University of Tokyo

About: University of Tokyo is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 134564 authors who have published 337567 publications receiving 10178620 citations. The organization is also known as: Todai & Universitas Tociensis.

Genomic sequence of the pathogenic and allergenic filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus

Abstract: Aspergillus fumigatus is exceptional among microorganisms in being both a primary and opportunistic pathogen as well as a major allergen. Its conidia production is prolific, and so human respiratory tract exposure is almost constant. A. fumigatus is isolated from human habitats and vegetable compost heaps. In immunocompromised individuals, the incidence of invasive infection can be as high as 50% and the mortality rate is often about 50% (ref. 2). The interaction of A. fumigatus and other airborne fungi with the immune system is increasingly linked to severe asthma and sinusitis. Although the burden of invasive disease caused by A. fumigatus is substantial, the basic biology of the organism is mostly obscure. Here we show the complete 29.4-megabase genome sequence of the clinical isolate Af293, which consists of eight chromosomes containing 9,926 predicted genes. Microarray analysis revealed temperature-dependent expression of distinct sets of genes, as well as 700 A. fumigatus genes not present or significantly diverged in the closely related sexual species Neosartorya fischeri, many of which may have roles in the pathogenicity phenotype. The Af293 genome sequence provides an unparalleled resource for the future understanding of this remarkable fungus.

Catalytic enantioselective addition to imines.

Abstract: Chiral nitrogen-containing compounds are widely distributed in nature and include many biologically important molecules (Chart 1). In these compounds, the nitrogen-containing units are known to play important roles for their bioactivities. For the synthesis of these chiral nitrogen-containing building blocks, use of imines as electrophiles is the most promising and convenient route.1 While many approaches using chiral imines or chiral nucleophiles have been reported,1 these diastereoselective reactions have some disadvantages. First, the procedures to introduce chiral auxiliaries to substrates and to remove them after the diastereoselective reactions are often tedious. Second, more than stoichiometric amounts of chiral sources are needed to obtain chiral compounds according to these reactions. On the other hand, catalytic enantioselective reactions provide the most efficient methods for the synthesis of chiral compounds,2 because large quantities of chiral compounds are expected to be prepared using small amounts of chiral sources. While much progress has been made recently in catalytic enantioselective reactions of aldehydes and ketones such as aldol,3 allylation,4 Diels-Alder,5 cyanation reactions,6 reduction,1b,2b etc., progress in catalytic enantioselective reactions of imines is rather slow. There are some difficulties in performing catalytic enantioselective reactions of imines. For example, in the cases of chiral Lewis acid promoted asymmetric Shū Kobayashi was born in 1959 in Tokyo, Japan. He studied chemistry at the University of Tokyo and received his Ph.D. in 1988 (Professor T. Mukaiyama). After spending 11 years at Science University of Tokyo (SUT), he moved to Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, in 1998. His research interests include development of new synthetic methods, development of novel catalysts (especially chiral catalysts), organic synthesis in water, solid-phase organic synthesis, total synthesis of biologically interesting compounds, and organometallic chemistry. He received the first Springer Award in Organometallic Chemistry in 1997.

Nucleosynthesis in Chandrasekhar Mass Models for Type Ia Supernovae and Constraints on Progenitor Systems and Burning-Front Propagation

Abstract: The major uncertainties involved in the Chandrasekhar mass models for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are related to the companion star of their accreting white dwarf progenitor (which determines the accretion rate and consequently the carbon ignition density) and the flame speed after the carbon ignition. We calculate explosive nucleosynthesis in relatively slow deflagrations with a variety of deflagration speeds and ignition densities to put new constraints on the above key quantities. The abundance of the Fe group, in particular of neutron-rich species like 48Ca,50Ti,54Cr,54,58Fe, and 58Ni, is highly sensitive to the electron captures taking place in the central layers. The yields obtained from such a slow central deflagration, and from a fast deflagration or delayed detonation in the outer layers, are combined and put to comparison with solar isotopic abundances. To avoid excessively large ratios of 54Cr/56Fe and 50Ti/56Fe, the central density of the average white dwarf progenitor at ignition should be as low as 2 ? 109 g cm-3. To avoid the overproduction of 58Ni and 54Fe, either the flame speed should not exceed a few percent of the sound speed in the central low Ye layers or the metallicity of the average progenitors has to be lower than solar. Such low central densities can be realized by a rapid accretion as fast as -->img1.gif 1 ? 10-7 M? yr-1. In order to reproduce the solar abundance of 48Ca, one also needs progenitor systems that undergo ignition at higher densities. Even the smallest laminar flame speeds after the low-density ignitions would not produce sufficient amount of this isotope. We also found that the total amount of 56Ni, the Si-Ca/Fe ratio, and the abundance of some elements like Mn and Cr (originating from incomplete Si burning), depend on the density of the deflagration-detonation transition in delayed detonations. Our nucleosynthesis results favor transition densities slightly below 2.2 ? 107 g cm-3.

A Formulation of a Phase-Independent Wave-Activity Flux for Stationary and Migratory Quasigeostrophic Eddies on a Zonally Varying Basic Flow

Abstract: A new formulation of an approximate conservation relation of wave-activity pseudomomentum is derived, which is applicable for either stationary or migratory quasigeostrophic (QG) eddies on a zonally varying basic flow. The authors utilize a combination of a quantity A that is proportional to wave enstrophy and another quantity E that is proportional to wave energy. Both A and E are approximately related to the wave-activity pseudomomentum. It is shown for QG eddies on a slowly varying, unforced nonzonal flow that a particular linear combination of A and E, namely, M ≡ (A + E)/2, is independent of the wave phase, even if unaveraged, in the limit of a small-amplitude plane wave. In the same limit, a flux of M is also free from an oscillatory component on a scale of one-half wavelength even without any averaging. It is shown that M is conserved under steady, unforced, and nondissipative conditions and the flux of M is parallel to the local three-dimensional group velocity in the WKB limit. The autho...