Regeneration of a lost tissue in an animal is an important issue. Although regenerative studies have a history of research spanning more than a century, the gene functions underlying regulation of the regeneration are mostly unclear. Analysis of knockout animals is a very powerful tool with which to elucidate gene function. Recently, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) have been developed as an effective technique for genome editing. This technique enables gene targeting in amphibians such as newts that were previously impossible. Here we show that newts microinjected with TALEN mRNAs designed for targeting the tyrosinase gene in single-cell stage embryos revealed an albino phenotype. Sequence analysis revealed that the tyrosinase genes were effectively disrupted in these albino newts. Moreover, precise genome alteration was achieved using TALENs and single strand oligodeoxyribonucleotides. Our results suggest that TALENs are powerful tools for genome editing for regenerative research in newts.

Decomposition of NO in the presence of oxygen was promoted by using an electrochemical cell composed of YSZ and non-porous Pd electrodes. The NO conversion into N2 was successfully improved by coating the Pd electrodes with a perovskite oxide (La1−xSrxCoO3).

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A highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method has been developed using pre-column fluorescent derivatization of daptomycin (DAP) through cyclization of the amino group of ornithine with 2,3-naphthalenedialdehyde. With the proposed method, the limits of detection and quantification of DAP in murine serum were 8 and 3 nmol/L, respectively, and the calibration curve was linear across the examined dynamic range from 8 nmol/L to 1 mol/L (n = 8, r = 0.9986). This method is suitable for animal experiments examining the side effects of DAP therapy using mice as a simple method with quantification to the order of 10 nmol/L.

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Ultrashort-pulsed laser illumination focused inside a diamond converts sp3-bonded diamond to sp2-bonded amorphous carbon in the vicinity of the focal point and changes the color to black. A wire-shaped modified region is fabricated by scanning the laser focus toward the laser source in the diamond. Volumetric expansion by converting diamond to amorphous carbon forms cracks around the modified region. In this study, diamond slicing was attempted by using cracks formed around the modified region. A near-infrared picosecond laser was focused inside a high-temperature, high-pressure diamond. The cracks fabricated under various laser conditions were observed. The plane crack was formed by lining up the wire-shaped modified regions next to each one. During the fabrication, a high-speed polarization camera was used to observe the stress distribution around the modified region and in the adjacent wire-shaped modified region. The crack propagation was estimated by observing the stress distribution in situ. The kerf loss in the slicing process was estimated by observing the cross section of the cracks from multiple directions. These results demonstrate that plane cracks suitable for slicing the diamond were fabricated. Diamond separation was performed by applying an external force to the plane cracks.

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