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Article
Open AccessFlower color modification in Torenia fournieri by genetic engineering of betacyanin pigments
Betalains are reddish and yellow pigments that accumulate in a few plant species of the order Caryophyllales. These pigments have antioxidant and medicinal properties and can be used as functional foods. They ...
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Article
Open AccessPrevalence of mild cognitive impairment and its association with handgrip strength in patients on hemodialysis
Dementia is associated with a high risk of death and hospitalization among patients on hemodialysis (HD). We retrospectively evaluated the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in 421 patients on maint...
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Article
Post-transcriptional gene silencing of the chalcone synthase gene CHS causes corolla lobe-specific whiting of Japanese gentian
Post-transcriptional gene silencing of the chalcone synthase gene CHS specifically suppresses anthocyanin biosynthesis in corolla lobes and is responsible for the formation of a stripe type bicolor in Japanese ge...
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Article
Open AccessLaparoscopic repair of hepatic herniation through a ventral incisional hernia: a case report
Ventral incisional hernia is a common problem after abdominal surgery. Most patients with these hernias present with greater omentum and gastrointestinal prolapse. However, hepatic herniation through a ventral...
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Article
Successful diagnosis and treatment of double common bile duct with cholelithiasis by laparoscopic cholecystectomy
Double common bile duct (DCBD) is an extremely rare congenital anomaly of the biliary system associated with serious complications. An association between DCBD and inadvertent bile duct injury during surgery h...
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Article
Open AccessEsterified carotenoids are synthesized in petals of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) and accumulate in differentiated chromoplasts
Although yellow and orange petal colors are derived from carotenoids in many plant species, this has not yet been demonstrated for the order Caryophyllales, which includes carnations. Here, we identified a car...
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Article
Open AccessMolecular characterization of an anthocyanin-related glutathione S-transferase gene in Japanese gentian with the CRISPR/Cas9 system
The blue pigmentation of Japanese gentian flowers is due to a polyacylated anthocyanin, gentiodelphin, and all associated biosynthesis genes and several regulatory genes have been cloned and characterized. How...
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Article
Open AccessEffects of knocking out three anthocyanin modification genes on the blue pigmentation of gentian flowers
Genome editing by the CRISPR/Cas9 system has recently been used to produce gene knockout lines in many plant species. We applied this system to analyze Japanese gentian plants that produce blue flowers because...
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Article
Open AccessApplication of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for modification of flower color in Torenia fournieri
CRISPR/Cas9 technology is one of the most powerful and useful tools for genome editing in various living organisms. In higher plants, the system has been widely exploited not only for basic research, such as g...
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Article
Development of molecular markers for breeding of double flowers in Japanese gentian
Double flowers are valuable floral traits in most floricultural plants. We recently revealed that a double-flowered mutant of Gentiana scabra was caused by an insertion of a retrotransposable element (Tgs1) into
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Article
Open AccessInguinal hernia in hemodialysis versus peritoneal dialysis patients: a case-control study
Inguinal hernia is common in dialysis patients, especially peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients; however, no previous reports have assessed the incidence, type, treatments, and risk factors of inguinal hernia in ...
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Article
Functional characterization of duplicated B-class MADS-box genes in Japanese gentian
The heterodimer formation between B-class MADS-box proteins of GsAP3a and GsPI2 proteins plays a core role for petal formation in Japanese gentian plants.
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Article
CaMV-35S promoter sequence-specific DNA methylation in lettuce
We found 35S promoter sequence-specific DNA methylation in lettuce. Additionally, transgenic lettuce plants having a modified 35S promoter lost methylation, suggesting the modified sequence is ...
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Article
Open AccessIsolation and characterization of the C-class MADS-box gene involved in the formation of double flowers in Japanese gentian
Generally, double-flowered varieties are more attractive than single-flowered varieties in ornamental plants. Japanese gentian is one of the most popular floricultural plants in Japan, and it is desirable to b...
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Molecular Breeding of Japanese Gentians—Applications of Genetic Transformation, Metabolome Analyses, and Genetic Markers
Japanese gentians ( , , and their hybrids) are mainly used as cut or potted flowers. Breeding of gentians using conventional techniques is very slow because of their intrinsic characteristics of heterogeneity...
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Article
Open AccessMolecular characterization of mutations in white-flowered torenia plants
Torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind.) is a model plant increasingly exploited in studies in various disciplines, including plant engineering, biochemistry, physiology, and ecology. Additionally, cultivars with differ...
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Article
Heterologous expression of gentian MYB1R transcription factors suppresses anthocyanin pigmentation in tobacco flowers
Single-repeat MYB transcription factors, GtMYB1R1 and GtMYB1R9 , were isolated from gentian. Overexpression of these gene...
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Article
Open AccessFrontiers of torenia research: innovative ornamental traits and study of ecological interaction networks through genetic engineering
Advances in research in the past few years on the ornamental plant torenia (Torenia spps.) have made it notable as a model plant on the frontier of genetic engineering aimed at studying ornamental characteristics...
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Article
Open AccessGenetic engineering of yellow betalain pigments beyond the species barrier
Betalains are one of the major plant pigment groups found in some higher plants and higher fungi. They are not produced naturally in any plant species outside of the order Caryophyllales, nor are they produced...
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Article
Inheritance of resistance to brown leaf spot disease in gentians
Brown leaf spot caused by Mycochaetophora gentianae is a serious disease on gentian in Japan. Previous studies revealed that Gentiana triflora cultivars were susceptible to M. gentianae and that G. scabra cultiva...
