Gratitude interventions have shown various psychological benefits, including enhanced motivation in academic settings. However, their impact on work engagement - a key factor in employee well-being and organizational performance - remains underexplored. This study examined whether a 12-day online gratitude journaling intervention enhances work engagement and increases awareness of job resources, based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model. A total of 100 Japanese employees (mean age = 41.0 ± 5.2 years, evenly split by gender) were randomly assigned to a gratitude journal group or a daily life journal group (control). Participants in the gratitude journal group recorded things they felt grateful for, while the control group documented daily occurrences. Work engagement was assessed using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), alongside measures of work motivation, gratitude disposition, perspective-taking, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Journal entries were analyzed using word frequency analysis and correspondence analysis to examine whether gratitude journaling enhanced awareness of job resources. Participants in the gratitude journal group exhibited a significant increase in work engagement (total score and absorption dimension) post-intervention, supporting the idea that gratitude journaling enhances engagement. Journal content analysis revealed that gratitude journaling was associated with greater recognition of job resources, such as social support, suggesting a mechanism through which gratitude influences work engagement. Both groups showed increases in gratitude disposition, life satisfaction, and competitive-oriented work motivation, suggesting possible broader journaling benefits. In contrast, the daily life journal group experienced temporary declines in purpose in life and autonomy. This study provides experimental evidence that gratitude journaling enhances work engagement by increasing awareness of job resources, integrating gratitude into the JD-R Model. The findings suggest that gratitude must be actively cultivated rather than assumed to arise naturally. Given its accessibility and low cost, gratitude journaling offers a promising tool for organizations to foster employee engagement. Future research should examine its long-term effects and evaluate its applicability across diverse cultural contexts.

Chromosomal sex-determining systems with male heterogamety include actively male-determining-Y and X–A balance systems, both of which are found in animals and plants. The sex-determining genes have been identified in several active-Y plant systems, but the evolution and functioning of X–A balance systems remains mysterious. Here we sequenced and compared the genomes of two hop species. The evolution of the hop X–A balance system involved an ancient recombination suppression event across a large X chromosome region shared by both species. In one species, an autosome fused to this ancestral sex chromosome, and recombination was subsequently suppressed again. The two evolutionary strata created in this neo-X have degenerated to different degrees and evolved correspondingly different dosage compensation levels that correlate with histone modification patterns. Finally, we identified an X-specific ETR1-like ethylene receptor in the ancestral X region. Its dosage may affect sex determination, as part of the counting mechanism of this X–A balance system. On the basis of the whole-genome sequences of cultivated and wild hops, this study describes the evolution of sex chromosomes, including degeneration and dosage compensation, and identifies a candidate gene for the X–A balance sex-determination system in these species.

Researchers have employed a variety of methodologies to induce positive and negative mood states in study participants to investigate the influence that mood has on psychological, physiological, and cognitive processes both in health and illness. Here, we investigated the effectiveness and the duration of mood effects following the mood induction task (MIT), a protocol that combines mood-inducing sentences, auditory stimuli, and autobiographical memory recall in a cohort of healthy Japanese adult individuals. In Study 1, we translated and augmented the mood-inducing sentences originally proposed by Velten in 1968 and verified that people perceived the translations as being largely congruent with the valence of the original sentences. In Study 2, we developed a Japanese version of the mood induction task (J-MIT) and examined its effectiveness using an online implementation. Results based on data collected immediately after induction showed that the J-MIT was able to modulate the mood in the intended direction. However, mood effects were not observed during the subsequent performance of a cognitive task, the Tower of London task, suggesting that the effects did not persist long enough. Overall, the current results show that mood induction procedures such as the J-MIT can alter the mood of study participants in the short term; however, at the same time, they highlight the need to further examine how mood effects evolve and persist through time to better understand how mood induction protocols can be used to study affective processes more effectively.

Background Mounting evidence suggests that the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions is influenced by a variety of factors, including cultural context. Identifying intervention targets that can effectively contribute to improving individual well-being under these boundary conditions is a crucial step when developing viable interventions. To this end, we examined how gratitude disposition, self-esteem, and optimism relate to the subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) of Japanese individuals. Methods Multivariate regression analysis was employed to quantify the unique relationships between the three potential intervention targets and both SWB and PWB, while accounting for the influence of other variables. Participants ( N = 71) also engaged in a 4-week experience sampling study to explore how gratitude, self-esteem and optimism shape the link between momentary affective states in everyday life and evaluations of day satisfaction. Results Multivariate regression analysis revealed that self-esteem was predominantly more strongly associated with SWB compared to gratitude disposition, whereas gratitude disposition was more strongly associated with the PWB dimensions, particularly personal growth, positive relations with others and purpose in life. Experience sampling data indicated that while both gratitude disposition and self-esteem moderated the association between momentary positive affect and day satisfaction evaluations, they did so in opposite ways; greater gratitude disposition strengthened the association, while greater self-esteem weakened it. Conclusions Overall, the current results suggest that while gratitude, self-esteem, and optimism influence individual well-being as a whole, they likely play distinct roles in facilitating SWB and PWB in the studied cohort.

