. Here we developed a new method to generate tetraploid lines in poplars through colchicine treatment of lateral buds. We found that tetraploidization induced cell enlargement in the stem, suggesting that polyploidization can increase cell size in woody plants that cannot induce polyploidization in normal development. Greenhouse growth analysis revealed that radial growth was enhanced in the basal stem of tetraploids, whereas longitudinal growth was retarded, producing the same amount of stem biomass as diploids. Woody biomass characteristics were also comparable in terms of wood substance density, saccharification efficiency, and cell wall profiling. Our results reveal tetraploidization as an effective strategy for improving woody biomass production when combined with technologies that promote longitudinal stem growth by enhancing metabolite production and/or transport.journal articl
Functional analysis of the histone modification enzymes SDG7 and SDG8 in Arabidopsis
Get PDF奈良先端科学技術大学院大学博士(バイオサイエンス)doctoral thesi
アミノサン タイシャ セイギョ キコウ ニ チャクモクシタ コウボ ノ イクシュ ト セイシュ ジョウゾウ エノ オウヨウ
Get PDF奈良先端科学技術大学院大学博士(バイオサイエンス)doctoral thesi
Impact of substituents on the performance of small-molecule semiconductors in organic photovoltaic devices via regulating morphology
No full textRecent years have witnessed a rapid development of organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs). The significant improvement in power conversion efficiency is due to not only the discovery of new π-conjugated frameworks, but also careful substituent engineering to achieve optimal morphology in bulk-heterojunction active layers. Indeed, all aspects of the light-to-electricity conversion in OPVs, such as light absorption, exciton diffusion, and charge-carrier transport, are influenced by the morphological characteristics of active layers. The importance of active-layer morphology on the performance of OPVs has made substituent engineering an increasingly important part of OPV semiconductor design. Herein, we overview recent prominent examples of substituent engineering, focusing on flexible substituents that regulate morphology, rather than the molecular electronic structure, of small-molecule organic semiconductors.review articl
First-principles study on the stability of (R, Zr)(Fe, Co, Ti)12 against 2-17 and unary phases (R = Y, Nd, Sm)
No full textThe stability of (R, Zr)(Fe, Co, Ti)12 with a ThMn12 structure is investigated using first-principles calculations. We consider energetic competition with multiple phases that have the Th2Zn17 structure and the unary phases ofR, Zr, Fe, Co, and Ti simultaneously by constructing a quinary energy convex hull. From the analysis, we list the stable phases at zero temperature, and show possible stable and metastable ThMn12 phases.journal articl
Investigating the Influence of GABA Neurons on Dopamine Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area Using Optogenetic Techniques
No full textDopamine (DA) is the key regulator of reward behavior. The DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and their projection areas, which include the prefrontal cortex (PFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and amygdala, play a primary role in the process of reward-driven behavior induced by the drugs of addiction, including nicotine and alcohol. In our previous study, we developed a novel platform consisting of micro-LED array devices to stimulate a large area of the brain of rats and monkeys with photo-stimulation and a microdialysis probe to estimate the DA release in the PFC. Our results suggested that the platform was able to detect the increased level of dopamine in the PFC in response to the photo-stimulation of both the PFC and VTA. In this study, we used this platform to photo-stimulate the VTA neurons in both ChrimsonR-expressing (non-specific) wild and dopamine transporter (DAT)-Cre (dopamine specific) mice, and measured the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcShell). We measured the DA release in the NAcShell in response to optogenetic stimulation of the VTA neurons and investigated the effect of GABAergic neurons on dopaminergic neurons by histochemical studies. Comparing the photo-stimulation frequency of 2 Hz with that of 20 Hz, the change in DA concentration at the NAcShell was greater at 20 Hz in both cases. When ChrimsonR was expressed specifically for DA, the release of DA at the NAcShell increased in response to photo-stimulation of the VTA. In contrast, when ChrimsonR was expressed non-specifically, the amount of DA released was almost unchanged upon photo-stimulation. However, for nonspecifically expressed ChrimsonR, intraperitoneal injection of bicuculline, a competitive antagonist at the GABA-binding site of the GABAA receptor, also significantly increased the release of DA at the NAcShell in response to photo-stimulation of the VTA. The results of immunochemical staining confirm that GABAergic neurons in the VTA suppress DA activation, and also indicate that alterations in GABAergic neurons may have serious downstream effects on DA activity, NAcShell release, and neural adaptation of the VTA. This study also confirms that optogenetics technology is crucial to study the relationship between the mesolimbic dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons in a neural-specific manner.journal articl
Generation of the Y-chromosome linked red fluorescent protein transgenic mouse model and sexing at the preimplantation stage
No full textIn mammals, sexual fate is determined by the chromosomes of the male and female gametes during fertilization. Males (XY) or females (XX) are produced when a sperm containing a Y or X-chromosome respectively fertilizes an X-chromosome-containing unfertilized egg. However, sexing of preimplantation stage embryos cannot be conducted visually. To address this, transgenic male mouse models with the ubiquitously expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene on X- (X-GFP) or Y-chromosomes (Y-GFP) have been established. However, when crossed with wild-type females, sexing of the preimplantation stage embryos by observing the GFP signal is problematic in some cases due to X-inactivation, loss of Y-chromosome (LOY), or loss of transgene fluorescence. In this study, a mouse model with the ubiquitously expressed red fluorescent protein (RFP) transgene on the Y-chromosome was generated since RFP is easily distinguishable from GFP signals. Unfortunately, the ubiquitously expressed tdTomato RFP transgene on the Y-chromosome (Y-RFP) mouse showed the lethal phenotype after birth. No lethal phenotypes were observed when the mitochondrial locating signal N-terminal of tdTomato (mtRFP) was included in the transgene construct. Almost half of the collected fertilized eggs from Y-mtRFP male mice crossed with wild-type females had an RFP signal at the preimplantation stage (E1.5). Therefore, XY eggs were recognized as RFP-positive embryos at the preimplantation stage. Furthermore, 100% sexing was observed at the preimplantation stage using the X-linked GFP/Y-linked RFP male mouse. The established Y-mtRFP mouse models may be used to study sex chromosome related research.journal articl
In-Vehicle Network Attack Detection Using Deep Neural Networks Trained On Features Extracted From CAN Data
Get PDF奈良先端科学技術大学院大学博士(工学)doctoral thesi
Traffic Measurement and Control Methods using Autonomous Learning
Get PDF奈良先端科学技術大学院大学博士(工学)doctoral thesi