In Vitro Oxidative Crosslinking of Recombinant Barnacle Cyprid Cement Gland Proteins.

Barnacle adhesion is a focus for fouling-control technologies as well as the development of bioinspired adhesives, although the mechanisms remain very poorly understood. The barnacle cypris larva is responsible for surface colonisation. Cyprids release cement from paired glands that contain proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, although further compositional details are scant.

Chitin is a functional component of the larval adhesive of barnacles.

Barnacles are the only sessile crustaceans, and their larva, the cyprid, is supremely adapted for attachment to surfaces. Barnacles have a universal requirement for strong adhesion at the point of larval attachment. Selective pressure on the cyprid adhesive has been intense and led to evolution of a tenacious and versatile natural glue.

Differential interference contrast imaging using a pair of twisted nematic cells.

Nematic liquid crystal behaves like an optically uniaxial crystal whose optical axis coincides with the direction of molecular orientation. When an electric field is applied, a lateral shear of incident light is induced, depending on the angle of molecular inclination. While this may degrade the image quality for display applications, the precise electrical tunability of the lateral shear distance is desirable for differential interference contrast (DIC) imaging.

Determination of birefringence and slow axis distribution using an interferometric measurement system with liquid crystal phase shifter.

It is known that liquid crystal (LC) cells are useful as compact and easy-to-handle phase shifters that are readily coupled into the optics of standard microscope systems. Here, a uniformly aligned molecular LC phase shifter is introduced into a polarization microscope to attain a birefringence imaging system, using the phase-shift interferometric technique. Since the birefringence can be determined accurately only when the optical axis of the sample is parallel or perpendicular to the slow axis (variable axis) of the LC phase shifter, an improved data analysis method is proposed for determining the birefringence independently of the direction; a simple method of determining the slow axis distribution is also demonstrated.

The Coprinopsis cinerea septin Cc.Cdc3 is involved in stipe cell elongation.

We have identified and characterized a Coprinopsis cinerea mutant defective in stipe elongation during fruiting body development. In the wild-type, stipe cells elongate at the maturation stage of fruiting, resulting in very slender cells. In the mutant, the stipe cells fail to elongate, but become rather globular at the maturation stage.

Metamorphosis in balanomorphan, pedunculated, and parasitic barnacles: a video-based analysis.

Cypris metamorphosis was followed using video microscopy in four species of cirripeds representing the suspension-feeding pedunculated and sessile Thoracica and the parasitic Rhizocephala. Cirripede metamorphosis involves one or more highly complex molts that mark the change from a free cypris larva to an attached suspension feeder (Thoracica) or an endoparasite (Rhizocephala). The cyprids and juveniles are so different in morphology that they are functionally incompatible.

Mutations in the melanocortin 1 receptor, β-defensin103 and agouti signaling protein genes, and their association with coat color phenotypes in Akita-inu dogs.

To identify factors that control coat color in Akita-inu dogs, we sequenced all the exons of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), β-defensin103 (CBD103) and agouti signaling protein (ASIP) genes of dogs with four distinct coat colors, namely, brindle, sesame, red and white. Then we examined correlations among specific alleles and coat color. In the case of the MC1R gene, all white dogs were homozygous for a nonsense mutation, R306ter, while brindle, sesame, and red dogs had at least one R306 allele.

Microtexture of larval shell of oyster, Crassostrea nippona: a FIB-TEM study.

The initial formation and subsequent development of larval shells in marine bivalve, Crassostrea nippona were investigated using the FIB-TEM technique. Fourteen hours after fertilization (the trochophore stage), larvae form an incipient shell of 100-150nm thick with a columnar contrast. Selected-area electron diffraction analysis showed a single-crystal aragonite pattern with the c-axis perpendicular to the shell surface.

Functional characterization of bacterial signal peptide OmpA in a baculovirus-mediated expression system.

Signal sequences are evolutionarily conserved and are often functionally interchangeable between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, we have found that the bacterial signal peptide, OmpA, functions incompletely in insect cells. Upon baculovirus-mediated expression of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) in insect cells, OmpA signal peptide led to the cytosolic accumulation of the CAT molecules in an aglycosylated, signal-peptide cleaved form, in addition to the secretion of the glycosylated CAT.