There is mounting evidence suggesting that the effectiveness of positive psychological interventions can be influenced by a variety of factors, including one’s cultural context. Identifying target variables that can effectively serve to improve individual well-being under these boundary conditions is a crucial step when developing viable interventions. To this end, we examined how gratitude disposition, self-esteem, and optimism relate to the subjective (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) of Japanese individuals. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that while self-esteem was predominantly more strongly associated with SWB compared to gratitude disposition, the latter was more strongly associated with the PWB dimensions, particularly personal growth, positive relations with others and purpose in life. These results were largely corroborated by a second expanded dataset. In addition, we used experience sampling over a four-week period to examine how momentary affect ratings related to overall daily evaluations. We found that both gratitude disposition and self-esteem moderated the association between momentary positive affect and “good day” evaluations but in opposite ways; increasing gratitude disposition strengthened the association, while increasing self-esteem weakened it. All in all, the current results suggest that while gratitude, self-esteem, and optimism influence individual well-being as a whole, they each likely play distinct roles as enablers of SWB and PWB in the examined cohort.

Gratitude interventions can positively impact student motivation and engagement. We assessed the effects of keeping a nine-week gratitude journal on the academic motivation of senior high school students. Participants were thirty-four Japanese students who had already been admitted to a university at the time of the study. Students were divided into two groups; those assigned to the gratitude group were asked to keep a daily record of events that had made them feel grateful, and those assigned to an active control group were asked to keep a record of events that evoked positive emotions in general. The intervention was part of an assignment aimed at advancing the students’ proficiency in English. Intervention effects were examined using the Academic Motivation Scale. While the academic motivation of students in the control group significantly worsened during the period of the intervention, the same decline was not observed among the students in the gratitude group. The current results point to a specific effect yielded by continuously engaging with the emotion of gratitude. Although the journaling activity in both groups likely tapped into personal experiences of positive valence, results showed that only the continuous engagement with the emotion of gratitude had a protective effect against declines in academic motivation. This indicates that gratitude may have a distinct effect from other positive emotions on goal-oriented behavior in general and motivation in particular: students who cultivate the habit of engaging with the emotion of gratitude may see a positive impact on their motivation.

Crude-sap of apple latent spherical virus (ALSV)-infected Chenopodium quinoa leaves was rub-inoculated on the expanded cotyledons of various Cucurbitaceae plants. Most of the species were systemically infected with the virus without obvious symptoms, except pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima). In pumpkin, the ALSV infection was restricted to inoculated cotyledons; it did not spread to the upper true leaves. In situ hybridization showed that the ALSV was confined to part of the cotyledon tissues and it did not invade the phloem tissue, when inoculated at the expanded cotyledon stage. However, when total RNAs from ALSV-infected C. quinoa leaves were inoculated into the cotyledons immediately after germination (folded cotyledon stage) using particle bombardment, ALSV efficiently caused systemic infection. Systemic infection of pumpkin seedlings occurred only when the cotyledons were inoculated within a few days after germination. No systemic infection was observed in the seedlings 4 days after germination. In the grafting test, ALSV was not transmitted from the infected rootstocks to the healthy scions of pumpkins. An efficient virus-induced gene silencing system for pumpkins was established, in which infection with ALSV vectors harboring the phytoene desaturase or sulfur gene fragments resulted in a uniform phenotype in the true leaves of pumpkin seedlings.

Short-term study-abroad (STSA) programs provide a more accessible alternative for students who would otherwise not consider engaging in academic activities overseas. Though improvements in the levels of intercultural sensitivity and general academic aspects attained by STSA programs have been previously examined, much less is known regarding the impact such programs have in the mood of students. Here, we examined changes in mood state associated with participation in an STSA program in a group of Japanese university students. Mood states were assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). Results indicated that the POMS mean scores of Vigor-Activity and SWLS peaked at the time immediately following participation in the STSA program; moreover, the same scores were found to be at comparable levels even one month after the end of the program. These results indicate that participation in STSA programs can positively influence the mood state of university students, suggesting that the benefits associated with participation in such programs extend beyond typically reported improvements in the academic domain.

