An actin filament binding protein cortactin was initially identified as a major phosphotyrosine-containing protein in v-Src-transformed chicken embryo fibroblast cells. The mouse, human, and Drosophila homologs were independently identified as a signaling molecule involved in a mitogenic response, as a product of a putative oncogene EMS1, and as a molecule interacting with a scaffolding protein ZO-1, respectively. In this report, we describe the cloning of the Drosophila cortactin gene, which consists of four exons and three introns, covering 3 kilobases in length. All exon-intron junctions are well matched with the GT/AG consensus sequence. S1 nuclease mapping revealed one major and several minor transcription start sites. The cytological location of the Crosophila cortactin gene is between chromosome segments 93B3 and 93B7.

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RAPD, RFLP, nuclear SSLP and chloroplast SSLP analyses were carried out to clarify the phylogenetic relationships among A-genome species of rice. In total, 12 cultivars of Oryza sativa (4 Japonica, 3 Javanica and 5 Indica), one cultivar of O. glaberrima, and 17 wild accessions (12 O. rufipogon, 2 O. glumaepatula, 1 O. longistaminata, 1 O. meridionalis and 1 O. barthii) were used. Their banding patterns were scored and compared to evaluate the similarity between accessions. Genetic differentiation within and between taxa was examined based on the average similarity indices Except for chloroplast SSLP analysis, the average similarities were higher within O. sativa than within O. rufipogon, and O. sativa Indica had greater intrasubspecific variation than Japonica and Javanica. Comparisons between cultivated and wild species showed that O. sativa was closely related to O. rufipogon, while O. glaberrima was closely related to O. barthii. This indicated that two cultivated species, O. sativa and O. glaberrima, originated from O. rufipogon and O. barthii, respectively. Domestication of O. sativa seemed to be diphyletic, since strong similarity was observed between O. sativa Japonica-Javanica and O. rufipogon from China and between O. sativa Indica and O. rufipogon from tropical Asia. In addition, dendrograms for RAPD, RFLP, and nuclear and chloroplast SSLP analyses were constructed to reval the overall genetic relationships among A-genome species. In all analyses, O. sativa and O.glaberrima formed groups with O. rufipogon and O. barthii, respectively. However, their manners of clustering with other wild species were not the same. The results of RAPD and RFLP analyses indicate that O. glumaepatula was relatively close to the groups of O. sativa and O. glaberrima whereas O. longistaminata and O. meridionalis were highly differentiated from other A-genome species. On the other hand, clear interspecific relationships were not obtained by nuclear or chloroplast SSLP analyses.

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In this study, a mixed model method using trait phenotype and marker information was developed for genetic evaluation of animals in a crossbred population originated from several founder genetic groups. The situation in which a cluster of QTLs is located in a particular chromosome region and is marked by two flanking markers is considered. With this method, the conditional expectation of the identity-by-descent proportion for the QTL-cluster marked and the genetic variances and covariances, given genetic group and marker information, are properly taken into account. The structure of segregation variance used in this method is different from that in the case of a single QTL marked. The current method provides best linear unbiased estimation of the relevant fixed effects and best linear unbiased prediction of the additive effects for the QTL-cluster marked and of the additive effects of the remaining polygenes. A small numerical example is given to illustrate the current prediction procedure.

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We investigated the expressions of genes for alternative oxidase (AOX1a, AOX1b, AOX1c and AOX2) and genes for cytochrome c oxidase (COX5b and COX6b) during germination of Arabidopsis thaliana, and examined oxygen uptakes of the alternative respiration and the cytochrome respiration in imbided Arabidopsis seeds. A Northern blot analysis showed that AOX2 mRNA has already accumulated in dry seeds and subsequently decreased, whereas accumulation of AOX1a mRNA was less abundant from 0 hours to 48 hours after imbibition and then increased. The increase of the capacity of the alternative pathway appeared to be dependent on the expressions of both AOX2 and AOX1a. On the other hand, steady-state mRNA levels of COX5b and COX6b were gradually increased during germination, and the capacity of the cytochrome pathway was correlated with the increase of expressions of the COX genes. Antimycin A, the respiratory inhibitor, strongly increased the expression of AOX1a but had no effect on the expression of AOX2. A 5’RACE analysis showed that AOX2 consists of five exons, which is different from the case of most AOX genes identified so far. Analysis of subcellular localization of AOX2 using green fluorescent protein indicated that the AOX2 protein is imported into the mitochondria.

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β-conglycinin, a soybean seed storage protein, is comprised of three different subunits, α, α', and β. Several candidates for the α subunit gene have been isolated, however, the structure of the α subunit gene has not been completely determined. Accordingly, it was also unknown which of the gene candidates are functionally active. Here, we have determined the nucleotide sequence and transcription start site of the α subunit gene, and compared structural components with those of the other subunits or other seed protein genes. The α subunit gene, which is located on a 7.6-kb EcoRI fragment, we composed of six exons that had the same organization as those for the α' subunit gene. Within a 400 bp upstream region of the transcription start site, four regions (designated as boxes I, II, III, and IV) were found to be conserved among the α, α', and other seed protein genes. Genomic Southern blot analysis of soybean varieties lacking the α subunit gene candidate indicated that the gene characterized in this paper actually encodes the α subunit and is functionally active. In addition, these experiments revealed the presence of an additional gene which is also responsible for the expression of the α subunit.

