Hikaku seiri seikagaku(Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry)

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Cephalopods have evolved an elaborate camera eye and sophisticated central nervous system, and are believed to be the most advanced invertebrates. The heart-blood vascular systems as well as camera type eye in cephalopods has also been recognized as homologous organs found in vertebrates. Therefore, genomes of the cephalopods should be essential resources not only for cephalopods researchers but also for biologists studying evolution, development and comparative genomics. However, there is no genome data available so far, due to relatively large-sized genomes that are comparable with mammals (3-5Gb). In this situation, the Cephalopod Sequencing Consortium (CephSeq Consortium) has established at a NESCent meeting held on May, 2012 and agreed on a set of cephalopod species of particular importance for initial sequencing and developed strategies, and an organization (CephSeq Consortium) to promote this sequencing. Here, I introduce recent movements of cephalopod genomics, and discuss prospects of cephalopod studies and applications to outside the cephalopod researchers community.

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The flower of the oriental orchid Cymbidium floribundum is known to attract the Japanese honeybee Apis cerana japonica not only workers but also drones and queen, that is, to attract even swarm and absconding-bees. A mixture of 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid (3-HOAA) and 10-hydroxy-(E)-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) was identified as the active principles from the orchid flower, whereas each compound alone has no activity. Both compounds are also mandibular gland components of worker honeybees with related compounds. This coincidence strongly supported the idea that the orchid flowers mimic bee’s secretion, presumably as beneficial with unknown ecological reasons. Because the flower is used to capture swarm, the present identification may contribute to develop new technique in traditional beekeeping not only the Japanese bee but also A. cerana in Southeast Asia.

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