Journal Highlights

miR-155-5p can be involved in acquisition of osseointegration on titanium surface

Youji Miyamoto

I (Yoshiko Yamamura) am a member of the Department of Oral Surgery, Tokushima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (Chairman: Prof. Youji Miyamoto). We are studying the regeneration mechanism of salivary glands and osseointegration of dental implants in collaboration with Prof. Yasusei Kudo (Department of Oral Bioscience, Tokushima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences). Titanium is widely used for dental implants due to its excellent biocompatibility. Although titanium implants succeed in osseointegration, the molecular mechanism of osseointegration remains unclear. To clarify the involvement of microRNA (miRNA) in the acquisition of osseointegration on titanium, in this study, we compared the miRNA expression profiles of mouse osteoblast-like cells (MC3T3-E1) cultured on titanium-, gold-, and stainless steel–coating glass dishes by microarray analysis. The miR-155-5p was identified as a promoting factor for osteoblastic differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells on titanium-coating material, compared with non-coating, gold-, and stainless steel–coating material. The miR-155-5p might be used supportively for implant surgery to acquire the osseointegration in the future. Our findings will shed light on the development of new high-performance materials for dental and orthopedic surgery.

Yoshiko Yamamura, Keiko Miyoshi, Yasuhiro Mouri, Yasusei Kudo, Youji Miyamoto. miR-155-5p can be involved in acquisition of osteointegration on titanium surface. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Animal, 58: 693-701, 2022.

Factors affecting in vitro regeneration in the model tree Populus trichocarpa I. Medium, environment, and hormone controls on organogenesis

Factors affecting in vitro regeneration in the model tree Populus trichocarpa: II. Heritability estimates, correlations among explant types, and genetic interactions with treatments among wild genotypes

​GWAS is a powerful tool for identifying genes and associated biological processes that affect traits of interest.   We are studying the causes of variation in amenability to plant transformation and the associated process of organ regeneration, which varies widely among genotypes in all plant species but whose biological causes are very poorly understood.  To use GWAS, it was first necessary to establish a regeneration method that provided high levels of heritable and quantifiable regeneration and transformation in a large and diverse study population—in this case from more than one-thousand wild genotypes of the  resequenced Populus trichocarpa association population (developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory).  We therefore studied a wide range of media and amendments, such as hormones and antioxidants, in a sample of 10 to 20 genotypes with the aim of identifying the best and most heritable conditions for GWAS.  These papers describe the regeneration studies, with paper #I focusing on what worked best to elevate organogenesis in many genotypes, and paper #II focusing on the extent of heritability and genotype x treatment interactions.  A forthcoming paper will report on transformation conditions, such as Agrobacterium induction and antibiotic selection regimes that are also being studied in a GWAS framework.  This work allowed us to identify reliable treatments that gave strong expression of genetic differences, and allowed us (in other work) to identify numerous regulators of regeneration and transformation.  We believe these publications are among the most comprehensive studies of plant regeneration conditions, and genetic diversity thereof, ever published. 

Cathleen Ma, Amanda Goddard, Ekaterina Peremyslova, Chenyang Duan, Yuan Jiang, Michael Nagle, Steven H. Strauss. Factors affecting in vitro regeneration in the model tree Populus trichocarpa I. Medium, environment, and hormone controls on organogenesis. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant, 58: 837-852, 2022.

Cathleen Ma, Chenyang Duan, Yuan Jiang, Michael Nagle, Ekaterina Peremyslova, Amanda Goddard, Steve H. Strauss. Factors affecting in vitro regeneration in the model tree Populus trichocarpa: II. Heritability estimates, correlations among explant types, and genetic interactions with treatments among wild genotypes. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant, 58: 853-864, 2022.