Hokkaido University

About: Hokkaido University is a education organization based out in Sapporo, Hokkaidô, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 53925 authors who have published 115403 publications receiving 2651647 citations. The organization is also known as: Hokudai & Hokkaidō daigaku.

The Rc and Rd genes are involved in proanthocyanidin synthesis in rice pericarp.

Abstract: Different colors, such as purple, brown, red and white, occur in the pericarp of rice. Here, two genes affecting proanthocyanidin synthesis in red- and brown-colored rice were elucidated. Genetic segregation analysis suggested that the Rd and A loci are identical, and both encode dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR). The introduction of the DFR gene into an Rcrd mutant resulted in red-colored rice, which was brown in the original mutant, demonstrating that the Rd locus encodes the DFR protein. Accumulation of proanthocyanidins was observed in the transformants by the introduction of the Rd gene into the rice Rcrd line. Protein blot analysis showed that the DFR gene was translated in seeds with alternative translation initiation. A search for the Rc gene, which encodes a transacting regulatory factor, was conducted using available DNA markers and the Rice Genome Automated Annotation System program. Three candidate genes were identified and cloned from a rice RcRd line and subsequently introduced into a rice rcrd line. Brown-colored seeds were obtained from transgenic plants by the introduction of a gene containing the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) motif, demonstrating that the Rc gene encodes a bHLH protein. Comparison of the Rc locus among rice accessions showed that a 14-bp deletion occurred only in the rc locus.

Comprehensive IR study on acid/base properties of metal oxides

Abstract: Acid/base properties (type, strength, number) of a wide range of metal oxides were studied by IR (infra-red) spectroscopy. Ammonia, pyridine and CD3CN were used as probe molecules for acidity measurement. CO2, CHCl3, benzaldehyde and nitrobenzene were used for basicity measurement. Pyridine for the nature and number of acid sites, CD3CN for the strength of acid sites, CHCl3 for the strength of basic sites and nitrobenzene for the number of basic sites were found to be suitable probes. The absorption coefficients of pyridine for acidic sites and nitrobenzene for basic sites, estimated for various metal oxides by IR coupled with mass spectrometry, were within ±10% of the average value, which indicates that the integrated molar extinction coefficients could be used for semi-quantification of acid/base sites of various oxides samples. The comprehensive IR results in this study will be available to characterize properties of Lewis and Bronsted acid sites and basic sites on metal oxides by a simple IR experiment.