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Aegilops tauschii Coss., a progenitor of bread wheat, is an important wild genetic resource for breeding. The species comprises three genetically defined lineages (TauL1, TauL2, and TauL3), each displaying valuable phenotypes in agronomic traits, including spike shape. In the present work, we studied the relationship between population structure and spike shape variation patterns using a collection of 249 accessions. f4-statistics-based ancestry profiling confirmed the previously identified lineages and revealed a genetic component derived from TauL3 in the genomes of some southern Caspian and Transcaucasus TauL1 and TauL2 accessions. Spike shape variation patterns were analyzed using a convolutional neural network-based approach, trained on green and dry spike image datasets. This analysis showed that spike shape diversity is structured according to lineages and demonstrated the potential to distinguish the lineages based on spike shape. The implications of these findings for the origins of common wheat and the intraspecific taxonomy of Ae. tauschii are discussed.

Adherent eukaryotic cells typically exhibit amoeboid locomotion through actin polymerization and bleb-driven mechanisms. However, testate amoebae, which enclose their bodies within a shell, exhibit variation in these locomotion types. This study focused on Arcella, a representative testate amoeba that pulls its shell using multiple pseudopods extending from a single aperture on the ventral side. Arcella is found in peatlands and freshwater, where it adapts its movement to various substrates. We characterized its movement on glass as well as hard, and soft gel substrates through detailed observation. The results indicated a higher randomness in motion on the soft gel, which was influenced by the pseudopodial elongation direction. Additionally, we evaluated the relationship between movement direction and traction stress. The dipole moment of the traction stress field determined the axis of motion, whereas quadrupole moments were correlated with forward and lateral movements. Although some relationships between multipole moments and velocity were shared with other cells, Arcella exhibited unique characteristics in its movement mechanism, which likely occurred due to its use of multiple pseudopods alongside its shell.

The pseudoautosomal region (PAR) of mammalian sex chromosomes is a small region of sequence identity shared by the X and Y chromosomes that allows pairing, crossover, recombination, and proper segregation of sex chromosomes. Although the mouse PAR sequence was largely a mystery, we have recently obtained the complete PAR sequences of the C57BL/6J and CAST/EiJ strains. Here, we report the complete PAR sequence of a Japanese wild mouse-derived strain, MSM/Ms, and compare the PARs of the three strains. There are considerable differences in the size of PARs between strains (MSM/Ms PAR is only about 20% the length of C57BL/6J PAR) and numerous amino acid substitution variants were found in the PAR genes. High GC-content exons and short introns are common features of the PAR genes and are likely a consequence of maintaining the functions of the encoded proteins during rapid evolution of the mouse PAR, whose recombination frequency in male meiosis is ∼100 times higher than the autosomal average.

Metagenomics has become a powerful approach for deciphering the structure and function of the human gut microbiome, a complex microbial ecosystem in the gut. The human gut microbiome plays a crucial role in health and disease through multifaceted interactions with various factors, including age, diet, lifestyle, and medications. This review summarizes key advances in gut microbiome research over the past two decades and presents several topics from a recent large-scale, data-driven study, specifically a cohort-based initiative, the Japanese 4D microbiome project. These include a population-level characterization of the Japanese gut microbiome in a global context through comparison with 31,695 gut metagenomes from 37 countries, as well as an extensive analysis of the effects of medications. This review provides new insights into the ecology and uniqueness of the Japanese gut microbiome and highlights the importance of large-scale, well-phenotyped cohorts in advancing microbiome science.

Advancements in living standards, medical technologies, and nutrition have contributed to the global increase in life expectancy. However, the widening gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy indicates that a growing population requires ongoing medical care and hospitalization. The development of a home-use telediagnostic system is a promising solution for improving the quality of life for patients and healthcare providers to extend a healthy lifespan and reduce the burden on clinicians. Such a system also holds the potential for rapid health assessments during emergency situations, where timely triage is critical. This study reviews recent progress in noninvasive, multimodal sensor patches capable of continuously monitoring vital signs and biomarkers via the skin. Furthermore, we explore the integration of machine learning for real-time, on-device data analysis as an edge system, enabling autonomous health feedback without reliance on the Internet. Although several technical challenges remain before practical implementation, these innovations may pave the way for a paradigm shift in conventional medical care.