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We conducted AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis with the six wheat-barley chromosome addition lines of common wheat cultivar Chinese Spring. We analyzed the AFLP fingerprints generated by 36 combinations of selective-amplification primers to find 103 markers specific to the barley chromosomes (2.9 markers per combination on average). The numbers of AFLP markers mapped to the barley chromosomes varied (one to 16) depending of the primer combinations. Each barley chromosome had 10 to 27 AFLP markers (17.2 markers on average). We identified the chromosome arms in which these markers are located using the barley telocentric addition lines (one to 20 markers per chromosome arm). The AFLP markers were not distributed evenly among chromosomes and chromosome arms. We could not determine the chromosome-arm locations for some of the barley-specific markers, either because such markers were found in both the short- and long-arm telocentric lines, or in neither line.

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Flagellin (fliC) genes of 12 Shigella boydii and five Shigella dysenteriae strains were characterized. Though these strains are nonmotile, the cryptic filC_SB gene, cloned from S. boydii strain C3, is functional for expression of flagellin. It consists of 1, 704 bp, and encodes 568 amino acid residues (57, 918 Da). The fliC_SD gene from S. dysenteriae strain 16 consists of 1, 650 bp encoding 549 amino acid residues (57, 591 Da) and contains an IS1 element inserted in its 3' end. The two genes are composed of the 5'-constant, central variable and 3'-constant sequences, like other known fliC genes. The two genes share high homology in nucleotide and amino acid sequences with each other and also with the Escherichia coli fliC_E gene, indicating that both genes are closely related to the fliC_E gene. Comparison of the central variable sequences of six different fliC genes showed that the fliC_SB and fliC_SD genes share low homology in amino acid sequence with the other fliC genes, suggesting that they encode antigenic determinants intrinsic to respective subgroups. However, Southern blotting using as probes the central variable sequences of several fliC genes showed that four of 12 S. boydii strains have a fliC gene similar to that of Shigella flexneri, and that among five fliC genes from S. dysenteriae strains, one is similar to that of S. flexneri, two are similar to that of S. boydii, and only one is unique to S. dysenteriae. Some of these variant alleles were verified by immunoblotting with flagellins produced from cloned fliC genes. The presence of variant fliC alleles in S. boydii and S. dysenteriae indicates that subdivision into subgroups does not reflect the ancestral flagella H antigenic relationships. These data will be useful in considering the evolutionary divergence of the Shigella spp..

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We isolated a crown gall tumor-inducing nopaline type Ti plasmid from Agrobacterium tumefaciens on a Sakura Japanese cherry tree, and designated it as pTi-SAKURA. By primer walking sequencing with long PCR and a newly developed PCR subcloning technique for long insert DNA, we completed DNA sequencing of the most important functional unit, the virulence (vir) region of pTi-SAKURA, which is indispensable for T-DNA transfer into the plant’s chromosomes. By homology searches with the vir genes of other bacterial plasmids, we identified 11 open reading frames (orfs) and 31 genes and 11 vir box, which are 6 bp regulatory sequences. In total, 26 vir genes, including the putative virF and virK and the main vir region, were present as the vir gene cluster. The presence of vir box, GC content, codon usage and expression analysis in these genes led us to propose a new vir region.

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We investigated physical distances and directions of transposition of the maize transposable element Ac in tobacco cultured cells. We introduced a T-DNA construct that carried a non-autonomous derivative of Ac (designated dAc-I-RS) that included sites for cleavage by restriction endonuclease MluI. Another cleavage site was also introduced into the T-DNA region outside of the dAc-I-RS transposable element. The tobacco cultured cell line BY-2 was transformed with the T-DNA and several transformed lines that had a single copy of the T-DNA at a different chromosomal location were isolated. These lines were co-cultured with Agrobacterium tumefaciens cells that carried a cDNA for the Ac transposase gene under the control of various promoters. Sublines of cultured cells in which dAc-I-RS had been transposed, were isolated. The genomic DNAs of these sublines were isolated and digested with MluI. Sizes of DNA segments generated by digestion were determined by pulse-field gel electrophoresis. Our results showed that 20 to 70% of transposition events had occurred within several hundreds kilo-base pairs (kb) on the same chromosome. These results demonstrate that the Ac-Ds element preferentially transposed to regions near the original site in a tobacco chromosome. In addition, the present results are an example of asymmetric transposition as demonstrated by the distance of transposition on the chromosome.

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The mitotic exit network (MEN) governs Cdk inactivation. In budding yeast, MEN consists of the protein phosphatase Cdc14, the ras-like GTPase Tem1, protein kinases Cdc15, Cdc5, Dbf2 and Dbf2-binding protein Mob1. Tem1, Dbf2, Cdc5 and Cdc15 have been reported to be localized at the spindle pole body (SPB). Here we report changes of the localization of Dbf2 and Mob1 during cell division. Dbf2 and Mob1 localize to the SPBs in anaphase and then moves to the bud neck, just prior to actin ring assembly, consistent with their role in cytokinesis. The neck localization, but not SPB localization, of Dbf2 was inhibited by the Bub2 spindle checkpoint. Cdc14 is the downstream target of Dbf2 in Cdk inactivation, but we found that the neck localization of Dbf2 and Mob1 was dependent on the Cdc14 activity, suggesting that Dbf2 and Mob1 function in cytokinesis at the end of the mitotic signaling cascade.

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