Apple russet ring and apple green crinkle are graft-transmitted diseases first reported more than 60 years ago, but at present, no association between a specific virus (variant) and the disease has been clearly demonstrated. In this study, we conducted the following series of experiments to identify the causal viruses (variants) of these apple diseases; (1) comprehensive analysis by next-generation sequencing of all viruses in each apple tree affected with russet ring or green crinkle disease, (2) amplification of full-length genomic cDNA of viruses using primers containing the T3 promoter and the in vitro transcription of infectious viral RNAs, (3) inoculation of viral RNA transcripts to both herbaceous and apple plants, (4) analysis of sequence variants of viruses present in infected plants, (5) back-inoculation of sequence variants of candidate viruses to apple seedlings combined with the virus-induced flowering technology using the apple latent spherical virus vector to reproduce the symptom on the fruit as soon as possible, and (6) reproduction of symptoms on the fruits of apple trees inoculated with sequence variants and the re-isolation of each virus variant from apples showing fruit symptoms. The results showed that one of the sequence variants of the apple chlorotic leaf spot virus causes a characteristic ring-shaped rust on the fruits of infected apple trees and that a sequence variant of the apple stem pitting virus probably causes green crinkle symptoms on an infected apple fruit. Thus, we were able to fulfill Koch's postulates to prove the viral etiology of both the apple russet ring and green crinkle diseases. We also propose an experimental system that can prove whether a virus found in diseased tissues is the pathogen responsible for the diseases when the etiology is undetermined.

The agent causing bud blight disease (BBD) of sweet cherry ( Prunus avium ), first reported in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, in the 1990s is graft-transmissible. Previously, little cherry virus 1 (LChV-1), little cherry virus-2 (LChV-2), cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus (CNRMV), cherry green ring mottle virus (CGRMV), and/or cherry virus A (CVA) were all detected from sweet cherry trees with BBD. Here, RNA viruses in sweet cherry trees with BBD were reinvestigated by high-throughput sequencing. Illumina RNA-sequencing of double-stranded RNAs from leaves of diseased cherry trees (S1, S2, S3, and S4) indicated that all trees were infected with at least six known viruses, LChV-1, LChV-2, CNRMV, CGRMV, CVA, prune dwarf virus (PDV), and/or apple chlorotic leaf spot virus. Thus, cherry trees with BBD are all infected with multiple viruses. Moreover, we found an undescribed novel virus of the family Betaflexiviridae (tentatively named cherry virus B, ChVB) in tree S3. The complete genome sequence of ChVB comprises 8806 nt, in which five open reading frames were found similar to the viruses of the genus Foveavirus . Homology search and phylogenetic analysis indicated that ChVB is a new species of the genus Foveavirus .

Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) was successfully used in promoting flowering (virus-induced flowering, VIF) in apple and pear seedlings. In this paper, we report the use of ALSV vectors for VIF in seedlings and in vitro cultures of grapevine. After adjusting experimental conditions for biolistic inoculation of virus RNA, ALSV efficiently infected not only progeny seedlings of Vitis spp. ‘Koshu,’ but also in vitro cultures of V. vinifera ‘Neo Muscat’ without inducing viral symptoms. The grapevine seedlings and in vitro cultures inoculated with an ALSV vector expressing the ‘florigen’ gene (Arabidopsis Flowering locus T, AtFT) started to set floral buds 20–30 days after inoculation. This VIF technology was successfully used to promote flowering and produce grapes with viable seeds in in vitro cultures of F1 hybrids from crosses between V. ficifolia and V. vinifera and made it possible to analyze the quality of fruits within a year after germination. High-temperature (37 °C) treatment of ALSV-infected grapevine disabled virus movement to newly growing tissue to obtain ALSV-free shoots. Thus, the VIF using ALSV vectors can be used to shorten the generation time of grapevine seedlings and accelerate breeding of grapevines with desired traits.

Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) vector is a convenient alternative to genetic transformation in horticultural plants, especially in species recalcitrant to genetic transformation. ALSV, an RNA virus, can infect a wide variety of plant species including major horticultural plants without inducing symptoms. Here, methodologies were developed for infection of ALSV vectors to strawberry seedlings and plantlets cultured in vitro. A seed-propagated F1 hybrid strawberry cultivar 'Yotsuboshi' was aseptically grown on half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium for 1 month and true leaves were inoculated with an ALSV RNA preparation by particle bombardment. ALSV vector infection rates varied from 58 to 100% according to the insertion sequences, in 'Yotsuboshi' seedlings. Plantlets ('Dover') propagated in vitro could also be infected with ALSV vector at a similar infection rate. For virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), we prepared an ALSV vector carrying a 201 nucleotide segment of the strawberry phytoene desaturase gene. 'Yotsuboshi' and 'Dover' plants infected by this vector generated completely white leaves at fifth or sixth true leaves and above. For virus-induced flowering (VIF), we used an ALSV vector expressing the Arabidopsis thaliana flowering locus T gene. Strawberry seedlings infected by this vector started to flower from about 2 months post inoculation and bore fruits with viable seeds. The ALSV vector was no longer detected in any of the seedlings from early-flowered strawberries. Thus, the ALSV vector may be beneficial for examination of gene functions by VIGS in strawberry, and VIF using ALSV vector constitutes an effective new plant breeding technique for the promotion of cross-breeding in strawberry.