Nyctinasty, a circadian-regulated leaf movement observed in legumes, has long intrigued scientists. This study identified genus-specific endogenous chemical factors, leaf-closing factors (LCFs) and leaf-opening factors (LOFs), that control this rhythmic behavior. In Samanea saman, a model for nyctinasty, the LCF 12-hydroxyjasmonic acid glucoside induces leaf-folding by selectively targeting extensor motor cells and activating reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent K+ efflux via the SPORK2 channel. Functional analyses revealed that SPORK2 and the SsSLAH1/SsSLAH3 anion channel complex are key effectors in the regulation of leaf movement. Remarkably, SPORK2 also functions as a temperature-sensitive K+ channel, inactivating at low temperatures to mediate rain-induced leaf folding, a phenomenon underlying the nickname “rain tree”. These findings provide a chemical entry point to dissect the molecular machinery of nyctinasty and reveal a previously unrecognized role for plant K+ channels in temperature sensing.

Spider silk has garnered significant attention across diverse research fields because of its remarkable physical and biological properties, which have driven extensive efforts to develop materials and fabrication processes that replicate its unique characteristics. This review focuses on the structure of silk fibers and the mechanisms that underlie their formation, with an emphasis on the hierarchical organization that contributes to their outstanding performance. Additionally, the biodegradability of silk proteins and their degradation products are discussed, and their potential for sustainable material design are highlighted.

Red adzuki beans (Vigna angularis) are primarily used in producing sweet an-paste for use in Japanese confectionery, where the quality of the an-paste is evaluated based on its purple color. Catechinopyranocyanidins A and B (cpcA and cpcB) are seed coat pigments and might be responsible for the purple color of an-paste, thus, analyzing them in an-paste is crucial. However, no quantitative analyses of these compounds in an-paste have been reported. We examined extraction conditions for cpcA and cpcB from an-paste and established a quantitative analytical method. Additionally, we developed a pre-vacuum processing procedure for preparing purple an-paste. The more purple the an-paste was, the higher the content of cpcA and cpcB extracted from it. The purple color of an-paste originated from the catechinopyranocyanidins eluted from the seed coats upon boiling. Using the proposed procedure, we prepared more intensely purple wet sarashi-an compared with that generated via a conventional procedure.

Sunlight-driven overall water splitting using particulate photocatalysts is of growing interest as a means of producing green hydrogen from water, because systems based on particulate photocatalysts can be spread over large areas using potentially inexpensive processes. Since the first reports on photocatalytic water splitting in 1980, a variety of materials have been developed. Alongside material development, systems designed for the practical implementation of solar hydrogen production technologies using particulate photocatalysts have recently emerged. This review highlights developments in photocatalyst research and examines the current progress in system design for the large-scale production of solar hydrogen (green hydrogen) based on these materials. Such technology represents a crucial solution in the pursuit of a carbon-neutral society—one of the most urgent global challenges.

Renal counterbalance, involving compensatory hypertrophy of the healthy kidney and atrophy of the injured one, remains incompletely understood, particularly at the glomerular level. In this study, we employed NEP25 mice, which selectively express human CD25 in podocytes, enabling precise induction of unilateral podocyte injury through the administration of LMB2, a CD25-targeted immunotoxin. Using a two-kidney, one-nephropathy (2K1N) model, we demonstrated that asymmetric changes in renal blood flow and proteinuria, with histological and transcriptomic analyses uncovering distinct pathological and molecular features between the injured and contralateral healthy kidneys. Notably, an imbalance in intrarenal angiotensin (Ang) II levels was observed, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition ameliorated the glomerular damage and restored perfusion. These findings indicate that local Ang II dysregulation is a key factor in renal counterbalance. Our study provides the first glomerulopathy-based experimental platform to dissect asymmetric renal adaptation, offering fundamental insight into the homeostatic mechanisms of renal function in health and disease.