2006/11/30
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Information on Resource-related Events |
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November 28 (Tue), The 9th Genetic Resource Committee Meeting was
held at Josui Kaikan, Tokyo.
http://shigen.lab.nig.ac.jp/shigen/grc/
"Molecular Biology Society of Japan: Forum 2006"
December 6 - 8: at Nagoya Congress Center
NBRP Panel Exhibition : http://www.aeplan.co.jp/mbsj2006forum/
* Detailed information is available at http://www.nbrp.jp/index.jsp
* Cell Technology initiated a new series entitled "Let's Use! BioResource"
Bioresources in Japan will be introduced in a series of 14 volumes from
November 2006 to December 2007. |
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Visit to the Institute for Amphibian Biology, Hiroshima University
We visited the Institute for Amphibian Biology affiliated to the Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University. This institute is the core institute of Xenopus (South African clawed frog) resources in the National BioResource Project. Hiroshima University is located on Kagamiyama mountain, which is approximately 15 minutes by car from Saijo Station in Higashi-Hiroshima City, and houses all undergraduate schools, except the Faculty of Medicine, on its extensive campus surrounded with nature. Dr. Yaoita, who is the Director of the Institute for Amphibian Biology and belongs to the Division of Embryology and Genetics, welcomed usand said, "Bicycles are indispensable on this campus".
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University Campus |
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Institute for Amphibian Biology |
The Institute for Amphibian Biology was established in 1967 and has ahistory of approximately 40 years. While the National BioResource Project is focused only on Xenopus, this institute is the only institute in the world where research on amphibians other than Xenopus laevis is conducted, and it preserves 80 species and 170 strains of amphibians. In terms of number of individuals, the institute maintains a total of
20,000-30,000 amphibian individuals, of which approximately 3,000 are Xenopus tropicalis individuals; the highest number of individuals previously maintained by the institute was 60,000-90,000. The utility cost of maintaining such large number of animals appears to be substantial. |
NBRP Xenopus (Strain/EST)
http://shigen.lab.nig.ac.jp/xenopus/
http://labs.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/homepage/amphibia/ |
Outdoor Facility |
Left: Water tanks in the conservatory
Right: Overwintering tadpoles of Wrinkled Frogs |
In the conservatory outside the institute, there are numerous
cement water tanks in which tadpoles are raised. A special type of
cement that releases calcium ions is used for the preparation of these
tanks, and it appears to play a role in the growth
and development of tadpoles. We visited the
institute in mid-November, which is a season of
low abundance of tadpoles; hence, we could only
observe the tadpoles of
wrinkled frogs that overwinter in
their larval form. In addition,
there is a quarantine facility
near the conservatory that
examines the existence of pathogens when the
frogs are brought into the institute from the
environment. |
Indoor Facility
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Inside the institute, numerous amphibians are raised under optimum
conditions; these include South African clawed frogs (X. tropicalis and X. laevis) in Anura; back-spotted pond frogs, Daruma pond frogs, North
American bullfrogs, and Ishikawa's frogs in Ranidea; Japanese tree frogs
in Hylidae; Forest green treefrogs and Kajika frogs in Rhacophoridae;
Japanese fire-bellied newts and sword-tailed newts in Caudata; and
Axolotl, which is more commonly known as wooper looper in Japan. The
animals are placed in plastic cases or short but broad containers; some of
these cases are equipped with a faucet through which
the water pressure is adjusted so that a droplet of
water is added at a constant rate in order to maintain
a continuous supply of fresh water. However, the
adjustment of the water pressure is difficult, and
sometimes the water supply is suspended. Moreover,
there are three rooms solely for breeding X.tropicalis, and room and water temperatures and
humidity are accurately controlled.
