Mouse resources at the RIKEN BioResource Research Center and the National BioResource Project core facility in Japan.

The RIKEN BioResource Research Center (BRC) was established in 2001 as a comprehensive biological resource center in Japan. The Experimental Animal Division, one of the BRC infrastructure divisions, has been designated as the core facility for mouse resources within the National BioResource Project (NBRP) by the Japanese government since FY2002. Our activities regarding the collection, preservation, quality control, and distribution of mouse resources have been supported by the research community, including evaluations and guidance on advancing social and research needs, as well as the operations and future direction of the BRC. Expenditure for collection, preservation, and quality-control operations of the BRC, as a national core facility, has been funded by the government, while distribution has been separately funded by users' reimbursement fees. We have collected over 9000 strains created mainly by Japanese scientists including Nobel laureates and researchers in cutting-edge fields and distributed mice to 7000 scientists with 1500 organizations in Japan and globally. Our users have published 1000 outstanding papers and a few dozen patents. The collected mouse resources are accessible via the RIKEN BRC website, with a revised version of the searchable online catalog. In addition, to enhance the visibility of useful strains, we have launched web corners designated as the "Mouse of the Month" and "Today's Tool and Model." Only high-demand strains are maintained in live colonies, while other strains are cryopreserved as embryos or sperm to achieve cost-effective management. Since 2007, the RIKEN BRC has built up a back-up facility in the RIKEN Harima branch to protect the deposited strains from disasters. Our mice have been distributed with high quality through the application of strict microbial and genetic quality control programs that cover a globally accepted pathogens list and mutated alleles generated by various methods. Added value features, such as information about users' publications, standardized phenotyping data, and genome sequences of the collected strains, are important to facilitate the use of our resources. We have added and disseminated such information in collaboration with the NBRP Information Center and the NBRP Genome Information Upgrading Program. The RIKEN BRC has participated in international mouse resource networks such as the International Mouse Strain Resource, International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, and Asian Mouse Mutagenesis and Resource Association to facilitate the worldwide use of high-quality mouse resources, and as a consequence it contributes to reproducible life science studies and innovation around the globe.

MoG+: a database of genomic variations across three mouse subspecies for biomedical research.

Laboratory mouse strains have mosaic genomes derived from at least three major subspecies that are distributed in Eurasia. Here, we describe genomic variations in ten inbred strains: Mus musculus musculus-derived BLG2/Ms, NJL/Ms, CHD/Ms, SWN/Ms, and KJR/Ms; M. m. domesticus-derived PGN2/Ms and BFM/Ms; M. m. castaneus-derived HMI/Ms; and JF1/Ms and MSM/Ms, which were derived from a hybrid between M. m. musculus and M. m. castaneus. These strains were established by Prof. Moriwaki in the 1980s and are collectively named the "Mishima Battery". These strains show large phenotypic variations in body size and in many physiological traits. We resequenced the genomes of the Mishima Battery strains and performed a comparative genomic analysis with dbSNP data. More than 81 million nucleotide coordinates were identified as variant sites due to the large genetic distances among the mouse subspecies; 8,062,070 new SNP sites were detected in this study, and these may underlie the large phenotypic diversity observed in the Mishima Battery. The new information was collected in a reconstructed genome database, termed MoG+ that includes new application software and viewers. MoG+ intuitively visualizes nucleotide variants in genes and intergenic regions, and amino acid substitutions across the three mouse subspecies. We report statistical data from the resequencing and comparative genomic analyses and newly collected phenotype data of the Mishima Battery, and provide a brief description of the functions of MoG+, which provides a searchable and unique data resource of the numerous genomic variations across the three mouse subspecies. The data in MoG+ will be invaluable for research into phenotype-genotype links in diverse mouse strains.

Collection, preservation and distribution of Oryza genetic resources by the National Bioresource Project RICE (NBRP-RICE).

