Biology subjects

Ono, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Ono, S..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Task- and experience-dependent modulation of head-eye coordination during ball interception

Head-eye coordination during ball interception depends on both task demands and motor experience. The purpose of this study is to determine how these factors influence head-eye contributions to gaze control. Twenty-five female university students (novices with no ball sport experience, n = 13; experienced softball players, n = 12) performed two tasks: visually tracking an approaching ball (tracking task) and, in addition, moving the hand to the ball's landing position (reaching task). Head, eye, and gaze velocities, cross-correlation coefficients between gaze and head velocity, and gaze-head lag time were analyzed using linear mixed models. The results showed that although gaze velocity remained unchanged regardless of tasks or groups, decomposing gaze into head and eye components revealed task-dependent contributions. Compared with the tracking task, the reaching task showed significantly larger head velocity and smaller eye velocity, indicating complementary adjustments that were not revealed by gaze movements alone. The cross-correlation between head and gaze was significantly higher in the reaching task than the tracking task, indicating stronger temporal coupling under greater task demand. Furthermore, the experienced group showed greater task-dependent modulation of eye velocity than the novice group, demonstrating greater flexibility in adjusting the magnitude of head-eye movements to task demands. In addition, the experienced group showed a consistently near-zero gaze-head lag regardless of task, whereas the novice group showed a prolonged gaze-leads-head interval. These findings suggest that ball sport experience shapes two distinct aspects of head-eye coordination: task-dependent flexibility in movement magnitude, and stable, temporally synchronized gaze-head control.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2026

The effects of force constraint during preparatory phase on the explosive force generation of base stealing in baseball.

BackgroundExplosive force generation during the initial acceleration phase is critical for successful base stealing in baseball. Preparatory balance control preceding movement onset may facilitate this process by constraining horizontal ground reaction force (GRF) toward a task-specific direction. However, its contribution to ballistic sprint initiation remains unclear. Research questionDoes preparatory force constraint influence explosive force generation during base stealing, and when during the preparatory phase is this influence greatest? MethodsFourteen baseball players performed 3-m maximal sprints simulating base stealing under time-constraint (Time) and self-paced (Self) conditions. GRF around movement onset were recorded. Peak rate of force development (peak RFD) was computed from onset to take-off. A 250-ms window before the onset was divided into 50-ms bins, and mean resultant length (Rlen), which represents the extent of force constraint, of each bin was calculated. Using statistics analyses, Differences between conditions were tested, and the relationship between the interaction (Rlen x condition) and peak RFD was assessed. ResultsThe peak RFD was greater under the Self condition than under the Time condition, accompanied by a larger Rlen. Furthermore, Results indicated that the force constraint in the 150-100 ms interval preceding the movement onset most strongly influenced the peak RFD. SignificanceThese findings demonstrate that temporally organized preparatory force constraint plays a critical role in explosive sprint initiation during base stealing. Identifying the specific preparatory timing linked to superior force production provides novel mechanistic insight into preparatory balance control and may inform targeted training strategies for ballistic athletic movements.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Reconstructing tissue culture to improve Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of maize

The ability to insert, delete, or modify genetic information is crucial for mechanistic studies and biotechnological applications. However, efficient genetic transformation remains a major bottleneck for research in maize and many other crops. Here, we report an optimized Agrobacterium-mediated transformation platform based on systematic reconstruction of tissue culture handling in the maize inbred line A188. Refinement of callus induction, selection, and regeneration substantially improved recovery of transgenic plantlets. To distinguish independent T-DNA insertion events, we developed TAFLP (T-DNA Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism), a simple and inexpensive assay that amplifies T-DNA flanking sequences and can be performed using standard laboratory equipment. Our enhanced transformation pipeline was also applicable to the inbred line B104 as well as to hygromycin and G418 selection systems, demonstrating broad utility of our method. We validated the platform for CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis and reporter line generation. Using this approach, we isolated new loss-of-function alleles of MAC1 and ACOZ1 and generated reporter lines for analysis of meiotic protein dynamics. Together, these results provide a broadly applicable framework for improving maize transformation efficiency and recovering independent transgenic and genome-edited events.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Discovery of a chemosynthetic community at the serpentinite-hosted seep on the Quaker Seamount, Mariana Forearc

