Highlights from Japan

eLife publishes work of the highest standards and importance in all areas of biology and medicine from across the globe. In this collection, we shine a spotlight on a selection of research from authors based in Japan.

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Collection

1. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

   MARCH8 inhibits viral infection by two different mechanisms

   Yanzhao Zhang, Takuya Tada ... Kenzo Tokunaga

   The host transmembrane protein MARCH8, previously known as an expression regulator of host proteins, is a powerful antiviral host factor with a potentially broad antiviral spectrum through two different mechanisms.
2. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
   2. Evolutionary Biology

   Emergence and diversification of a host-parasite RNA ecosystem through Darwinian evolution

   Taro Furubayashi, Kensuke Ueda ... Norikazu Ichihashi

   In an in vitro RNA replication system, an RNA spontaneously diversifies and continuously evolves through coevolution with parasitic entities.
3. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
   2. Cell Biology

   AirID, a novel proximity biotinylation enzyme, for analysis of protein–protein interactions

   Kohki Kido, Satoshi Yamanaka ... Tatsuya Sawasaki

   AirID provides highly interaction-dependent biotinylation for analysis of protein–protein interaction.
4. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

   Lipid polarity gradient formed by ω-hydroxy lipids in tear film prevents dry eye disease

   Masatoshi Miyamoto, Takayuki Sassa ... Akio Kihara

   (O-Acyl)-ω-hydroxy fatty acids and their derivatives, produced by the fatty acid ω-hydroxylase Cyp4f39, form a lipid polarity gradient in the lipid layer of the tear film and prevent dry eye.
5. 1. Cell Biology

   Intelligent classification of platelet aggregates by agonist type

   Yuqi Zhou, Atsushi Yasumoto ... Keisuke Goda

   An intelligent method is developed to morphologically classify platelet aggregates by agonist type, which potentially opens a window on novel clinical diagnostics and therapeutics of thrombotic disorders.
6. 1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
   2. Genetics and Genomics

   Controlling gene activation by enhancers through a drug-inducible topological insulator

   Taro Tsujimura, Osamu Takase ... Keiichi Hishikawa

   A novel synthetic DNA cassette of CTCF-binding sites combined with the drug-controllable induction system of heterochromatin enabled switchable blocking of chromatin conformation and gene-enhancer interaction.
7. 1. Neuroscience

   Microglial SIRPα regulates the emergence of CD11c⁺ microglia and demyelination damage in white matter

   Miho Sato-Hashimoto, Tomomi Nozu ... Hiroshi Ohnishi

   A cell-cell contact between microglial SIRPα and CD47 on neighboring cells is a critical module for phase conversion of microglia in the brain white matter and controls demyelination.
8. 1. Ecology
   2. Evolutionary Biology

   Molecular basis of wax-based color change and UV reflection in dragonflies

   Ryo Futahashi, Yumi Yamahama ... Takema Fukatsu

   UV-reflective dragonfly wax is shown to consist of very long-chain methyl ketones and aldehydes, and a synthetic dragonfly wax spontaneously forms light-scattering fine structures with strong UV reflection.
9. 1. Neuroscience

   Bright multicolor labeling of neuronal circuits with fluorescent proteins and chemical tags

   Richi Sakaguchi, Marcus N Leiwe, Takeshi Imai

   A bright and stochastic multicolor labeling method, Tetbow, facilitates millimeters-scale reconstructions of neuronal circuits at a large scale using tissue clearing.
10. 1. Immunology and Inflammation

    High-endothelial cell-derived S1P regulates dendritic cell localization and vascular integrity in the lymph node

    Szandor Simmons, Naoko Sasaki ... Masaru Ishii

    Impairment of the autocrine S1PR1-Gi signaling on HEVs results in high-endothelial cell apoptosis, reduced CCL21-secretion from HEVs, and cessation of HEV-DC interactions and lymphocyte immigration across the high-endothelial barrier.
11. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Cell-based HTS identifies a chemical chaperone for preventing ER protein aggregation and proteotoxicity

    Keisuke Kitakaze, Shusuke Taniuchi ... Seiichi Oyadomari

    Cell-based high-throughput screening identifies IBT21 as a chemical chaperone, that inhibits ER protein aggregation and prevents the cell death caused by a proteotoxin, the aggregation-prone prion protein.
12. 1. Physics of Living Systems

    Cell-sized confinement controls generation and stability of a protein wave for spatiotemporal regulation in cells

    Shunshi Kohyama, Natsuhiko Yoshinaga ... Nobuhide Doi

    A cell-sized fully confined space significantly controls the emergence and stability of a protein wave, resulting in intracellular spatiotemporal regulation driven by a reaction-diffusion mechanism.
13. 1. Cell Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    The regulation of oocyte maturation and ovulation in the closest sister group of vertebrates

    Shin Matsubara, Akira Shiraishi ... Honoo Satake

    Oocyte maturation and ovulation in the sister group of vertebrates, Ciona intestinalis Type A, are triggered by Ci-VP, the Ciona homolog of a typical neruopeptide, vasopressin.
14. 1. Cell Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    Kinetochore protein depletion underlies cytokinesis failure and somatic polyploidization in the moss Physcomitrella patens

    Elena Kozgunova, Momoko Nishina, Gohta Goshima

    Lagging chromosomes in anaphase inhibits cytokinesis in plant cells.
15. 1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Linking time-series of single-molecule experiments with molecular dynamics simulations by machine learning

    Yasuhiro Matsunaga, Yuji Sugita

    A general machine learning scheme for integrating time-series data from single-molecule experiments and molecular dynamics simulations is proposed and successfully demonstrated for the folding dynamics of the WW domain.
16. 1. Ecology
    2. Neuroscience

    Individual recognition and the ‘face inversion effect’ in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes)

    Mu-Yun Wang, Hideaki Takeuchi

    Medaka fish were able to use faces for individual recognition, and were slower to recognise inverted faces but not inverted non-face shapes.
17. 1. Developmental Biology

    Type XVII collagen coordinates proliferation in the interfollicular epidermis

    Mika Watanabe, Ken Natsuga ... Hiroshi Shimizu

    Type XVII collagen, a transmembranous protein in basal keratinocytes, suppresses interfollicular epidermal proliferation in neonatal and aged skin, and helps rejuvenate epidermis.