Biological resources are the basic infrastructure of bioscience research. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a good experimental model for research in cereal crops and monocots and includes important genetic materials used in breeding. The availability of genetic materials, including mutants, is important for rice research. In addition, Oryza species are attractive to researchers for both finding useful genes for breeding and for understanding the mechanism of genome evolution that enables wild plants to adapt to their own habitats. NBRP-RICE contributes to rice research by promoting the usage of genetic materials, especially wild Oryza accessions and mutant lines. Our activity includes collection, preservation and distribution of those materials and the provision of basic information on them, such as morphological and physiological traits and genomic information. In this review paper, we introduce the activities of NBRP-RICE and our database, Oryzabase, which facilitates the access to NBRP-RICE resources and their genomic sequences as well as the current situation of wild Oryza genome sequencing efforts by NBRP-RICE and other institutes.

Chromosome-scale assembly of barley cv. 'Haruna Nijo' as a resource for barley genetics.

Cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) is used for food, animal feed, and alcoholic beverages and is widely grown in temperate regions. Both barley and its wild progenitor (H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum) have large 5.1-Gb genomes. High-quality chromosome-scale assemblies for several representative barley genotypes, both wild and domesticated, have been constructed recently to populate the nascent barley pan-genome infrastructure. Here, we release a chromosome-scale assembly of the Japanese elite malting barley cultivar 'Haruna Nijo' using a similar methodology as in the barley pan-genome project. The 4.28-Gb assembly had a scaffold N50 size of 18.9 Mb. The assembly showed high collinearity with the barley reference genome 'Morex' cultivar, with some inversions. The pseudomolecule assembly was characterized using transcript evidence of gene projection derived from the reference genome and de novo gene annotation achieved using published full-length cDNA sequences and RNA-Seq data for 'Haruna Nijo'. We found good concordance between our whole-genome assembly and the publicly available BAC clone sequence of 'Haruna Nijo'. Interesting phenotypes have since been identified in Haruna Nijo; its genome sequence assembly will facilitate the identification of the underlying genes.

BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts.

BodyParts3D is a dictionary-type database for anatomy in which anatomical concepts are represented by 3D structure data that specify corresponding segments of a 3D whole-body model for an adult human male. It encompasses morphological and geometrical knowledge in anatomy and complements ontological representation. Moreover, BodyParts3D introduces a universal coordinate system in human anatomy, which may facilitate management of samples and data in biomedical research and clinical practice. As of today, 382 anatomical concepts, sufficient for mapping materials in most molecular medicine experiments, have been specified. Expansion of the dictionary by adding further segments and details to the whole-body model will continue in collaboration with clinical researchers until sufficient resolution and accuracy for most clinical application are achieved. BodyParts3D is accessible at: http://lifesciencedb.jp/ag/bp3d/.

OryzaGenome2.1: Database of Diverse Genotypes in Wild Oryza Species.

BACKGROUND: OryzaGenome ( http://viewer.shigen.info/oryzagenome21detail/index.xhtml ), a feature within Oryzabase ( https://shigen.nig.ac.jp/rice/oryzabase/ ), is a genomic database for wild Oryza species that provides comparative and evolutionary genomics approaches for the rice research community. RESULTS: Here we release OryzaGenome2.1, the first major update of OryzaGenome. The main feature in this version is the inclusion of newly sequenced genotypes and their meta-information, giving a total of 217 accessions of 19 wild Oryza species (O. rufipogon, O. barthii, O. longistaminata, O. meridionalis, O. glumaepatula, O. punctata, O. minuta, O. officinalis, O. rhizomatis, O. eichingeri, O. latifolia, O. alta, O. grandiglumis, O. australiensis, O. brachyantha, O. granulata, O. meyeriana, O. ridleyi, and O. longiglumis). These 19 wild species belong to 9 genome types (AA, BB, CC, BBCC, CCDD, EE, FF, GG, and HHJJ), representing wide genomic diversity in the genus. Using the genotype information, we analyzed the genome diversity of Oryza species. Other features of OryzaGenome facilitate the use of information on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between O. sativa and its wild progenitor O. rufipogon in rice research, including breeding as well as basic science. For example, we provide Variant Call Format (VCF) files for genome-wide SNPs of 33 O. rufipogon accessions against the O. sativa reference genome, IRGSP1.0. In addition, we provide a new SNP Effect Table function, allowing users to identify SNPs or small insertion/deletion polymorphisms in the 33 O. rufipogon accessions and to search for the effect of these polymorphisms on protein function if they reside in the coding region (e.g., are missense or nonsense mutations). Furthermore, the SNP Viewer for 446 O. rufipogon accessions was updated by implementing new tracks for possible selective sweep regions and highly mutated regions that were potentially exposed to selective pressures during the process of domestication. CONCLUSION: OryzaGenome2.1 focuses on comparative genomic analysis of diverse wild Oryza accessions collected around the world and on the development of resources to speed up the identification of critical trait-related genes, especially from O. rufipogon. It aims to promote the use of genotype information from wild accessions in rice breeding and potential future crop improvements. Diverse genotypes will be a key resource for evolutionary studies in Oryza, including polyploid biology.

