Among the legume family, mungbean (Vigna radiata) has become one of the important crops in Asia, showing a steady increase in global production. It provides a good source of protein and contains most notably folate and iron. Beyond the nutritional value of mungbean, certain features make it a well-suited model organism among legume plants because of its small genome size, short life-cycle, self...

Resection of insulo-opercular gliomas carries the risk of postoperative hemiparesis caused by ischemia of the corona radiata resulting from injury to the long insular arteries. However, intraoperative identification of these perforating arteries is challenging. We attempted intra-operative motor evoked potential (MEP) monitoring under temporary occlusion of the suspected long insular artery ari...

blue with nitrites (Schultz, 1931). This group does, however, behave as a consistent chromatographic series. A rather similar family of pigments occurs in several archaeogastropod shells, especially among the red Trochidae and Fissurellidae, though chromatograms of these forms could not be repeated to our satisfaction owing to shortage of material. In other forms related to the porphyrin-produc...

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) have fundamental roles in the post-transcriptional control of gene expression. Here, a cDNA encoding a presumed full-length RNA-binding protein was isolated from pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata) using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers, and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The full-length cDNA consists of 2737...

Cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a nucleus and a small piece of mantle tissue into a living shelled mollusc, usually a pearl oyster. Although many pearl observations intuitively suggest a possible rotation of the nucleated pearl inside the oyster, no experimental demonstration of such a movement has ever been done. This can be explained by the difficulty of observation of...

Studying the larval dispersal of bottom-dwelling species is necessary to understand their population dynamics and optimize their management. The black-lip pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) is cultured extensively to produce black pearls, especially in French Polynesia's atoll lagoons. This aquaculture relies on spat collection, a process that can be optimized by understanding which factors ...

We examined the effect of tributyltin (TBT) on reproduction of the pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata martensii). In a maternal exposure test, five female pearl oysters were exposed to TBT at measured concentrations of 0 (control), 0.092, or 0.191 microg/L at 25 degreesC for one week, and the embryo developmental success (the ratio of normal D-larvae to all larvae) was measured. The embryo developme...

The lysine (K)-rich mantle protein (KRMP) and shematrin protein families are unique to the organic matrices of pearl oyster shells. Similar to other proteins that are constituents of tough, extracellular structures, such as spider silk, shematrins and KRMPs, contain repetitive, low-complexity domains (RLCDs). Comprehensive analysis of available gene sequences in three species of pearl oyster us...

Nacrein is the first identified and widely investigated molluscan matrix protein and is considered to play an important role in the shell formation of the pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata. Here, we investigate the effect of the NF-κB signalling pathway on Nacrein gene expression in P. fucata to elucidate the mechanisms involved in shell formation. Inhibition of NF-κB signalling decreased Nacrein p...