Transcriptomic Dynamics of Petal Development in the One-day Flower Species, Japanese Morning Glory (Ipomoea nil).

Various aspects of Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil) petals, such as color, pattern, shape, flower opening time, and senescence, have been extensively studied. To facilitate such studies, transcriptome data were collected from flower petals at 3-h intervals over 3.5 days; the data was collected 72 h before and 12 h post-flower opening, accounting for 29 timepoints.

Autophagic cell death in plants.

Autophagy is a catabolic process that degrades cytoplasmic components under cellular stress conditions such as nutrient deprivation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and pathogen infection. This process involves the formation of autophagosomes, which sequester cytoplasmic materials before fusing with lysosomes (or vacuoles in plant cells) for degradation. Historically, autophagy has been considered primarily as a stress adaptation mechanism, but emerging evidence indicates its involvement in programmed cell death (PCD), termed autophagic cell death (ACD).

The mitotic STAG3-cohesin complex shapes male germline nucleome.

Germ cells are unique in that they tailor chromatin toward generating totipotency. Accordingly, mammalian spermatogonia, including spermatogonial stem cells that constitute the source for male gametes, acquire distinctive chromatin organization with weak insulation, but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Here we show that STAG3, so far known to exclusively form meiotic cohesins, generates a mitotic cohesin for male germline nucleome programming in mice.

Elongation factors regulate the repair of photosystem II oxido-reductively.

Photoinhibition of photosystem II (PSII) limits the fixation of light energy by photosynthesis and, thus, the productivity of plants everywhere. Photosynthetic organisms are equipped with a system that protects the photosynthetic machinery from photoinhibition by enhancing the repair of photodamaged PSII. However, the repair process is inhibited by oxidative stress and other types of environmental stress, which generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), primarily via the suppression of protein synthesis.

base-excision restriction enzyme in stomach carcinogenesis.

Many recent lines of evidence from the human microbiome and other fields indicate bacterial involvement in various types of cancer. has been recognized as the major cause of stomach cancer (gastric cancer), but the mechanism by which it destabilizes the human genome to cause cancer remains unclear. Our recent studies have identified a unique family of toxic restriction enzymes that excise a base (: adenine) from their recognition sequence (5'-GTC).

Inducible NMDA receptor knockdown reveals a maintenance phase in dendritic refinement of barrel cortex neurons.

The temporal mechanisms of activity-dependent dendritic patterning during postnatal development remain unclear because appropriate technology is lacking. Here, we demonstrate that the auxin-inducible degron 2 technology enables the rapid knockdown of target proteins at specific time points in the postnatal mouse brain. When N-methyl-D-aspartate-type glutamate receptor (NMDAR) depletion was induced from postnatal day (P)3, barrel cortex layer 4 spiny stellate neurons (barrel cells) failed to form strong asymmetry and a high tree-length variance in the dendritic patterns.

Amyloplasts are necessary for full gravitropism in thallus of Marchantia polymorpha.

Gravitropism is a plant response to gravity that directs organ growth and development, playing a key role in the adaptation of land plants. While its molecular basis has been extensively studied in flowering plants, much less is known about this process in other plant lineages. Here, we investigated the gravitropic response of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a model for early land plant evolution.

Targeted disruption of the gene in impairs membrane integrity and host symbiont dynamics.

The obligate symbiosis between pea aphids () and represents metabolic interdependence between the host insect and its bacterial symbiont. has a highly reduced genome that has lost nearly all phospholipid synthesis genes except , encoding a cardiolipin synthase homologue. We employed antisense, cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-conjugated synthetic peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) to knock down in .

The evolution of RHO of plant (ROP) proteins and their morphogenetic functions.

The ability of a cell to polarise, and direct cell growth or orient cell division, for example, is fundamental for the morphogenesis of multicellular organisms. A key molecular system for signalling cell polarity in diverse eukaryotes involves the RHO family of small GTPases. Since its origin in early eukaryotes, the RHO family has evolved independently in different lineages, and the plant-specific subfamily of RHO - RHO of plants (ROP) - was established in the streptophyte algal ancestors of land plants.

Comparative Proteomic Profiling of Receptor Kinase Signaling Reveals Key Trafficking Components Enforcing Plant Stomatal Development.

Receptor kinases are pivotal for growth, development, and environmental response of plants. Yet, their regulatory mechanisms and spatial dynamics are still underexplored. The ERECTA-family receptor kinases coordinate diverse developmental processes, including stomatal development.

From photoprotection to plasticity: transposon activation in the Chlamydomonas det1 mutant.

Transposable elements (TEs) contribute to genomic adaptation but are typically silenced to maintain genome integrity. In this study, we investigated TE activation in a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant deficient in DE-ETIOLATED1 (DET1). This mutant was originally identified for its enhanced high-light tolerance due to constitutive nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ).

Comprehensive genetic analyses of Arabidopsis autophagy-related 8 family reveal redundant regulatory roles during autophagy.

The ubiquitin-like protein ATG8 is a central component of the autophagy process and is required at multiple steps during both bulk and selective autophagy. Currently, our understanding of the roles of ATG8 in plants and the possible functional specialization of its family members is limited by genetic redundancy. Here, we employed clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas)9 targeting technology to systematically inactivate all nine Arabidopsis thaliana ATG8 loci.