Deep-sea chemosynthesis-based ecosystems in the Mariana Region include hydrothermal vents on the Mariana Arc and in the Mariana Back-Arc, and serpentinite-hosted seeps on the Mariana Forearc - with the latter being by far the least studied. Here, we surveyed the biodiversity of the serpentine seep on the Quaker Seamount. At first glance, the area appears to be devoid of megafauna, but examination of the carbonates revealed dense aggregations of animals dominated by the limpets Bathyacmaea and Pyropelta on brucite-carbonate chimney structures exhibiting visible fluid venting. Sorting of recovered material yielded a total of 14 species and together with an observation of a Munidopsis squat lobster we report a total of 15 species; six of these are considered endemics of chemosynthetic ecosystems. The occurrence of taxa such as the snail Lurifax cf. japonicus and the limpet Pyropelta ryukyuensis, otherwise only known from distant vents in the Izu-Ogasawara Arc and Okinawa Trough off Japan, strengthens the hypothesis that serpentine seeps may function as dispersal stepping-stones across arc and back-arc systems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Linear Z-line-like alignment of capping protein in obliquely striated muscle of the nematode C. elegans suggests that dense bodies are not equivalent to Z-lines

Many invertebrates have obliquely striated muscles, in which neighboring thin and thick filaments are staggered and aligned in an oblique manner. This type of muscle allows force production over a wide range of lengths and is beneficial for soft-bodied animals. Unlike cross-striated muscles of vertebrates, most of obliquely striated muscles lack distinct Z-lines and, instead, have dense bodies. Because the dense bodies are located in the middle of the I-bands and contain -actinin, the dogma is that dense bodies are equivalent to the Z-lines anchoring the actin barbed ends. However, we present evidence that the barbed ends of sarcomeric actin filaments in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans body wall muscle are aligned in a linear Z-line-like arrangement without converging at the dense bodies. Colocalization of F-actin and ATN-1/-actinin was minimal. Furthermore, CAP-1, an -subunit of capping protein/CapZ, was linearly aligned in the middle of the I-bands without concentration at the dense bodies. This linear CAP-1 alignment was maintained in the absence of ATN-1. These results demonstrate that the actin barbed ends are not directly anchored to the dense bodies. Depletion of the capping protein subunit, CAP-1 or CAP-2, caused embryonic or larval lethality with severe actin disorganization in the body wall muscle, indicating that barbed-end regulation by capping protein is essential for sarcomere assembly. These results contradict the current view of the sarcomere organization in C. elegans muscle and suggest a new model of a linear Z-line-like arrangement of actin barbed ends. Significance StatementO_LIWithout clear evidence, there has been a notion that actin filaments are directly anchored to the dense bodies in C. elegans striated muscle. C_LIO_LICapping protein localizes in a linear Z-line-like alignment in C. elegans muscle without concentrating at the dense bodies, indicating that the actin barbed ends are not directly anchored at the dense bodies. C_LIO_LIDepletion of capping protein causes severe sarcomere defects in embryos and larvae indicating a critical role of capping protein in sarcomere assembly. C_LI

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Eye-Head Coordination During Rapid Gaze Shifts in Soccer Scanning

