Masataka Kajikawa

TL;DR: The molecular lesions responsible for the low-nicotine phenotype of a classical tobacco mutant are examined, and it is reported that the NIC2 locus comprises clustered transcription factor genes of an ethylene response factor (ERF) subfamily; in the nic2 mutant, at least seven ERF genes are deleted altogether.

TL;DR: The findings indicate that the Y and X chromosomes share the same ancestral autosome and support the prediction that in a haploid organism essential genes on sex chromosomes are more likely to persist than in a diploid organism.

TL;DR: Raman image-activated cell sorting is demonstrated by directly probing chemically specific intracellular molecular vibrations via ultrafast multicolor stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy for cellular phenotyping and holds promise for numerous applications that were previously difficult or undesirable with fluorescence-based technologies.

TL;DR: Jasmonate-inducible tobacco genes encoding flavin-containing oxidases of the berberine bridge enzyme family (BBLs) are expressed in the roots and regulated by the NIC loci, and results indicate that BBLs are involved in a late oxidation step subsequent to the pyridine ring condensation reaction in the biosynthesis of tobacco alkaloids.

TL;DR: It is proposed that the tobacco A622-like reductases of the PIP family are involved in either the formation of a nicotinic acid-derived precursor or the final condensation reaction of tobacco alkaloids.