STEMIN transcription factor drives selective chromatin remodeling for gene activation within a relaxed chromatin during reprogramming in the moss Physcomitrium patens.

Land plants exhibit remarkable cellular plasticity, readily reprogramming differentiated cells into stem cells in response to internal and external stimuli. While chromatin remodeling is crucial for cellular reprogramming, its interplay with gene expression during reprogramming into stem cells remains elusive. In the moss Physcomitrium patens, wounding induces reprogramming of leaf cells facing wounded cells to change into chloronema apical stem cells through the activation of the AP2/ERF transcription factor STEMIN.

Quantification of Cyclin-CDK dissociation constants using FCCS with green and near-infrared fluorescent proteins.

The cell cycle is a highly coordinated process governed by cyclin-bound cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). While the interaction between cyclin and CDK are well-documented, the dissociation constants (Kd) between specific cyclin-CDK pairs within living cells remain poorly understood. Fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) enables the quantification of the Kd, but challenges remain in selecting an optimal pair of fluorescent molecules for FCCS in a living cell.

Wnt-dependent mechanism of the apical constriction of roof plate cells in developing mouse spinal cord.

Apical constriction of epithelial cells usually occurs in a local portion of epithelial sheet, which results in bending of epithelial tissues. However, it is uncertain whether diffusible signal molecules, like Wnt, regulate such locally restricted events. Here, we show that Wnt ligands are required for apical constriction of Wnt1-expressing roof plate (RP) cells during development of the neural tube.

Refined CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in the pea aphid uncovers the essential roles of Laccase2 in overwintering egg adaptation.

The production of overwintering eggs is a critical adaptation for winter survival among many insects. Melanization contributes to eggshell pigmentation and hardening, consequently enhancing resistance to environmental stress. The complex life cycle of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum), a model hemipteran insect with remarkable reproductive capacity, involves cyclical parthenogenesis.

Electroporation-mediated functional analysis method of genes in the giant insect Trypoxylus dichotomus.

The Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, possesses large horns on its head and thorax, features whose biological significance has been explored across various fields, including evolutionary developmental biology, behavioral ecology, and materials science. To investigate the molecular basis of these characteristics, systemic larval RNA interference (RNAi) has been employed as a primary loss-of-function genetic tool. However, gain-of-function analyses and region-specific gene function assessments remain underdeveloped, thereby limiting the comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved.

Lineage-specific head development in the coffin-headed cricket Loxoblemmus equestris links the final molt with novel trait evolution.

Background: Lineage-specific adult structures form through modifications of pre-existing juvenile body parts during postembryonic development in insects. It remains unclear how these novel traits originate from ancestral structures within the constrained body plan. In the coffin-headed cricket Loxoblemmus equestris, an ancestral rounded head shape directly transforms into a flattened derived form in a sex-specific manner.

Draft genome sequences of from three aphid species (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Eriosomatinae) associated with gall formation on elm trees.

The genomes from eriosomatine gall-forming aphids , , and were sequenced, with genome sizes of 533,871, 530,863, and 627,315 bp, respectively. These genomes shed light on 's role in aphid symbiosis and adaptation.

Cloning-Free Targeting of Endogenous Loci to Generate Fluorescent Reporters in Medaka.

CRISPR-Cas9 has democratized genome engineering due to its simplicity and efficacy. Adapted from a bacterial defense mechanism, CRISPR-Cas9 comprises the Cas9 endonuclease and a site-specific guide RNA. In vivo, the Cas9 ribonucleoprotein (RNP) can target specific genomic loci and generate double-strand breaks.

Brain macrophages and pial fibroblasts promote inflammation in a hypomyelination model.

Many neurological diseases remain difficult to treat, necessitating further elucidation of their pathogenesis. Conditional inactivation of Pdgfra in Nestin-expressing cells leads to the depletion of platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha (PDGFRα) oligodendroglial lineage cells responsible for myelination, resulting in forebrain hypomyelination and severe, progressive neurological deficits in neonatal mice. The present study examined the cerebral cortex of these mice to better understand the mechanisms underlying such progressive neurological deficits, that are often observed in refractory neurological diseases.

Repressive S-adenosylmethionine biosynthesis status inhibits transcription of HeT-A retrotransposon in the germline of Drosophila.

S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is the major cellular methyl donor and regulates gene expression through epigenetic and other methylation-related processes. While SAM biosynthesis influences a variety of biological phenomena including aging and disease, its cell type-specific regulation and functional implications remain poorly understood. In this study, we report that the Drosophila germline exhibits a uniquely repressive SAM biosynthesis status during gametogenesis, as indicated by low expression of SAM synthetase (Sam-S), a key enzyme for SAM production.

S-adenosylmethionine metabolism buffering is regulated by a decrease in glycine N-methyltransferase via the nuclear ubiquitin-proteasome system.

Metabolic homeostasis is essential for survival; however, many studies have focused on the fluctuations of these factors. Furthermore, while metabolic homeostasis depends on the balance between the production and consumption of metabolites, there have been limited investigations into the mechanisms regulating their consumption. S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) metabolism has diverse functions, including methylation, polyamine biosynthesis, and transsulfuration, making its regulation and control crucial.