The visual exploratory behavior involving rapid gaze shifts that supports cognitive processes is called "scanning." Scanning in soccer is a foundational behavior that enables players to explore their environment, supporting rapid and accurate decision-making. However, since most previous studies have focused on head movements, the coordination structure of gaze shifts, including the ocular contribution, is insufficiently understood. This study aimed to determine the coordinated roles of the eye and head during scanning. Twenty male collegiate soccer players performed a passing task paired with video-based situational judgments while eye and head movements were recorded by a 200 Hz sampling rate using an eye tracker system with a built-in gyroscope. We detected eye and head velocities and amplitudes during rapid gaze shifts. As a result, peak eye velocity was significantly higher than peak head velocity (d = 4.09, p < .001). The cross-correlation (CC) between gaze and eye velocities (0.98) was significantly greater than that between gaze and head velocities (0.90). These results indicate that gaze shifts were driven primarily by eye movements rather than head movements. Furthermore, eye and head velocities were negatively correlated (r = -.60, p = .005), whereas their velocity-control profiles (mean velocity normalized by amplitude) were positively correlated (r = .90, p < .001), indicating individual strategy-dependent allocation of effort while preserving control capability of eye and head movements. Our findings provide a characterization of the eye-head coordination structure of gaze shifts in soccer scanning, suggesting the need for comprehensive assessments beyond head-motion metrics alone.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Actin monomers influence the interaction between Xenopus cyclase-associated protein 1 and actin filaments

Cyclase-associated protein (CAP) binds to both actin monomers and filaments and regulates multiple aspects of the actin dynamics including polymerization and depolymerization. CAP has been isolated from multiple species as a stable equimolar complex with actin monomer. However, functional significance of the CAP-actin complex is unknown. We previously demonstrated that native Xenopus cyclase-associated protein 1 (XCAP1) forms a 4:4 complex with actin. Here, we characterized how actin-free XCAP1 and the XCAP1-actin complex interact with actin filaments using high-speed atomic force microscopy and found that XCAP1-bound actin monomers influence dwell time and positional preference of XCAP1 on actin filaments. Actin-free XCAP1 bound to actin filaments transiently with a dwell time of [~]0.2 seconds. The XCAP1-actin complex also bound to actin filaments transiently but with a 3-to 5-fold longer dwell time than actin-free XCAP1. Actin-free XCAP1 bound to both side and ends of actin filaments with moderate preference to ends. However, the XCAP1-actin complex bound preferentially to the side of actin filaments. These results indicate that binding of actin monomers to XCAP1 affects its binding modes to actin filaments, suggesting that this might be a novel mechanism to regulate the effects of CAP on actin filaments.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2024

Msp1 and Pex19-Pex3 cooperate to achieve correct localization of Pex15 to peroxisomes

Yeast Msp1 is a dual-localized AAA-ATPase on the mitochondrial outer membrane (OM) and peroxisomal membrane. We previously showed that Msp1 transfers mistargeted tail-anchored (TA) proteins from mitochondria to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for degradation or delivery to their original destinations. However, the mechanism by which Msp1 in mitochondria and peroxisomes handles authentic peroxisomal TA proteins remains unclear. We show that newly synthesized Pex15 is targeted to peroxisomes primarily via the Pex19- and Pex3-dependent pathway. Mistargeted Pex15 on the mitochondrial OM is extracted by mitochondrial Msp1, and transferred to the ER via the guided-entry of TA proteins pathway for degradation or to peroxisomes via the Pex19-Pex3 pathway. Intriguingly, endogenous Pex15 localized in peroxisomes is also extracted from the membranes by peroxisomal Msp1, but returns to peroxisomes via the Pex19-Pex3 pathway. These results suggest that correct Pex15 localization to peroxisomes relies on not only the initial targeting by Pex19-Pex3 but also the constant re-routing by Msp1 and Pex19-Pex3.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Enabling Epitope Analysis of Glycoproteins via HDX-MS Using Antigens with Uni-formed N-linked Glycans

Hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is widely used for epitope analysis of the antibodies. However, epitope analysis of glycoproteins is challenging because of the heterogeneity of attached N-linked glycans. Recent studies have reported methods where N-linked glycans were removed at low pH following hydrogen deuterium exchange reactions, but the methods for glycoproteins remain controversial. Here, we demonstrate the utility of using antigens with uniformed N-linked glycans in glycoprotein epitope analysis by HDX-MS. By treating HEK293 cells with kifunensine, we were able to prepare antigens mainly with N-linked high-mannose-type glycans. Analysis of epitopes of a monoclonal antibody S309 using antigens prepared with this method allowed us to identify an epitope that included the previously reported N-linked glycan attachment sites for this anti-body. We propose that using antigens with uniformed glycans should be effective for epitope analysis of glycoproteins, such as virus spike proteins covered by glycan shields. Moreover, we believe that this approach accelerates research on vaccines and neutralizing antibodies against viruses that escape host immunity through glycan shields or mutations.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2024

Predictive visual patterns during table tennis forehand rallies

The purpose of this study was to clarify predictive visual patterns of skilled table tennis players during forehand rallies. Collegiate male table tennis players (n = 7) conducted forehand rallies at a constant tempo (100, 120 and 150 bpm) using a metronome. In each tempo condition, participants performed a total of 30 strokes (three conditions). Gaze fixation time, gaze targets and saccade eye movements were detected by video footage of an eye tracking device. We found that participants gazed at a ball approaching them only 20 % of the total rally time. Participants tended to gaze at the ball when the opponent hit the ball and move their gaze away from the ball after that. Furthermore, saccades were directed toward the opposite side of the court including the opponent after tracking the ball. These findings suggest that focusing on the opponent motion is important for successful forehand table tennis rallies. Taken together, skilled table tennis players are likely to use unique visual patterns for interceptive sports players to estimate spatiotemporal information about the ball.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2024

The effects of pressure on anticipatory postural adjustments during a jump shot in basketball

BackgroundAnticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) play an important role in feedforward control of dynamic movement, such as jump shot performance in basketball. It is known that jump shot performance declines under pressure from a defender (shot blocker). Research questionDoes pressure from a shot blocker affect APAs of a jump shot in basketball? Is jump shot performance in basketball associated with APAs? MethodsFourteen healthy male university basketball players performed jump shots under pressure and non-pressure (free) conditions by a shot blocker. Using a force plate, the APAs were defined as occurring until the point of thrust (TH) phase, and ground reaction force (GRF) and center of pressure (COP) at that moment were assessed. To assess jump shot performance, the maximum GRF during the TH phase (THmax), jumping height, and success score of the shot (accuracy score: AS) were measured by using the vertical component of the force plate. Two-way ANOVA examined the effects of the phase and condition on APA duration. Pairwise t-tests analyzed pressure effects on subjective pressure intensity, AS, and kinetics measures. Relationships between condition changes in AS and COP or GRF variables were assessed via Pearson correlations. Differences between the pressure and free conditions were denoted by {Delta}. ResultsThe APA duration was shorter under the pressure condition compared to the free condition. The THmax and jump height values were greater under the pressure condition relative to the free condition. Across conditions, changes in COP variables were significantly and negatively correlated with AS. SignificanceThe results of this study suggest that pressure from a shot blocker shortens APA duration and decreases jump shot performance. Additionally, by measuring players APAs and evaluating relationships with jump shooting proficiency, APA variables could potentially serve as indicators of skill expertise.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Importance of head movements in gaze tracking during table tennis forehand stroke

