Abstract: The present invention is to provide a novel non-diffusing plant virus vector wherein virus vector infection and proliferation are possible only in a recombinant plant transformed with a gene necessary for viral proliferation, thereby enabling avoidance of unintended diffusion of a recombinant virus, a selective and specific expression system therefor, and a method of expression thereof which comprises combining a non-diffusing virus vector lacking a gene involved in intercellular movement of a cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) genome and a transgenic plant transformed with the lacked gene involved in intercellular movement for the non-diffusing virus vector to establish infection and proliferation selectively and specifically in the transgenic plant.

Abstract: The present invention provides a gene participating in the low temperature germinability in rice and utilization of the same, and the invention relates to a gene for a low temperature germinability which is an isolated qLTG-3-1 gene from the rice line Italica Livorno, has low temperature germinability and has the base sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; an amino acid sequence encoded by the gene; a transgenic plant transformed with the gene for the low temperature germinability to improve the low temperature germinability; a method of analyzing low temperature germinability, including analyzing the low temperature germinability of a cultivar by comparing the base sequence of the gene for the low temperature germinability with the genotype of the cultivar; a method of improving the low temperature germinability of rice, including transforming the gene for the low temperature germinability into a rice cultivar to improve the low temperature germinability of the cultivar under low temperature conditions; and a method of a

Abstract: The present invention provides a gene participating in the low temperature germinability in rice and utilization of the same, and the invention relates to a gene for a low temperature germinability which is an isolated qLTG-3-1 gene from the rice line Italica Livorno, has low temperature germinability and has the base sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; an amino acid sequence encoded by the gene; a transgenic plant transformed with the gene for the low temperature germinability to improve the low temperature germinability; a method of analyzing low temperature germinability, including analyzing the low temperature germinability of a cultivar by comparing the base sequence of the gene for the low temperature germinability with the genotype of the cultivar; a method of improving the low temperature germinability of rice, including transforming the gene for the low temperature germinability into a rice cultivar to improve the low temperature germinability of the cultivar under low temperature conditions; and a method of a

Abstract: A novel plant virus vector and a method of gene expression into plants are provided, and the present invention relates to a plant virus vector characterized in that a part of the sequence of the 2b region of the RNA2 molecule of the Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is deleted; the aforementioned plant virus vector characterized in that the region from the StuI site to the stop codon of the 2b ORF of pCY2, which is an infectious clone of CMV-Y RNA2, is deleted; and a method of gene expression in plants characterized in that a foreign gene is introduced so as to be stably expressed in a plant using the genetic recombinant. This vector is useful as a plant RNA vector for causing stable expression of foreign genes.

Abstract: This invention relates an .alpha.-glucosidase inhibitor mildly inhibiting .alpha.-glucosidase locally present in the micro-villus of small intestine, a composition principally comprising sugar and containing the inhibitor, a food, a sweetener and a feed. The inhibitor delays the digestion of starch, starch-derived oligosaccharides and sucrose, so that the inhibitor has an action of suppressing rapid increase in blood glucose level and an action of suppressing insulin secretion at a lower level. Thus, the inhibitor is useful for the prophylaxis of obesity and diabetes mellitus. The .alpha.-glucosidase inhibitor of the present invention is composed of nucleotide, nucleoside, or base as the structural component of nucleic acid and one or two or more digestible sugars selected from sucrose, starch and starch-derived oligosaccharide. The .alpha.-glucosidase inhibitor mildly inhibits the action of .alpha.

Abstract: The present invention relates to crystals of 1-kestose which is a fructooligosaccharide, and it is an object of the present invention to provide high-purity 1-kestose crystals having no hygroscopicity and a method of producing the crystals. Methanol is added to an aqueous solution containing as a main ingredient 1-kestose with a purity of 80% or more, and the mixture is then dried. Methanol is further added to the mixture to obtain 1-kestose crystals with a purity of 90% or more. An aqueous solution with a purity of 70% or more is concentrated, and 1-kestose microcrystals are added to the concentrate obtained to separate 1-kestose crystals with a purity of 94 to 99.9%.

Abstract: Newly isolated polysaccharide assimilating yeasts are added to a waste water rich in nutrients thereby making such yeasts assimilate nutrients, so that B.O.D. of the waste water is efficiently decreased. Among the polysaccharide assimilating yeasts, ellipsoideus YS-1, FERM-P No. 4498, in particular, can decompose and assimilate sulfurous acid, starch and protein at once, and therefore the B.O.D. of the waste water from starch production plants can be considerably decreased.