Saccharina japonica is a commercially and ecologically important seaweed and is an excellent system for understanding the effects of domestication on marine crops. In this study, we used 19 selected simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to investigate the influence of domestication on the genetic diversity and structure of S. japonica populations. Wild kelp populations exhibited higher genetic d...

Japanese beetle,Popillia japonicaNewman(Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is an important quarantine pest of nurseries. Nursery plant movement from P. japonica-infested regions is regulated by the U.S. Domestic Japanese Beetle Harmonization Plan (DJHP), which classiÞes states by risk categories. Treatments for category 2 states include preharvest soil surface treatment of nursery plants grown in Þeld ...

Hyperproduced prostaglandin E2 by cyclooxygenase-2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 evokes several pathophysiological responses such as inflammation and carcinogenesis. Our recent study demonstrated that Dioscorea japonica extract suppressed the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 and induced apoptosis in lung carcinoma A549 cells. In the present st...

Benthic amphipod, Grandidierella japonica widely inhabits the Korean coastal waters and is developed as a standard test species for sediment toxicity tests. We exposed G. japonica to various pollutants including 4 kinds of inorganic metals (Ag, Cd, Cu and Hg), tributyltin [TBT], ammonia and 7 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds (acenaphthene, chrysene, fluoranthene, fluorene, naphth...

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most devastating diseases. The two major subspecies of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), indica and japonica, have shown obvious differences in rice blast resistance, but the genomic basis that underlies the difference is not clear. We performed a genomewide comparison of the major class of resistant gene family, the nucleotide-bind...

Lipophilic yeasts of the genus Malassezia are part of the normal cutaneous microflora and are considered one of the factors that trigger atopic dermatitis (AD). We isolated two strains of Malassezia from a healthy Japanese female. Analysis of the D1/D2 26S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer region sequences of the isolates suggested that they are new members of the genus Malassezia. ...

Rickettsia japonica pathogenesis and reservoir potential in dogs were evaluated by both experimental inoculation and epidemiologic survey. In the experimental inoculation study, dogs 1 and 2 were pretreated with an immunosuppressive dose of cyclosporine 14 days before inoculation and became ill after exposure to R. japonica. Dogs exhibited clinical signs, including fever, anorexia, depression, ...

To help resolve phylogenetic relationships among the mitten crabs, complete sequences of the nuclear DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and portions of the mitochondrial genome corresponding to the cytochrome oxidase I (COI), were sequenced for all Asian mitten crabs of the genus Eriocheir and seven species of the Grapsoidea. The resulting phylogeny supports the establishment of a separate g...

UNLABELLED Haloarcula japonica, an extremely halophilic archaeon that requires high concentrations of NaCl for growth, accumulates the C50 carotenoid bacterioruberin (BR). By homology analysis, a gene cluster, including c0507, c0506, and c0505, was found and predicted to be involved in the synthesis of bacterioruberin. To elucidate the function of the encoded enzymes, we constructed Ha. japonic...

Interspecific competition occurs when one species using a resource limits the use of that resource by another species. A dominance relationship between the species competing over a resource may result in asymmetric competition. Here, we tested the hypothesis that two sympatric treefrog species, the endangered Hyla suweonensis and the abundant H. japonica, compete with each other over calling si...