A putative AGAMOUS ortholog is a candidate for the gene determining ease of dehulling in Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum).

MAIN CONCLUSION: Tartary buckwheat rice-type cultivars, which allow easy dehulling, lacked periclinal cell divisions that proceed underneath the epidermis in the proximity of ovary midribs in non-rice-type cultivars. The easy dehulling in these cultivars was associated with a G→A substitution in an AGAMOUS ortholog. Ease of dehulling in Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) can affect the quality of its products. Tartary buckwheat cultivars that allow easy dehulling are called rice-type cultivars. The rice and non-rice hull types are determined by a single gene, but this gene is unclear. Here, we show that cells underneath the epidermis in the proximity of ovary midribs undergo periclinal cell divisions in non-rice-type cultivars but do not in a rice-type cultivar. The cells that arose from the periclinal cell divisions later underwent lignification, which should increase mechanical strength of hulls. In RNA sequencing, a partial mRNA of an AGAMOUS ortholog in Tartary buckwheat (FtAG) was found to be absent in the rice-type cultivar. Cloning of this gene revealed that this is a 42-bp deletion due to a G→A substitution at a splice acceptor site in the FtAG genomic region. In F2 progeny derived from a cross between non-rice-type and rice-type cultivars, all the rice-type plants exhibited the homozygous A/A allele at this site, whereas all the Tartary-type plants exhibited either the homozygous G/G allele or the heterozygous A/G allele. These results suggest that FtAG is a candidate for the gene that determines ease of dehulling in Tartary buckwheat. The DNA marker that we developed to distinguish the FtAG alleles can be useful in breeding Tartary buckwheat cultivars.

Partial silencing of fucosyltransferase 8 gene expression inhibits proliferation of Ishikawa cells, a cell line of endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy and is associated with increased morbidity each year, including young people. However, its mechanisms of proliferation and progression are not fully elucidated. It is well known that abnormal glycosylation is involved in oncogenesis, and fucosylation is one of the most important types of glycosylation. In particular, fucosyltransferase 8 (FUT8) is the only FUT responsible for α1, 6-linked fucosylation (core fucosylation), and it is involved in various physiological as well as pathophysiological processes, including cancer biology. Therefore, we aimed to identify the expression of FUT8 in endometrial endometrioid carcinoma and investigate the effect of the partial silencing of the FUT8 gene on the cell proliferation of Ishikawa cells, an epithelial-like endometrial cancer cell line. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that FUT8 gene expression was significantly elevated in the endometrial endometrioid carcinoma, compared to the normal endometrium. The immunostaining of FUT8 and Ulex europaeus Agglutinin 1 (UEA-1), a kind of lectin family specifically binding to fucose, was detected endometrial endometrioid carcinoma. The proliferation assay showed FUT8 partial knockdown by transfection of siRNA significantly suppressed the proliferation of Ishikawa cells, concomitant with the upregulation in the gene expressions associated with the interesting pathways associated with de-ubiquitination, aspirin trigger, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) et al. It was suggested that the core fucosylation brought about by FUT8 might be involved in the proliferation of endometrial endometrioid carcinoma cells.