The purpose of this study was to clarify the properties of gaze and head movements during forehand stroke in table tennis. Collegiate table tennis players (n = 12) conducted forehand strokes toward a ball launched by a skilled experimenter. A total of ten trials were conducted for the experimental task. Horizontal and vertical movements of the ball, gaze, head and eye were analyzed from the image recorded by an eye tracking device. The results showed that participants did not always keep their gaze and head position on the ball throughout the entire ball path. Our results indicate that table tennis players tend to gaze at the ball in the initial ball-tracking phase. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between eye and head position especially in the vertical direction. This result suggests that horizontal VOR is relatively suppressed than vertical VOR in ball-tracking during table tennis forehand stroke. Finally, multiple regression analysis showed that the contribution of head position to gaze position was significantly higher than that of eye position. This result indicates that gaze position during forehand stroke could be associated with head position rather than eye position. Taken together, head movements may play an important role in maintaining the ball in a constant egocentric direction in table tennis forehand stroke.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Complete loss of RelA and SpoT homologs in Arabidopsis reveals the importance of the plastidial stringent response in the interplay between chloroplast metabolism and plant defense response

The highly phosphorylated nucleotide, guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), functions as a secondary messenger in bacteria and chloroplasts. The accumulation of ppGpp alters plastidial gene expression and metabolism, which are required for proper photosynthetic regulation and robust plant growth. However, because four plastid-localized ppGpp synthases/hydrolases function redundantly, the impact of the loss of ppGpp-dependent stringent response on plant physiology remains unclear. We used the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to generate an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant lacking all four ppGpp synthases/hydrolases, and characterized its phenotype. The mutant showed 20-fold less ppGpp levels than the wild type (WT) under normal growth conditions, and exhibited leaf chlorosis and increased expression of defense-related genes as well as salicylic acid and jasmonate levels upon transition to nitrogen-starvation conditions. These results demonstrate that proper levels of ppGpp in plastids are required for controlling not only plastid metabolism but also phytohormone signaling, which is essential for plant defense.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Kinetic error suppression of PCR

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a central technique in biotechnology. Its ability to amplify a specific target region of a DNA sequence has led to prominent applications, including virus tests, DNA sequencing, genotyping, and genome cloning. These applications rely on the specificity of the primer hybridization, and therefore require effective suppression of hybridization errors. A simple and effective method to achieve that is to add blocker strands, also called as clamp, to the PCR mixture. These strands bind to the unwanted target sequence, thereby blocking the primer mishybridization. Because of its simplicity, this method is applicable to a broad nucleic-acid-based biotechnology. However, the precise mechanism by which blocker strands suppress PCR error remains to be understood, limiting the applicability of this technique. Here, we combine experiments and theoretical modeling to reveal this mechanism. We find that the blocker strands both energetically destabilize the mishybridized complex and sculpt a kinetic barrier to suppress mishybridization. This combination of energetic and kinetic biasing extends the viable range of annealing temperatures, which reduces design constraint of the primer sequence and extends the applicability of PCR.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2022

Circulating mast cell progenitors migrate to atopic dermatitis-like skin then adapt locally

BackgroundMast cells (MCs) are tissue-resident immune cells that are classified into two subsets in mice: connective tissue-type MCs (CTMCs) and mucosal type MCs (MMCs). Although both CTMCs and MMCs can be induced from bone marrow (BM)-derived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vitro, recent research on MC ontogeny has revealed that MMCs are maintained with a supply of BM-derived HSCs, while CTMCs are maintained locally by self-proliferation in steady state in vivo. However, how CTMCs, such as skin MCs, are maintained in an inflammatory state such as atopic dermatitis (AD) remains to be fully elucidated. Methods: MC903-induced AD model was used to identify BM-derived MCs in the skin. The infiltration and proliferation of MCs were evaluated by flow cytometry using CD45.1 BM-chimera mice and parabiosis. BM-derived MCs in AD-like skin were compared to resident MCs (rMCs) in gene expressions by RNA sequence analysis. The fate of BM-derived MCs in AD-like skin was investigated for expressions of CTMC markers and responses to compound 48/80. Results: In AD-like skin, significant increase of both rMCs and BM-derived MCs was observed. BM-derived MCs were derived from circulating MC progenitors (MCps) and were distinguished from rMCs by integrin{beta}7 expression, which was gradually downregulated in the skin. RNA sequence analysis showed that integrin{beta}7+ MCs in the skin shared characteristics of both MMC and CTMC. Integrin{beta}7+ MCs proliferated in situ and acquired the CTMC phenotypes in AD-like skin. Conclusions: Skin MCs are maintained in AD-like skin by both local proliferation of rMCs and infiltration/proliferation of BM-derived MCs, which differentiate toward CTMC in the skin.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2021