Cornichon-like protein facilitates secretion of HB-EGF and regulates proper development of cranial nerves.

During their migration to the periphery, cranial neural crest cells (NCCs) are repulsed by an ErbB4-dependent cue(s) in the mesenchyme adjoining rhombomeres (r) 3 and 5, which are segmented hindbrain neuromeres. ErbB4 has many ligands, but which ligand functions in the above system has not yet been clearly determined. Here we found that a cornichon-like protein/cornichon homolog 2 (CNIL/CNIH2) gene was expressed in the developing chick r3 and r5. In a cell culture system, its product facilitated the secretion of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF), one of the ligands of ErbB4. When CNIL function was perturbed in chick embryos by forced expression of a truncated form of CNIL, the distribution of NCCs was affected, which resulted in abnormal nerve fiber connections among the cranial sensory ganglia. Also, knockdown of CNIL or HB-EGF with siRNAs yielded a similar phenotype. This phenotype closely resembled that of ErbB4 knockout mouse embryos. Because HB-EGF was uniformly expressed in the embryonic hindbrain, CNIL seems to confine the site of HB-EGF action to r3 and r5 in concert with ErbB4.

Life science database cross search: A single window system for dispersed biological databases.

A comprehensive search system for the bioscience databases is in progress. We constructed a search service, Life science database cross search system (https://biosciencedbc.jp/dbsearch/index. php?lang=en) by integrating numerous biomedical databases using database crawling algorithms. The described system integrates 600 databases containing over 90 million entries indexed for biomedical research and development.

BodyMap-Xs: anatomical breakdown of 17 million animal ESTs for cross-species comparison of gene expression.

BodyMap-Xs (http://bodymap.jp) is a database for cross-species gene expression comparison. It was created by the anatomical breakdown of 17 million animal expressed sequence tag (EST) records in DDBJ using a sorting program tailored for this purpose. In BodyMap-Xs, users are allowed to compare the expression patterns of orthologous and paralogous genes in a coherent manner. This will provide valuable insights for the evolutionary study of gene expression and identification of a responsive motif for a particular expression pattern. In addition, starting from a concise overview of the taxonomical and anatomical breakdown of all animal ESTs, users can navigate to obtain gene expression ranking of a particular tissue in a particular animal. This method may lead to the understanding of the similarities and differences between the homologous tissues across animal species. BodyMap-Xs will be automatically updated in synchronization with the major update in DDBJ, which occurs periodically.

A novel technique for measuring variations in DNA copy-number: competitive genomic polymerase chain reaction.