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Breeding equipment
Breeding room of X. tropicalis
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left: Ishikawa's frog
right: Transgenic frog
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Artificial breeding is also conducted at the
Institute for Amphibian Biology, and according to
the institute authorities, the number of artificially
bred Ishikawa's frogs, which are categorized as
endangered species
(EN), in the institute may be more than the
number of wild individuals. In addition,
transgenic frogs are also developed, and
these frogs looked even fantastic when
observed through a fluorescent microscope. It was interesting to learn that
when tadpoles metamorphosize into their adult forms frogs, the brain as
well as gut and pancreas are mostly transformed.
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Picture on the door of elevator |
Meanwhile, the thing that attracts attention when
people enter the Institute for Amphibian Biology is a
picture of frogs drawn on the door of the elevator on the
first floor. The frog in the picture is famous as the one
drawn in the "Light-Hearted Painting of Bird, Beast, and
Man" handed down at Kouzan-ji, Kyoto, which may be
known to some people. |
Food for Amphibians |
Crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) are provided as food for the
amphibians grown in the Institute for Amphibian Biology. Previously,
repetitive trial and errors were made by supplying mosquitoes,
mosquito larvae, or bagworms as food;
however, once the crickets were constantly
provided as food, the conditions of the frogs
improved and all the frogs that we observed
appeared robust and healthy.
Currently, the food for reptiles and amphibians maintained as pets
is generally crickets (mainly Achetus domesticus in this case); this
according to the assumption of institute authorities might
be attributed to the technical expertise developed at the
institute. Moreover, calcium carbonate is often dusted on
crickets by the amateur owners of amphibians in order to
prevent the amphibians from developing rickets.
However, this procedure is never carried out at the Institute
for Amphibian Biology; thus, crickets that are well gut loaded
appear to be provided as food.
* Dust: Sprinkling nutritional compounds on the food
* Gut load: Providing organisms grown using nutritional
component as food for amphibians
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Gryllus bimaculatus
Prof. Yaoita
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In Conclusion |
I personally maintain a collection of 15 amphibians, including
forest green treefrogs, South African clawed frogs, and Bell’s horned
frogs at home; however, I sometimes find it difficult to take adequate
care of them. Therefore, I presume that the maintenance of such large
number of amphibians and the preservation of strains on a day-to-day
basis require extraordinary efforts. I sincerely realized that the
maintenance of high-quality frogs at the Institute for Amphibian Biology
for a long period of time is attributed to the endeavor of the doctors
and the institute's staff.
We spent approximately 2.5 hours at the institute,
and we really appreciate Prof. Yaoita, Dr. Sumida, Dr.
Uto, and all other staff members for sparing some time
from their busy schedule and for their cooperation.
(Masakazu Saga, Center for Genetic Resource Information) |
Reporter
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Hot News from Abroad No.15 |
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Advance Report: Inauguration of AMMRA, Asian Network of Mice!
A meeting was held for the inauguration of
Asian Mouse Mutants and Resource Association
(AMMRA) at the Shanghai Institutes for
Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, on January 23 and 24. AMMRA aims
to develop mouse resources and construct
Asian networks for the preservation and
provision of mice. Following the invitation by Prof.
Kenichi Yamamura at Kumamoto University,
approximately 30 affiliates gathered from Japan,
China, Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore, and Prof. Xu Ping from the
Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences coordinated the meeting
as a host (Articles on Dr. Xu Ping are also available on the newsletter vols. 1-10).
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Images of the meeting site
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Scenery at the Meeting
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participants' activities, the aims and goals of the
AMMRA were finalized, and the participating
institutes were determined (10 institutes including
CARD at Kumamoto University and RIKEN BRC
in Japan). Prof. Kenichi Yamamura was selected
unanimously as the chairperson. There is
another international mouse resource network
known as the Federation of International Mouse
Resources (FIMRe, http://www.fimre.org) ).
AMMRA is different from FIMRe in that the former includes the
perspective of the development of resources and the resource
institutes to be prepared as its members. AMMRA website will be
constructed and detail information will be posted on the website. The
website address will be notified in this newsletter after confirmation. (Yukiko Yamazaki) |
Group Photo of Participants
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