The influence of stimulus and behavioral histories on predictive control of smooth pursuit eye movements

The pursuit system has the ability to perform predictive control of eye movements. Even when the target motion is unpredictable due to velocity or direction changes, preceding changes in eye velocity are generated based on weighted averaging of past stimulus timing. However, it is still uncertain whether behavioral history influences the control of predictive pursuit. Thus, we attempted to clarify the influences of stimulus and behavioral histories on predictive pursuit to randomized target velocity. We used alternating-ramp stimuli, where the rightward velocity was fixed while the leftward velocity was either fixed (predictable) or randomized (unpredictable). Predictive eye deceleration was observed regardless of whether the target velocity was predictable or not. In particular, the predictable condition showed that the predictive pursuit responses corresponded to future target velocity. The linear mixed-effects model showed that both stimulus and behavioral histories of the previous two or three trials had influences on the predictive pursuit responses to the unpredictable target velocity. Our results suggest that the predictive pursuit system allows to track randomized target motion using the information from previous several trials, and the information of sensory input (stimulus) and motor output (behavior) in the past time sequences have partially different influences on predictive pursuit.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Rice MEL2 regulates the timing of meiotic transition as a component of cytoplasmic RNA granules

Cytoplasmic RNA granules play important roles in gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. In this study, we found that the rice RNA-binding protein MEIOSIS ARRESTED AT LEPTOTENE2 (MEL2), which contributes to the control of meiotic entry timing, was a constituent of RNA granules, frequently associating with processing bodies and stress granules in the cytoplasm of premeiotic spore mother cells. MEL2 has four conserved domains and a large intrinsically disordered region, which is often responsible for formation and maintenance of granular structures. MEL2-like proteins with diverse domain structures are widely conserved in land plants and charophyte algae. In basal land plants, MEL2-like proteins are exclusively expressed in the sporophyte, which expresses meiotic genes, suggesting the functional conservation of MEL2 among land plant species. We propose here that MEL2 participates in post-transcriptional regulation of meiotic genes as a component of RNA granules to ensure proper timing of the meiotic transition.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Native cyclase-associated protein and actin from Xenopus laevis oocytes form a 4:4 complex with a tripartite structure

Cyclase-associated protein (CAP) is a conserved actin-binding protein that regulates multiple aspects of actin filament dynamics, including polymerization, depolymerization, filament severing, and nucleotide exchange. Intriguingly, CAP has been isolated from different cells and tissues as an equimolar complex with actin, and previous studies have shown that a CAP-actin complex contains six molecules each of CAP and actin. Here, we successfully isolated a complex of Xenopus cyclase-associated protein 1 (XCAP1) and actin from oocyte extracts and demonstrated that the complex contained four molecules each of XCAP1 and actin. The XCAP1-actin complex remained stable as a single population of 340 kDa in hydrodynamic analysis using gel filtration or analytical ultracentrifugation. Examination of the XCAP1-actin complex by high-speed atomic force microscopy revealed a tripartite structure: a middle globular domain and two globular arms. The two arms were connected with the middle globular domain by a flexible linker and observed in two states with different heights, presumably representing the presence or absence of G-actin. We hypothesize that the middle globular domain corresponds to a tetramer of the N-terminal helical-folded domain of XCAP1, and that each arm in the high state corresponds to a hetero-tetramer containing a dimer of the C-terminal CARP domain of XCAP1 and two G-actin molecules. This novel configuration of a CAP-actin complex may represent a functionally important aspect of this complex.

cell biology↗