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Brain activity and connectivity alters drastically during the generalization of epileptic seizures. Throughout this transition, brain networks shift from a balanced resting state to a hyperactive and hypersynchronous state, spreading across the brain. It is however less clear which mechanisms underlie these state transitions. By studying neuronal and glia activity across the zebrafish brain, we observed striking differences between these networks. During pre-ictal period, neurons displayed a small increase in synchronous activity only locally, while the entire glial network was highly active and strongly synchronized across large distances. We observed that the transition from a pre-ictal state to a generalized seizure leads to an abrupt increase in neural activity and connectivity, which is accompanied by a strong functional coupling between glial and neuronal networks. Optogenetic activation of glia induced strong and transient burst of neuronal activity, emphasizing a potential role for glia-neuron connections in the generalization of epileptic seizures.

Sourse: Nature Communications 10, Article number: 3830 (2019)

Fig: An image of the brain of the GFAP:Gal4;UAS:GCaMP6s;jRCaMP1a fish.

▶This study is based on the previous study.

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• The making of ‘Fancy Mouse’: Study reveals true cause of colorful hair on popular East Asian pet mice

For the past few hundred years, the colorful hair and unique patterns of the so-called “Fancy Mouse” have made them the stars of pet shows in Japan and beyond. Now, scientists have finally revealed the true cause of the genetic mutation responsible for the iconic black pigmentation in the popular East Asian pet.

Their findings were published on August 2, 2019 in Communications Biology. read more>

Fig: The mutated colors in Japanese fancy mice, JF1, gave them a Giant Panda look. The C57BL/6 (B6) strain has black coat color, nonagouti. Japanese wild strain MSM has agouti coat color.
*Credit: Tsuyushi Koide, the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) in Japan

▶　You can read the deeper story behind the paper below.
Reexamining the a of Mouse Genetics A to Z

▶Associate Prof. Koide posted “Comment” about this article.
A role for the rare endogenous retrovirus β4 in development of Japanese fancy mice(PDF)

Current technology of high throughput sequencing forces microbiologists to deal with more and more genomic data than before. In addition, annotated genome data must be deposited in the public sequence database; however, its complicated process is an another burden for researchers. We have developed an automatic prokaryotic genome annotation pipeline called DDBJ Fast Annotation and Submission Tool (DFAST) aiming to assist data submission to DDBJ. DFAST is available as a web tool, which allows users to create data submission files using graphical user interface, and also as a stand-alone tool, which is well suited for massive data processing on a local machine. DFAST can annotate a typical-sized bacterial genome within 5 minutes and has unique features such as pseudogene detection. It is available at https://dfast.ddbj.nig.ac.jp.

DFAST will facilitate the use of genomic data in microbial studies.

Figure: A) Annotation workflow of DFAST. B) Job submission form of the DFAST web server.

Autophagy, a major catabolic pathway in eukaryotic cells, plays critical roles in the recycling of proteins and lipids, and is involved in many developmental processes. It plays important roles in pollen maturation and required for tapetal programmed cell death (PCD), postmeiotic anther development and nutrient supply to the pollens in rice (Kurusu et al. 2014). In this paper, we introduce an in vivo imaging technique to analyze the dynamics of autophagy in rice tapetum by expressing GFP-ATG8, a marker for autophagosomes under the control of tapetum-specific promoters. The results from imaging analyses including 3-dimensional visualization revealed that autophagy is dramatically induced at the specific stages throughout the tapetal cells just before their PCD process (Fig. 1). This monitoring system offers a powerful tool to analyze the regulation of autophagy in rice tapetum during anther development, and contribute to the research to increase the grain quality and yield of rice.

This work was supported in part by the NIG-Joint program (84A2018).

Glossary
Autophagosome: A spherical structure with double layer membranes. It is the key structure in macroautophagy, the intracellular degradation system for cytoplasmic contents.

Figure: Visualization of the dynamics of autophagosomes/autophagy-related structures in rice anthers.
(A) A confocal fluorescence image of cross-section of rice anthers indicates GFP (green) and autofluorescence (magenta) of chlorophyll, respectively. Arrowheads indicate punctate signals of GFP-ATG8 (autophagosomes/autophagy-related structures). (B) Three-dimensional reconstruction of the tapetum undergoing autophagy.

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• Protein factors increasing yield of a biofuel precursor in microscopic algae

As an alternative to traditional fossil fuels, biofuels represent a more environmentally friendly and sustainable fuel source. Plant or animal fats can be converted to biofuels through a process called transesterification. In particular, the storage molecule triacylglycerol (TAG), found in microscopic algae, is one of the most promising sources of fat for biofuel production, as microalgae are small, easy to grow, and reproduce quickly. Therefore, increasing the yield of TAG from microalgae could improve biofuel production processes. With this ultimate goal in mind, Professor Hiroyuki Ohta from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and colleagues investigated the conditions under which the model microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii produces more TAG. read more>

This research was published in The Plant Journal at 27 July 2019.

You can get the tools and databases that was the basis for metabolome analysis in this research from the following site. KOMICS (The Kazusa Metabolomics Portal)

Fig: Microalgae are a promising source of biofuel feedstock, as they produce triacylglycerol (TAG) as a major storage lipid, especially under nutrient-depleted conditions. LRL1 was involved in the regulatory mechanism during the later stage of P-starvation in C. reinhardtii, as its regulation might depend on P-status, cell growth, and other factors.