Human pluripotent stem cells, such as human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells, are used in basic research and various applied fields, including drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Stem cell technologies have developed rapidly in recent years, and the supply of culture materials has improved. This has facilitated the culture of human pluripotent stem cells and has enabled an increasing number o...

Rac small GTPases play important roles during embryonic development of the inner ear; however, little is known regarding their function in cochlear hair cells (HCs) after specification. Here, we revealed the localization and activation of Racs in cochlear HCs using GFP-tagged Rac plasmids and transgenic mice expressing a Rac1-fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor. Furthermore, we employed Rac1 -knockout ( Rac...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by a nonsense or frameshift mutation in the DMD gene, while its milder form, Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is caused by an in-frame deletion/duplication or a missense mutation. Interestingly, however, some patients with a nonsense mutation exhibit BMD phenotype, which is mostly attributed to the skipping of the exon containing the nonsense mutation, resulting in in-frame deletion....

Achieving higher canopy photosynthesis rates is one of the keys to increasing future crop production; however, this typically requires additional water inputs because of increased water loss through the stomata. Lowland rice canopies presently consume a large amount of water, and any further increase in water usage may significantly impact local water resources. This situation is further complicated by changing the environment...

Rising air temperatures are projected to reduce rice yield and quality, whereas increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations ([CO 2 ]) can increase grain yield. For irrigated rice, ponded water is an important temperature environment, but few open‐field evaluations are available on the combined effects of temperature and [CO 2 ], which limits our ability to predict future rice production. We conducted free‐air CO 2 enrichment an...

An elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration ([ CO 2 ]) can reduce stomatal conductance of leaves for most plant species, including rice ( O ryza sativa L.). However, few studies have quantified seasonal changes in the effects of elevated [ CO 2 ] on canopy evapotranspiration, which integrates the response of stomatal conductance of individual leaves with other responses, such as leaf area expansion, changes in leaf surface temp...