{"title":"Discovery of internal rotation and conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane: the dawn of the concept of conformation.","authors":"Shinji Toyota","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.003","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1932, Mizushima and Higasi reported the dependence of the dipole moments of 1,2-dichloroethane on both temperature and solvent in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy, Japan. This report was followed by their first proposal of the existence of conformers that exchanged by internal rotation about a C-C single bond based on experimental data. Their monumental work marked the beginning of the essential concept of conformation in modern stereochemistry. Their proposal was later confirmed by the direct observation of the anti and gauche conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane by Raman spectroscopy, and further supported by other experimental and theoretical methods. The relative stabilities of the anti and gauche conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane and other 1,2-disubstituted ethanes were discussed in terms of steric, electrostatic, and stereoelectronic effects based on analysis of calculated data. Those studies influenced the development of subsequent research in organic chemistry, such as the conformational analysis of cyclohexane derivatives and the isolation of chiral gauche conformers.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 2","pages":"101-113"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10978969/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139723802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tracing the genealogy of research on the mechanism of blue flower coloration by anthocyanin based on Keita Shibata's work.","authors":"Kumi Yoshida","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.028","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>K. Shibata is the ancestor of the research on anthocyanins in Japan and proposed metal complex theory against the pH theory by R. Willstätter. Shibata's successors, S. Hattori and K. Hayashi, made efforts to clarify blue flower coloration by metal complexation and found commelinin, a self-assembled supramolecular metal complex pigment, in blue dayflower, Tsuyukusa. The author introduces two key reports on blue flower coloration published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy and describes the subsequent development of the study.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 8","pages":"446-464"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11535004/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142473160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Establishment of immune suppression by cancer cells in the tumor microenvironment.","authors":"Hiroyoshi Nishikawa","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.005","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the clinical success of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), cancer immunotherapy has become an important pillar of cancer treatment in various types of cancer. However, more than half of patients fail to respond to ICIs, even in combination, uncovering a limited window of clinical responses. Therefore, it is essential to develop more effective cancer immunotherapies and to define biomarkers for stratifying responders and nonresponders by exploring the immunological landscape in the tumor microenvironment (TME). It has become clear that differences in immune responses in the TME determine the clinical efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Additionally, gene alterations in cancer cells contribute to the development of the immunological landscape, particularly immune suppression in the TME. Therefore, integrated analyses of immunological and genomic assays are key for understanding diverse immune suppressive mechanisms in the TME. Developing novel strategies to control immune suppression in the TME from the perspective of immunology and the cancer genome is crucial for effective cancer immunotherapy (immune-genome precision medicine).</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 2","pages":"114-122"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10978970/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139723803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene in Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii strains inhabiting in cold and warm sea waters.","authors":"Yoshie Uchida, Hidenobu Uchida, Takeshi Sato, Yuko Nishimoto, Koichi Tsutsumi, Takao Oi, Mitsutaka Taniguchi, Kazuhito Inoue, Yoshihiro Suzuki","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.010","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>From the biota beneath the sea ice in Lake Saroma, which is adjacent to Sea of Okhotsk, a diatom culture of Saroma 16 was isolated. Strutted processes and a labiate process in Saroma 16 were characteristic of those in Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii. Similarity search analysis showed that the 826-bp rbcL-3P region sequence of this strain was 100% identical to multiple sequences registered as T. nordenskioeldii in a public database. The 4305-bp PCR-amplified mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene (COI)-5P region of Saroma 16 included a 1060-bp open reading frame (ORF), which was interrupted by 934-bp and 2311-bp introns that included frame-shifted ORFs encoding reverse-transcriptase (RTase)-like proteins. Previous reports showed that a strain of the same species, CNS00052, originating from the East China Sea included no introns in the COI, whereas North Atlantic Ocean strains of the same species, such as CCMP992, CCMP993, and CCMP997, included a 2.3-kb intron in the same position as Saroma 16.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 2","pages":"140-148"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10978971/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139723801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4: An attractive target for antibody-based immunotherapy.","authors":"Tomohiro Kurokawa, Kohzoh Imai","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.019","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Multifunctional molecules involved in tumor progression and metastasis have been identified as valuable targets for immunotherapy. Among these, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4), a significant tumor cell membrane-bound proteoglycan, has emerged as a promising target, especially in light of advances in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The profound bioactivity of CSPG4 and its role in pivotal processes such as tumor proliferation, migration, and neoangiogenesis underline its therapeutic potential. We reviewed the molecular intricacies of CSPG4, its functional attributes within tumor cells, and the latest clinical-translational advances targeting it. Strategies such as blocking monoclonal antibodies, conjugate therapies, bispecific antibodies, small-molecule inhibitors, CAR T-cell therapies, trispecific killer engagers, and ribonucleic acid vaccines against CSPG4 were assessed. CSPG4 overexpression in diverse tumors and its correlation with adverse prognostic outcomes emphasize its significance in cancer biology. These findings suggest that targeting CSPG4 offers a promising avenue for future cancer therapy, with potential synergistic effects when combined with existing treatments.