Abstract: The present invention provites a compound having the following structure: wherein, in the formula: X is selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, substituted hydroxy, halogen, thiol, and substituted thiol; one of Y1 and Y2 is hydrogen or alkyl, and the other is Z-W, wherein Z is a single bond, or a divalent group having alkane or substituted alkane having two hydrogen atoms removed, and W is hydroxy, substituted hydroxy, aldehyde, carboxyl, or substituted carboxyl; and R1-R24 are independently selected from the group of hydrogen, alkyl, and substituted alkyl.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 12, 2003
Date of Patent:
February 10, 2009
Assignees:
The National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Riken
Inventors:
Shigemi Seo, Yuko Ohashi, Hideharu Seto, Shigeo Yoshida
Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide polynucleotides encoding insect desiccation resistance proteins, and uses thereof. cDNA libraries were produced from Polypedilum vanderplanki larvae in a desiccated state, a P. vanderplanki EST database was constructed, and genes encoding LEA proteins were isolated. This resulted in the successful isolation of three types of novel gene encoding LEA-like proteins. When secondary structure predictions and motif searches were performed on the proteins deduced from each of the genes, all three proteins had ?-helix-rich structures and LEA_4 motifs, which are characteristic of LEA proteins. Moreover, the recombinant proteins synthesized from these genes were heat soluble even when boiling, so that these proteins have hydrophilic property as high as plant LEA proteins. Therefore, the three isolated genes were found to be novel P. vanderplanki-derived LEA genes.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 8, 2005
Date of Patent:
January 6, 2009
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: The present inventors succeeded in developing a vector that expresses high levels of a foreign gene in plant seeds by utilizing a 5?-untranslated region of a gene encoding a seed storage protein. The inventors also succeeded in accumulating high levels of a foreign gene product in plant seeds by utilizing a seed storage protein defective mutant as a target for foreign gene transfer.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 17, 2001
Date of Patent:
January 6, 2009
Assignees:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Bio-Oriented Research Organization
Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide promoters having seed-specific promoter activity, and methods of expressing foreign proteins in seeds. The present inventors isolated the promoters of a number of genes that are expressed in rice seeds, constructed binary vectors in which each promoter is inserted upstream of the GUS reporter gene, and transformed rice using the Agrobacterium method. The inventors then used GUS expression level as an index to examine the site of expression, the expression pattern during seed maturation, and the level of expression in seeds for each promoter. They thus discovered promoters with activity specific to a particular site in seeds, and with higher activity than constitutive promoters and known seed-specific promoters.
Type:
Application
Filed:
June 13, 2007
Publication date:
December 18, 2008
Applicant:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: This invention provides a method for effectively producing dehydrated larvae for educational materials without disrupting the environment. The cryptobiotic larvae for educational materials can be obtained by dehydrating larvae while gradually reducing humidity in 3 separate stages.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 13, 2005
Date of Patent:
December 16, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: This invention provides a method for cancer diagnosis comprising measuring an endogenous antisense RNA whose relative expression to a sense RNA changes cancer-specifically in RNA-containing samples collected from a mammal. Also provided are endogenous antisense RNAs useful as cancer markers, and cancer diagnostic reagents containing the same.
Type:
Application
Filed:
May 30, 2008
Publication date:
December 4, 2008
Applicants:
RIKEN, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGROBIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA
Abstract: Transgenic silkworms comprising GFP whose expression is regulated by the sericin gene promoter were produced. Observation of the silk glands of the last instar larvae of the silkworms showed fluorescence only in the middle silk glands. GFP was secreted from middle silkgland cells from around the spinning stage, indicating that GFP moved into the gland lumen. Finally, GFP was spun into cocoon filaments, and cocoons containing large amounts of GFP were produced. Thus, by using the promoter region of the sericin gene, recombinant proteins can be produced in the middle silk glands. Furthermore, the recombinant proteins produced in the middle silk glands were readily secreted into the lumen of the middle silk glands.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 21, 2005
Date of Patent:
December 2, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A method of producing a modified monocotyledonous plant having a desired character is provided. The method comprises isolating a gene containing a nucleic acid hybridizable to a nucleic acid indicated by SEQ ID NO. 1 under stringent conditions, and inhibiting expression of the isolated gene.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 20, 2003
Date of Patent:
August 5, 2008
Assignees:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Bio-Oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution
Abstract: The present inventors succeeded in cloning a rice stress-responsive gene, RSI1. They discovered that stress-responsive plants can be generated by using the isolated gene, or genes functionally equivalent thereto. The present invention is useful in fields such as plant breeding.
Type:
Application
Filed:
May 20, 2003
Publication date:
June 26, 2008
Applicant:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A biodegradable biopolymer material consists of silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm; silk fibroin from wild silkworm; a composite material comprising silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm and silk fibroin from wild silkworm; or a composite material comprising either silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm or silk fibroin from wild silkworm and at least one secondary substance selected from the group consisting of cellulose, chitin, chitosan, chitosan derivatives, keratin from wool and polyvinyl alcohol. The material may be prepared by, for instance, casting an aqueous solution of domesticated silkworm silk fibroin on the surface of a substrate and then cast drying the applied solution. The biodegradable biopolymer material is effectively used as, for instance, a metal ion-adsorbing material, a sustained release substrate for a useful substance such as a medicine, a biological cell-growth substrate and a biodegradable water-absorbing material.
