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Myxogastria and Pathogen: Interactions

Hello,I’m Mirai Wachi, a 5th grade student at TUAT. Have you ever heard of Myxomycetes? It is a mysterious creature that is known to have been studied by Kumagusu Minakata. Some of you may remember them as the biological weapons in “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.” However, they are not scary creatures! They walk around like animals, but they reproduce by...

【Featured research】Viral recombination occurs in pig farms.

Viruses are evolving just as living things. We have discovered an evolving virus in pigs in Japanese pig farms. It is exciting to witness the evolution. Here is the type of virus we found. ・Dynamic evolution of viruses occurs by genome recombination. ・Our study “witnesses the evolution of viruses.” ・It has the potential to develop into research that can predict the evolution of...

【Featured research】Even hedgehogs get infected with the virus

Hedgehogs are cute, aren‘t they? However, there have several spines. Schopenhauer, a German philosopher, described the love affair between hedgehogs as “the hedgehog’s dilemma.” The origin of the term was “the dilemma of the porcupine.” Every Little Thing’s “Love of the Harinezumi” is also famous.　 ・ A novel species of adenovirus was discovered in a hedgehog with mild cold symptoms. ・ It was...

【Featured research】“Don’t leave unknown” pathogen test

The theme song of Doraemon says, “I wish I could do this.” We always like to inspect animals with infectious diseases and identify the pathogens for treatment. However, since there are many types of pathogens that infect each animal, in reality, it is difficult to identify the causative pathogen. ・ A comprehensive PCR method for pathogens that infect cows, pigs, dogs, and cats...