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 5","pages":"293-308"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11260911/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140912536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Studies on \"Ascites sarcoma\".","authors":"Tomoyuki Kitagawa","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.021","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This review seeks to highlight and celebrate Professor Tomizo Yoshida's famous work on \"Establishment and characterization of a rat ascites sarcoma, later named \"Yoshida ascites sarcoma\". Considering the tremendous contribution of this ascites tumor system to the subsequent promotion of research on cancer biology and cancer chemotherapy, his paper should be regarded as a monumental one in the cancer field. The research was carried out during 1943 and the results were submitted to this Journal in October 1944, when Japan was approaching a debilitating defeat in World War II in August 1945. In 1947, when \"Research on Ascites sarcoma\" was first comprehensively introduced to researchers in a special lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Pathology, the whole audience was deeply impressed and was encouraged to resume scientific activity in Japan.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 6","pages":"309-319"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11377214/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141311527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crystals of taka-amylase A, a cornerstone of protein chemistry in Japan.","authors":"Saburo Aimoto, Naoto Minamino, Takeshi Ishimizu, Masami Kusunoki","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.027","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1935, Shiro Akabori began research on the preparation of taka-amylase A with a purity suitable for chemical research, with the intention of elucidating the chemical nature of the enzyme. He succeeded in developing a method to efficiently obtain crystallized taka-amylase A from Aspergillus oryzae. Using crystallized taka-amylase A as the starting material, a series of studies were conducted to determine its amino acid composition and sequence, sugar chain structure, and three-dimensional structure. Based on these results, the molecular structure and catalytic mechanism of taka-amylase A were elucidated. The scientific achievements from research on taka-amylase A significantly enhanced Japan's capabilities in protein research, represented by the fact that taka-amylase A was the first amylase in the world for which both chemical and crystallographic structures were elucidated.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 8","pages":"429-445"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11535007/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142473158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The first artificial cancer in the internal organs of experimental animals.","authors":"Takao Sekiya","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.038","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the world history of cancer research, three achievements in Japan were groundbreaking. First, in 1915, Katsusaburo Yamagiwa and Koichi Ichikawa induced skin cancer on the ears of rabbits by the repeated application of coal tar. This achievement was the world's first generation of artificial cancers in experimental animals. Second, in 1932, Takaoki Sasaki and Tomizo Yoshida observed liver cancer in rats fed on rice inoculated with ortho(o)-aminoazotoluene. This achievement was the first ever artificial cancer in the internal organs of experimental animals. Third, in 1967, Takashi Sugimura gave N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, a known chemical mutagen, to mice in drinking water and induced stomach cancer. This achievement was the first artificial production of stomach cancer and provided experimental evidence that cancer is a disease originated from DNA abnormalies. In commemoration of the publication of the 100th volume of the Proceedings of Japan Academy, Series B, from articles previously published in the Proceedings, two papers related to the achievements of Takaoki Sasaki have been selected and republished with this article.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 10","pages":"558-578"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11704458/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142813729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Complementary use of visual and olfactory cues to assess capture of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel): Implementation and field verification via an IoT-based automatic monitoring system.","authors":"Joe-Air Jiang, Yu-Yuan Liu, Min-Sheng Liao, En-Cheng Yang, Ming-Yin Chen, Yi-Yuan Chuang, Jen-Cheng Wang","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.008","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the effect of combining visual and olfactory cues to attract oriental fruit flies (OFFs). Six different colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) served as a visual attractant and methyl eugenol served as olfactory bait to lure male flies. An internet of things (IoT)-based pest monitoring system, consisting of sensor nodes, a gateway, and automatic counting traps, was deployed in the field to automatically collect environmental data and pest counts. The results of the calibrated experiments indicated that green, yellow, or red LEDs exhibited better performance in attracting flies than white, purple, or blue LEDs or no LEDs. With an accurate combination of visual and olfactory cues, the proposed IoT-based pest monitoring system may be an effective tool in agricultural pest management, given its advantages for efficiently capturing OFFs in a labor and time saving manner, providing accurate information regarding increases in pest populations, and enabling long-term, real-time data collection.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 1","pages":"68-85"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10864169/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139417929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular and cellular mechanisms of developmental synapse elimination in the cerebellum: Involvement of autism spectrum disorder-related genes.","authors":"Takaki Watanabe, Masanobu Kano","doi":"10.2183/pjab.100.034","DOIUrl":"10.2183/pjab.100.034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neural circuits are initially created with excessive synapse formation until around birth and undergo massive reorganization until they mature. During postnatal development, necessary synapses strengthen and remain, whereas unnecessary ones are weakened and eventually eliminated. These events, collectively called \"synapse elimination\" or \"synapse pruning\", are thought to be fundamental for creating functionally mature neural circuits in adult animals. In the cerebellum of neonatal rodents, Purkinje cells (PCs) receive synaptic inputs from multiple climbing fibers (CFs). Then, inputs from a single CF are strengthened and those from the other CFs are eliminated, and most PCs become innervated by single CFs by the end of the third postnatal week. These events are regarded as a representative model of synapse elimination. This review examines the molecular and cellular mechanisms of CF synapse elimination in the developing cerebellum and argues how autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related genes are involved in CF synapse development. We introduce recent studies to update our knowledge, incorporate new data into the known scheme, and discuss the remaining issues and future directions.</p>","PeriodicalId":20707,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences","volume":"100 9","pages":"508-523"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11635086/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142626692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}