Ectopic Expression of Enhances Salt Stress Tolerance in Rice.

Salt stress can severely reduce crop yields. To understand how rice () plants respond to this environmental challenge, we investigated the genes involved in conferring salt tolerance by screening T-DNA tagging lines and identified (alt olerance ctivation -ominant). In that line, expression of was enhanced by approximately eightfold when compared with the non-transformed wild type (WT).

Overexpression of a Barley Aquaporin Gene, Confers Salt and Osmotic Stress Tolerance in Yeast and Plants.

We characterized an aquaporin gene from and investigated its physiological roles in heterologous expression systems, yeast and , under high salt and high osmotic stress conditions. In yeast, the expression of enhanced abiotic stress tolerance under high salt and high osmotic conditions. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing also showed better stress tolerance in germination and root growth under high salt and high osmotic stresses than the wild type (WT).

Genetic Screening for Arabidopsis Mutants Defective in STA1 Regulation under Thermal Stress Implicates the Existence of Regulators of Its Specific Expression, and the Genetic Interactions in the Stress Signaling Pathways.

To cope with environmental stresses, plants have developed various stress tolerance mechanisms that involve the induction of many stress responsive genes through stress-specific and common signaling pathways. Stress-specific/common transcription factors, rather than general basal factors, were considered important in this stress tolerance. The Arabidopsis STABILIZED1 (STA1) gene encodes a putative pre-mRNA splicing factor that is similar to the human U5 snRNP-associated 102-kDa protein and the yeast pre-mRNA splicing factors, PRP1p and Prp6p.

The TFG-TEC fusion gene created by the t(3;9) translocation in human extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas encodes a more potent transcriptional activator than TEC.

The t(3;9)(q11-q12;q22) translocation associated with human extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas results in a chimeric molecule in which the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the TFG (TRK-fused gene) is fused to the TEC (Translocated in Extraskeletal Chondrosarcoma) gene. Little is known about the biological function of TFG-TEC. Because the NTDs of TFG-TEC and TEC are structurally different, and the TFG itself is a cytoplasmic protein, the functional consequences of this fusion in extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcomas were examined.

Detection of beta-amyloid (1-42) on protein array based on electrical detection technique using scanning tunneling microscopy.

In this study an immuno-array for Abeta42 based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was developed using conjugated gold nanoparticle (Au-NP) and antibody (Ab) complex. Fragmented monoclonal Ab against Abeta42 was allowed to immobilize on the Au-dot arrays followed by its target protein Abeta42 and Au NP and Ab complex. The surface structure of Au-NP and Ab complex on Au-dots was investigated with Atomic Force Microscopy and the current profile of fabricated immunosensing element was investigated with STM.

Linkage-nondestructive surface migration of zeolite microcrystals during monolayer assembly on glass through ionic linkages.

Monolayers of zeolite microcrystals were prepared on glass plates with three different types of linkage between zeolite crystals and the substrate, namely, (a) covalent, (b) ionic, and (c) poly electrolyte-mediated ionic linkages using sonication with stacking (SS) as the method. The required periods for the coverage to reach 100% were 2, 3, and 7 min, respectively, upon changing the linkage from (a) to (b) and to (c), respectively, indicating that the surface migration becomes slower as the binding strength increases. The coverage, binding strength, and degree of close packing gradually decreased with reaction time with (a) as the linkage while those with (b) and (c) as the linkages remain essentially unaltered.

Encapsulated-dye all-organic charged colored ink nanoparticles for electrophoretic image display.

Electrophoretic ink nanoparticles with high mobility are successfully fabricated by dispersion polymerization. The color of test cells can be changed by applying a bias voltage, as shown in the figure: the lower row shows the same cells as the upper row but with an applied voltage. These all-organic, encapsulated-dye, electrophoretic ink particles are expected to reduce the fabrication cost of e-ink in electrophoretic image display cells.

Study of the magnetic phase of Fe-Pt alloy nanoparticles.

High temperature solution phase decomposition of Fe(CO)5 and reduction of Pt(acac)2 in the presence of stabilizers of oleic acid and oleyl amine are employed to produce Fe(1-x)Pt(x) alloy nanoparticles. The Fe and Pt composition of the nanosized materials can be tuned by adjusting the molar ratio of Fe(CO)5 to Pt(acac)2, and the compositions ranging from Fe40Pt60 to Fe80Pt20 are obtained. This study is to investigate the influence of the composition on Curie temperature (Tc) of Fe(1-x)Pt(x) nanoparticles monitored by thermomagnetic analysis (TMA).