BACKGROUND: Changes in genomic copy number occur in many human diseases including cancer. Characterization of these changes is important for both basic understanding and diagnosis of these diseases. Microarrays have recently become the standard technique and are commercially available. However, it is useful to have an affordable technique to complement them. RESULTS: We describe a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technique, termed competitive genomic PCR (CGP). The main characteristic of CGP is that different adaptors are added to the sample and control genomic DNAs after appropriate restriction enzyme digestion. These adaptor-supplemented DNAs are subjected to competitive PCR using an adaptor-primer and a locus-specific primer. The amplified products are then separated according to size differences between the adaptors. CGP eliminates the tedious steps inherent in quantitative PCR and achieves moderate throughput. Assays with different X chromosome numbers showed that it can provide accurate quantification. High-resolution analysis of neuroblastoma cell lines around the MYCN locus revealed novel junctions for amplification, which were not detected by a commercial array. CONCLUSION: CGP is a moderate throughput technique for analyzing changes in genomic copy numbers. Because CGP can measure any genomic locus using PCR primers, it is especially useful for detailed analysis of a genomic region of interest.

The Human Anatomic Gene Expression Library (H-ANGEL), the H-Inv integrative display of human gene expression across disparate technologies and platforms.

The Human Anatomic Gene Expression Library (H-ANGEL) is a resource for information concerning the anatomical distribution and expression of human gene transcripts. The tool contains protein expression data from multiple platforms that has been associated with both manually annotated full-length cDNAs from H-InvDB and RefSeq sequences. Of the H-Inv predicted genes, 18 897 have associated expression data generated by at least one platform. H-ANGEL utilizes categorized mRNA expression data from both publicly available and proprietary sources. It incorporates data generated by three types of methods from seven different platforms. The data are provided to the user in the form of a web-based viewer with numerous query options. H-ANGEL is updated with each new release of cDNA and genome sequence build. In future editions, we will incorporate the capability for expression data updates from existing and new platforms. H-ANGEL is accessible at http://www.jbirc.aist.go.jp/hinv/h-angel/.

Non-overlapping expression of Olig3 and Olig2 in the embryonic neural tube.

Olig family is a novel sub-family of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors recently identified. Olig1 and Olig2 were first reported to promote oligodendrocyte differentiation, and later Olig2 was reported to be involved in motoneuron specification as well. Olig3 was isolated as a third member of Olig family, but its precise expression pattern is poorly understood. Here, we describe detailed Olig3 expression analyses in the neural tube of embryonic mice. Olig3 was first detected in the dorsal neural tube from the midbrain/hindbrain boundary to the spinal cord. In E11.5 spinal cord, Olig3 was transiently expressed in the lateral margin of the subventricular zone as three ventral clusters at the level of the p3, p2 and p0 domains, as well as in the dorsal neural tube. Olig3 was co-expressed with Nkx2.2 in the lateral margin of the p3 domain. In forebrain, Olig3 was expressed in the dorsal thalamus while Olig2 was complementarily expressed in the ventral thalamus with an adjacent boundary at E12.5. Olig3 is specifically and transiently expressed in different types of progenitors of embryonic central nervous system and then disappears in the course of development.

Construction of human corneal endothelial cDNA library and identification of novel active genes.

PURPOSE: To describe genes expressed in human corneal endothelial cells and identify novel genes. METHODS: Sixteen human donor corneas that had no history of corneal disease, infection, or intraocular surgery were used within 7 days of death. Total RNA was extracted from corneal endothelial cells with attached Descemet membranes. A 3'-directed cDNA library was constructed from mRNA by using a pUC19-based primer. These sequences were compared with each other to determine their frequency and were searched against GenBank for identification. To identify novel specific and abundant transcript genes in corneal endothelial cells, the novel genes were compared with an expressed sequence tag database, the expected sequence extended, and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends-polymerase chain reaction cloning performed. RESULTS: The human corneal endothelial cDNA library showed that the most abundant transcript was prostaglandin D2 synthase. The remaining transcript genes that were present in abundance consisted of lactate dehydrogenase-A, gene signature (GS) 3582, which is a novel gene without a known function, and matrix Gla protein. The full-length sequence of GS3582 showed similarity to genes obtained in ovary and TESTIS. CONCLUSIONS: A human corneal endothelial cDNA library was constructed. An expression profile of corneal endothelium provides probes to monitor physiologic and pathologic conditions of this tissue in terms of gene expression.

