This study conducted synoptic and mesoscale analyses to understand the cause of Japan Tsukuba tornado development, which occurred at 0340 UTC 6 May 2012. Prior to the tornado occurrence, there was a circular jet stream over Japan, and the surface was moist due to overnight precipitation. The circular jet stream brought cold and dry air to the upper-level atmosphere which let strong solar radiation heat the ground with clearing of sky cover. A tornadic supercell developed in the area of potentially unstable atmosphere. Sounding data at Tateno showed a capping inversion at 900 hPa at 0000 UTC 6 May. Strong insolation in early morning hours and removal of the inversion instigated vigorous updraft with rotation due to vertical shear in the upper-level atmosphere. This caused multiple tornadoes to occur from 0220 to 0340 UTC 6 May 2012. When comparing Tateno’s climatological temperature and dew-point temperature profile on the day of event, the mid-level atmosphere was moister than typical sounding in the region. This study showed that tornado development in Tsukuba was caused by a combination of (a) topography and potential vorticity anomaly, which increased vorticity over the Kanto Plain; (b) vertical shear, which produced horizontal vortex line; and c) thermal instability, which triggered supercell and tilted the vortex line in the vertical.

In plants, eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1B (eEF1B) is composed of three subunits, eEF1Bα, eEF1Bβ and eEF1B γ. Two subunits are nucleotide exchange subunits (eEF1Bα and eEF1Bβ) and one is a structural protein (eEF1Bγ). In the previous study, eEF1B was identified as a common host factor for several RNA viruses. To test which subunit of eEF1B is essential for Potato virus X (PVX) replication, the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) for eEF1Bα, β or γ was performed in Nicotiana benthamiana and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged PVX was inoculated. PVX-GFP accumulation was decreased when eEF1Bβ or γ subunit was silenced, whereas eEF1Bα had no effect on PVX-GFP accumulation in inoculated leaves. Targeting induced local lesions in genome (TILLING) was performed using a Capsicum annuum EMS population to test whether mutations in eEF1Bβ subunit affect virus infection in pepper. We obtained 81 eEF1Bβ mutant lines consisted of 16,759 individuals. These mutant lines are being tested to validate the function of eEF1B β in PVX replication.