We examined the genetic structure of populations of an ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus brevis (Eichhoff) (Curculionidae: Scolytinae), to understand its colonization dynamics. We collected specimens from 20 sites in Japan and studied the genetic structure of these populations using portions of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI). A phylogenetic analysis showed three distinct lineages ...

I entered the field of vaccinology when I joined Dr. Stephen Johnston’s laboratory as a postdoc in 1990. He and Dr. John Sanford co-designed and fabricated the first hand-held gene gun and my job was to transfect live animals by delivering DNA-coated gold particles into a restricted subset of tissues under the gun point. After bombarding a recombinant plasmid encoding a human protein into the o...

Chloroplast development requires coordinate nuclear and chloroplast gene expression. A putative signal from the chloroplast couples the transcription of certain nuclear genes encoding photosynthesis-related proteins with chloroplast function. We have identified at least three Arabidopsis nuclear genes (GUN1, GUN2, and GUN3) necessary for coupling the expression of some nuclear genes to the func...

Two stages gas guns are used for various purposes, particularly for mechanical characterization of materials at high rate of deformations. The performance of a two stages gas gun is studied in this work using the theory of the two-stage gas gun proposed by Rajesh, numerical simulation using combined Eulerian/ Lagrangian elements in Autodyna commercial code and experiment using a two stage gas g...

AIM Particle-mediated transfection is known as an efficient method of non-viral gene transfer. Flt3 ligand (FL) is a growth factor for hematopoietic progenitors; it promotes the growth of dendritic cells (DC). DCs are powerful antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and show a remarkable capacity to stimulate antigen-specific T-cell responses. In this study, we intended to investigate the suppressive e...