Zipf's law and human transcriptomes: an explanation with an evolutionary model.

Detailed analysis of human gene expression data reveals several patterns of relationship between transcript frequency and abundance rank. In muscle and liver, organs composed primarily of a homogeneous population of differentiated cells, they obey Zipf's law. In cell lines, epithelial tissue and compiled transcriptome data, only high-rankers deviate from it. We propose an evolutionary process model during which expression level changes stochastically proportionally to its intensity, providing a novel interpretation of transcriptome data and of evolutionary constraints on gene expression.

Up-regulated gene expression in the conjunctival epithelium of patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

PURPOSE: To elucidate the pathogenesis of ocular surface abnormalities in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) by comparing global gene expression patterns in conjunctival epithelial cells from normal individuals and SS patients. METHODS: The study population consisted of 56 subjects (26 SS patients and 30 normal volunteers). RNA extracted from their conjunctival epithelial cells was subjected to introduced amplified fragment length polymorphism (iAFLP), a competitive PCR-based gene expression assay, to measure gene expression in the 56 samples against 931 genes. Data were analyzed by two-dimensional clustering analysis and discriminant analysis. Disease-related genes were identified and the feasibility of gene expression-based diagnosis of SS was examined. RESULTS: Two-dimensional clustering- and discriminant analysis clearly distinguished between SS patients and normal subjects. Of 931 genes tested, 34 were significantly up-regulated and 12 were significantly down-regulated in SS (p<0.05). Up-regulated genes included kallikrein 7 (x 15.8) and small proline-rich protein 2A (x 9.6), markers for the terminal differentiation of epidermis, and the inflammation-related genes HLA-DR and IL-6. Monokine-induced-by-gamma-interferon, i.e. c-fos, fibronectin, amphiregulin, defensin beta 2, and keratin 16, -6b and -6c were also up-regulated. Among the 12 down-regulated genes, interferon-gamma receptor 1 was most notable (x1/27.3). CONCLUSIONS: The up-regulated expression of keratin 6 and -16, small proline-rich protein 2A, and kallikrein 7 in the conjunctival epithelium of SS patients suggests an anomalous keratinization pattern. Epithelial thickening may be due to amphiregulin and/or c-fos-stimulated cell cycle progression. The up-regulation of monokine-induced-by-gamma-interferon, HLA-DR, keratin 6b, -6c, and -16 suggests that in SS, interferon-gamma may play an important role in the altered gene expression in the conjunctival epithelium.

Gene expression profiling of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1+ high endothelial venule cells (HEV) and identification of a leucine-rich HEV glycoprotein as a HEV marker.

High endothelial venule (HEV) cells support lymphocyte migration from the peripheral blood into secondary lymphoid tissues. Using gene expression profiling of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1(+) mesenteric lymph node HEV cells by quantitative 3'-cDNA collection, we have identified a leucine-rich protein, named leucine-rich HEV glycoprotein (LRHG) that is selectively expressed in these cells. Northern blot analysis revealed that LRHG mRNA is approximately 1.3 kb and is expressed in lymph nodes, liver, and heart. In situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that the mRNA expression in lymph nodes is strictly restricted to the HEV cells, and immunofluorescence analysis with polyclonal Abs against LRHG indicated that the LRHG protein is localized mainly to HEV cells and possibly to some lymphoid cells surrounding the HEVs. LRHG cDNA encodes a 342-aa protein containing 8 tandem leucine-rich repeats of 24 aa each and has high homology to human leucine-rich alpha(2)-glycoprotein. Similar to some other leucine-rich repeat protein family members, LRHG can bind extracellular matrix proteins that are expressed on the basal lamina of HEVs, such as fibronectin, collagen IV, and laminin. In addition, LRHG binds TGF-beta. These results suggest that LRHG is likely to be multifunctional in that it may capture TGF-beta and/or other related humoral factors to modulate cell adhesion locally and may also be involved in the adhesion of HEV cells to the surrounding basal lamina.