The radish genome and comprehensive gene expression profile of tuberous root formation and development.

Understanding the processes that regulate plant sink formation and development at the molecular level will contribute to the areas of crop breeding, food production and plant evolutionary studies. We report the annotation and analysis of the draft genome sequence of the radish Raphanus sativus var. hortensis (long and thick root radish) and transcriptome analysis during root development.

Reduction of systematic bias in transcriptome data from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells for transportation and biobanking.

Transportation of samples is essential for large-scale biobank projects. However, RNA degradation during pre-analytical operations prior to transportation can cause systematic bias in transcriptome data, which may prevent subsequent biomarker identification. Therefore, to collect high-quality biobank samples for expression analysis, specimens must be transported under stable conditions.

EliA facilitates the induction of lipase expression by stearyl alcohol in Ralstonia sp. NT80.

Extracellular lipase activity from Ralstonia sp. NT80 is induced significantly by fatty alcohols such as stearyl alcohol. We found that when lipase expression was induced by stearyl alcohol, a 14-kDa protein (designated EliA) was produced concomitantly and abundantly in the culture supernatant.

Purification and characterization of oxygen-inducible haem catalase from oxygen-tolerant Bifidobacterium asteroides.

Bifidobacterium asteroides, originally isolated from honeybee intestine, was found to grow under 20% O(2) conditions in liquid shaking culture using MRS broth. Catalase activity was detected only in cells that were exposed to O(2) and grown in medium containing a haem source, and these cells showed higher viability on exposure to H(2)O(2). Passage through multiple column chromatography steps enabled purification of the active protein, which was identified as a homologue of haem catalase on the basis of its N-terminal sequence.