Type:
Application
Filed:
February 4, 2008
Publication date:
June 5, 2008
Applicant:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A biodegradable biopolymer material consists of silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm; silk fibroin from wild silkworm; a composite material comprising silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm and silk fibroin from wild silkworm; or a composite material comprising either silk fibroin from domesticated silkworm or silk fibroin from wild silkworm and at least one secondary substance selected from the group consisting of cellulose, chitin, chitosan, chitosan derivatives, keratin from wool and polyvinyl alcohol. The material may be prepared by, for instance, casting an aqueous solution of domesticated silkworm silk fibroin on the surface of a substrate and then cast drying the applied solution. The biodegradable biopolymer material is effectively used as, for instance, a metal ion-adsorbing material, a sustained release substrate for a useful substance such as a medicine, a biological cell-growth substrate and a biodegradable water-absorbing material.
Type:
Application
Filed:
February 4, 2008
Publication date:
May 29, 2008
Applicant:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A method for producing non-cellulosic callose fiber by using plant protoplast, which imposes less burden to the environment with reduced energy consumption compared to conventional natural fibers is provided; it comprises the addition of an inorganic ion to a plant protoplast cultivation system, which leads the plant protoplast to produce non-cellulosic callose fiber.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 30, 2001
Date of Patent:
May 20, 2008
Assignees:
Japan Science and Technology Corporation, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
Inventors:
Tetsuo Kondou, Jun Magoshi, Hisashi Abe, Hamako Sasamoto
Abstract: The present inventors presumed that rice globulins accumulating in vacuole-derived type II protein bodies comprise a vacuolar translocating signal and proceeded to identify such a signal. As a result, fusion proteins composed of a 15 amino acid residue peptide of globulin, extending from the 72nd leucine residue to the 86th serine residue, added to the C terminus of GFP were surprisingly found to be intracellularly localized to non-vacuole-derived type I protein bodies (PB-I), and not to vacuole-derived type II protein bodies (PB-II). Furthermore, based on this 15 amino acid residue sequence, the consensus sequence “QCCXQ” (where X is an arbitrary amino acid), which is conserved in plants, was discovered. Accordingly, the present invention suggests that arbitrary peptides can be accumulated in plant endosperm tissues by adding the QCCXQ sequence thereto.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 13, 2003
Date of Patent:
May 6, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A detailed linkage analysis of the Ehd1 region was performed with a large segregating population, essential for map-based cloning. As a result, the Ehd1 gene promoting rice heading (flowering) was successfully isolated. Rice heading time was also found to be altered upon introduction of this gene. Based on these facts, the newly isolated and identified Ehd1 gene is expected to be useful in promoting plant flowering.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 20, 2003
Date of Patent:
April 22, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to genetically improve plant crossing properties as to effectively prevent recombinant genes in transgenic plants from spreading into the environment. A TFIIIA-type zinc-finger transcription factor gene ZPT2-10 was introduced into petunia. As a result, some of the transformants (i.e., transgene-dependent incompatibility (TDI) strain plants) were found to have a useful crossing property. Specifically, the plants were fertile and produced normal seeds when self propagated or mated with another specified transformant comprising the same recombinant gene, but were infertile (transgene dependent incompatibility) when mated with another transformant strain that does not have the TDI property or with a wild-type plant. It may be possible to utilize plants having such a crossing property to prevent transgenic plants from spreading into the environment.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 12, 2005
Date of Patent:
April 8, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: The present inventors successfully isolated a lesion formation suppressing gene (Spl7) from rice via a linkage analysis. It was revealed that introduction of this gene into plants enhances their heat stress resistance and that lesion formation can be suppressed.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 18, 2001
Date of Patent:
February 12, 2008
Assignees:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Society for Techno-Innovation of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Abstract: The present inventors successfully cloned the rice Na+/H+ antiporter gene. It is possible to produce salt tolerant plants by using the isolated gene, or genes with equivalent functions.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 16, 2004
Date of Patent:
February 5, 2008
Assignee:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Abstract: A method of sorting undifferentiated cells is provided. Subpopulations of cells contained in a single line of ES cells can be sorted using cell-surface markers. The sorted undifferentiated cells have ability to produce chimera with high contribution and germ line transmission efficiently. These undifferentiated cells can be used as a valuable vehicle for the production of transgenic animals and also knockout animals.
Type:
Application
Filed:
May 16, 2007
Publication date:
December 20, 2007
Applicant:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Inventors:
Tomoyuki Tokunaga, Tadashi Furusawa, Chris Honda, Katsuhiro Ohkoshi
Abstract: The present inventors isolated and purified elicitor-binding proteins in good yield by combining the development of a column that uses APEA derivatives, pre-columns to remove non-specifically adsorbing substances, and effective elution methods. Using the N-terminal and internal chain amino acid sequences of the obtained proteins, the present inventors successfully isolated cDNAs encoding the proteins of the present invention from a rice cDNA library. Moreover, when anti-Con A-CEBiP antibodies were purified and their effect on elicitor-responsive reactive oxygen production was examined, production of reactive oxygen was inhibited by a pretreatment with the antibodies, suggesting that the present proteins are receptor proteins involved in chitin oligosaccharide elicitor responses. Since these elicitors induce resistance to blast in rice, the proteins of the present invention can be applied to the development of novel disease control technologies.
Type:
Application
Filed:
March 2, 2005
Publication date:
November 29, 2007
Applicant:
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGROBIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Abstract: Genomic DNA containing the promoter region of the pMADS3 gene was isolated, ligated to a reporter gene, and then introduced into petunia plants via an Agrobacterium-mediated method. Surprisingly, the resultant plants became double-flowered by conversion of stamens into petaloid structures.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 30, 2001
Date of Patent:
October 16, 2007
Assignees:
National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Bio-Oriented Research Organization