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The 44th Annual Meeting of MBSJ
September 2020
Goldfish (Carassius auratus) with the telescope-eye, dorsal-fin-loss or long-tail phenotype are swimming calmly in a large fishbowl followed by chromosomes. Goldfish experienced a whole-genome duplication 8-14 million years ago, making it difficult to analyze its genome, but finally the genome sequences of various varieties were sequenced and the causative genes (candidates) of these traits were also found. Among these, the causative gene (candidate) for long-tail, kcnk5bS, encodes a K+ channel as depicted on the side of the bowl. This research is expected to be applicable to the study of vertebrate morphogenesis and human disorders. See Chen et al. (2019) Science Advances 5: eaav0547 and Kon et al. (2020) Current Biology 30: 2260-2274 for further detail. We thank Prof. Yoshihiro Omori (Nagahama Institute of Bio-science and Technology) for his advice on drawing.
August 2020
A scene of Yoiyama (the eve of 'Yamahoko Junko' (decorated floats' parade)) of Gion Matsuri in Kyoto. The float in front of us imitates the structure of the compound eye of Drosophila. Each paper lantern resembles an ommatidium, and thorn-shaped ornaments looking like sensory hair are projected from between them. Also, the decoration on the roof of the float also imitates the giant fiber neurons. It was a pity that many summer festivals, including Gion Matsuri, have been canceled or drastically reduced this year, but we hope that they will be splendidly held next year.