(1) Background: Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant, whose sex is determined by XY-type sex chromosomes. Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae is a smut fungus that infects S. latifolia plants and causes masculinization in female flowers, as if Microbotryum were acting as a sex-determining gene. Recent large-scale sequencing efforts have promised to provide candidate genes that are involved in the sex determination machinery in plants. These candidate genes are to be analyzed for functional characterization. A virus vector can be a tool for functional gene analyses; (2) Methods: To develop a viral vector system in S. latifolia plants, we selected Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) as an appropriate virus vector that has a wide host range; (3) Results: Following the optimization of the ALSV inoculation method, S. latifolia plants were infected with ALSV at high rates in the upper leaves. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that ALSV can migrate into the flower meristems in S. latifolia plants. Successful VIGS (virus-induced gene silencing) in S. latifolia plants was demonstrated with knockdown of the phytoene desaturase gene. Finally, the developed method was applied to floral organ genes to evaluate its usability in flowers; (4) Conclusion: The developed system enables functional gene analyses in S. latifolia plants, which can unveil gene functions and networks of S. latifolia plants, such as the mechanisms of sex determination and fungal-induced masculinization.

Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) can infect a variety of crops, usually without inducing symptoms. Partial gene sequences can be introduced into ALSV vectors for the induction of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). These features are beneficial for the estimation of gene functions in plants, with relatively concise experimental manipulations. Given that the infectability of chili peppers (Capsicum spp.) by ALSV was unknown, an ALSV infectivity test was performed on the highly pungent Capsicum chinense cultivar 'Habanero'. The chili pepper plants were not infected after rub-inoculation with a crude homogenate of ALSV-infected Chenopodium quinoa leaves, whereas inoculating them with a concentrated ALSV virus preparation caused an infection. Inoculation with an ALSV RNA preparation by gold particle bombardment resulted in high infection rates (about 90%). The infection was systemic and the infected plants were symptomless. For the induction of VIGS, 201-nucleotide fragments of the putative aminotransferase (pAMT) gene were introduced into the ALSV vector. These ALSV vectors infected 80-90% of RNA-inoculated chili pepper seedlings. Expression of pAMT-mRNA was repressed in the placenta of immature fruit of infected plants. The silencing of pAMT in the infected plants caused a substantial decrease in capsaicin content and a concomitant moderate accumulation of the non-pungent bioactive metabolite capsiate in these plants. These results showed that ALSV could be used to study gene functions by VIGS and to enhance capsiate accumulation in chili pepper through genetic modification.

The apple latent spherical virus (ALSV), originally isolated from an apple tree in Japan, is a small spherical virus with a diameter of 25 nm and comprises a bisegmented, single-stranded RNA genome (RNA1 and RNA2) and three different capsid proteins (Vp25, Vp20, and Vp24). The virus can experimentally infect a broad range of plants including, not only model plants (Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana species) but also economically important crops such as cucumber, soybean, tomato, fruit trees, and flowers. ALSV has been used as an effective plant virus vector for virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) to assess gene functions because the virus infects most of the host plants without showing any symptoms and induces a uniform knockout phenotype in infected plants. Moreover, the VIGS persists throughout plant growth in infected plants. Here, we show that genetically engineered ALSV vectors (ALSV vaccines) containing a partial genome sequence of pathogenic viruses display a high degree of cross-protection against the challenge inoculation of the corresponding pathogenic viruses. Treatment effects can also be expected in virus-infected plants by subsequent inoculation with ALSV vaccine.

Genes in the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) family integrate external and internal signals to control various aspects of plant development. In soybean (Glycine max), FT2a and FT5a play a major role in floral induction, but their roles in post-flowering reproductive development remain undetermined. Ectopic overexpression analyses revealed that FT2a and FT5a similarly induced flowering, but FT5a was markedly more effective than FT2a for the post-flowering termination of stem growth. The down-regulation of Dt1, a soybean orthologue of Arabidopsis TERMINAL FLOWER1, in shoot apices in early growing stages of FT5a-overexpressing plants was concomitant with highly up-regulated expression of APETALA1 orthologues. The Dt2 gene, a repressor of Dt1, was up-regulated similarly by the overexpression of FT2a and FT5a, suggesting that it was not involved in the control of stem termination by FT5a. In addition to the previously reported interaction with FDL19, a homologue of the Arabidopsis bZIP protein FD, both FT2a and FT5a interacted with FDL12, but only FT5a interacted with FDL06. Our results suggest that FT2a and FT5a have different functions in the control of post-flowering stem growth. A specific interaction of FT5a with FDL06 may play a key role in determining post-flowering stem growth in soybean.