Abstract: The present invention can provide a controlled drug release carrier formed by using a silk fibroin porous material, which has high drug controlled release rate, controllability of the drug controlled release speed, high strength, easy handleability, skin care properties from high biocompatibility, high water retentivity, and capability of efficiently retaining a drug.

Abstract: This invention is intended to develop a promoter that can strongly induce marker gene expression throughout an embryo, so as to simply, efficiently, and accurately identify a transgenic insect at an early developmental stage, and to provide a gene expression vector into which such promoter has been incorporated as a transformant discrimination marker. Such exogenous gene expression vector comprises a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 as a promoter.

Abstract: The present invention relates to plants that have been transformed so as to have both disease resistance and acceptable agronomic traits. More specifically, the present invention relates to transgenic plants that have acquired disease resistance through expression in the plants of a polynucleotide encoding the transcription factor WRKY45 in an infection-responsive manner, and methods for generating the transgenic plants.

Abstract: This invention is intended to allow accumulation of large quantities of soluble sugars in tissue other than plant seeds. A plant is modified so as to suppress a gene encoding a subunit exhibiting the highest sequence similarity with the subunit encoded by the AGPL1 gene of rice among subunits constituting.

Abstract: The Vrs1 gene was found to be highly expressed in the pistils of sterile lateral spikelets of two-row barley, showing that the VRS1 protein suppresses the fertility of florets in lateral spikelets. In addition, it was also found that the introduction of siRNA specific to the Vrs1 gene into two-row barley successfully restored the fertility of lateral spikelets and thus can increase the number of grains. The vrs1 gene derived from wheat was isolated for the first time, and the expression site of the gene was found to be specific to upper florets to be sterile in spikelets. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the introduction of siRNA specific to the wheat Vrs1 gene into wheat successfully increased the number of florets and the number of grains per spikelet, enabling provision of a method and an agent for increasing the number of grains per spikelet of wheat.

Abstract: A substrate for feeding cells and/or tissues which is composed of a porous body having a thin film surface and a porous surface and which can be used in the regenerative medical techniques. A cell/tissue feeder is produced by cultivating tissues on the porous surface of the porous body. Cells are seeded on the porous surface of the body, followed by the cultivation of the cells to thus form and/or regenerate tissues. An aqueous solution of silk proteins, to which a water-soluble organic solvent is added, is introduced into a mold whose bottom or top surface is surface-roughened, followed by freezing the aqueous solution and then thawing the frozen aqueous solution to form a porous body having a thin film surface and a porous surface.

Abstract: The present inventors isolated many promoters having various expression characteristics from monocots, connected the OsWRKY45 gene downstream of these promoters, and then re-introduced them into a monocot (rice plant), and thereby strived to produce a rice line having both complex disease resistance and excellent agronomic traits. As a result, the present inventors succeeded in producing transgenic plants having both disease resistance and good agronomic traits by expressing OsWRKY45 using upstream sequences of the EF1? or OsUbi7 gene as promoters.

Abstract: Pentameric CRP is produced at a high efficiency by transferring DNA, which encodes monomeric CRP, into a silkworm to thereby construct a transgenic silkworm and then collecting and purifying pentameric CRP that is produced by the transgenic silkworm constructed above.

Abstract: It has been found that introducing into a Poaceae plant an Hd3a gene, which is a flower-bud-formation inducing gene, positioned downstream of a promoter whose expression is induced by a plant activator treatment makes it possible to control the flowering time of the Poaceae plant in accordance with a plant activator treatment timing. It has been found that further introducing a Ghd7 gene, which functions to suppress flower bud formation, into the plant makes it possible to suppress the expression of an endogenous Hd3a gene and increase the efficiency of controlling the flowering time.

Abstract: The present invention addresses the problem of providing an artificial skin preparation which requires no suturing or the like when treating a wound area with a dried collagen vitrigel membrane material as an artificial skin, and also is less likely to cause contamination or the like with an exudate, and is free from the risk of secondary damage by replacement thereof.

Abstract: A method for producing a porous silk fibroin material, containing steps of: freezing a silk fibroin solution containing a silk fibroin aqueous solution having an aliphatic carboxylic acid added thereto; and then melting the frozen solution, thereby providing a porous material. A method for producing a porous silk fibroin material having excellent mechanical characteristics may be provided.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a protein that can successfully treats almost all patients with cedar pollinosis and can be ingested as a food. That is, the present invention provides a protein comprising an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1 or comprising an amino acid sequence having a mutation(s) in said amino acid sequence, and having an immunogenicity of a cedar pollen; a polynucleotide encoding said protein; a vector comprising said polynucleotide; a transformant comprising said polynucleotide or said vector; and intended uses of said protein, said polynucleotide, and said transformant.

Abstract: A three-step screening of selection for resistance against pathogenic bacteria infection, selection for resistance against pathogenic fungi infection, and selection for sensitivity to salicylic acid was carried out on Arabidopsis thaliana lines highly expressing rice full-length cDNA (rice-FOX Arabidopsis lines) which were prepared by using a FOX hunting system. As a result, one Arabidopsis thaliana line (line K15424) selected in all of the three types of screening was successfully selected. Line K15424 carries a rice full-length cDNA. Rice overexpressing AK070024 was produced, and resistance against rice bacterial leaf blight was assayed using the T1 generation. As a result, it was confirmed that AK070024-overexpressing rice is resistant against bacterial leaf blight and blast.

Abstract: The present invention has successfully established a mixed culture system capable of actively proliferating a Kupffer cell in a primary culture of a cell population derived from a liver. Additionally, the present invention has successfully established a novel production method for efficiently producing a large amount of highly purified Kupffer cells using this mixed culture system.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for transforming organelles having an own genomic DNA, the method enabling efficient production of highly homoplasmic plant cells, in which most of the organelles are transformed, and so forth. The method comprises the steps of: expressing in plant cells a fusion protein containing a function inhibiting factor of the organelles and a transit signal peptide to the organelles; introducing into the genomic DNA of the organelles of the plant cells an expression cassette comprising DNAs encoding a restoring factor of the organelles and a factor desired to be expressed in the organelles; and allowing the function inhibiting factor to destroy the organelles, in which the expression cassette is not introduced, in the plant cells.

Abstract: The present invention can provide a controlled drug release carrier formed by using a silk fibroin porous material, which has high drug controlled release rate, controllability of the drug controlled release speed, high strength, easy handleability, skin care properties from high biocompatibility, high water retentivity, and capability of efficiently retaining a drug.

Abstract: The present inventors produced transgenic silkworms which comprise a promoter of a DNA encoding a protein specifically expressed in the silk gland and a DNA encoding a recombinant antibody whose expression is regulated directly or indirectly by the promoter, and which secrete the recombinant antibody into the silk gland. The recombinant antibodies produced from the silk gland of the transgenic silkworms were confirmed to be active.

Abstract: Pentameric CRP is produced at a high efficiency by transferring DNA, which encodes monomeric CRP, into a silkworm to thereby construct a transgenic silkworm and then collecting and purifying pentameric CRP that is produced by the transgenic silkworm constructed above.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to identify genes involved in the growth of a plant and provide a transformed plant the growth of which is promoted utilizing the genes.

Abstract: The present inventors isolated many promoters having various expression characteristics from monocots, connected the OsWRKY45 gene downstream of these promoters, and then re-introduced them into a monocot (rice plant), and thereby strived to produce a rice line having both complex disease resistance and excellent agronomic traits. As a result, the present inventors succeeded in producing transgenic plants having both disease resistance and good agronomic traits by expressing OsWRKY45 using upstream sequences of the EF1? or OsUbi7 gene as promoters.