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Fujikawa T, Sasamoto T, Zhao F, Yamagishi A, Akanuma S. Comparative analysis of reconstructed ancestral proteins with their extant counterparts suggests primitive life had an alkaline habitat. Sci Rep 2024; 14:398. [PMID: 38172176 PMCID: PMC10764835 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50828-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
To understand the origin and early evolution of life it is crucial to establish characteristics of the primordial environment that facilitated the emergence and evolution of life. One important environmental factor is the pH of the primordial environment. Here, we assessed the pH-dependent thermal stabilities of previously reconstructed ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinases and ribosomal protein uS8s. The selected proteins were likely to be present in ancient organisms such as the last common ancestor of bacteria and that of archaea. We also assessed the thermal stability of homologous proteins from extant acidophilic, neutralophilic, and alkaliphilic microorganisms as a function of pH. Our results indicate that the reconstructed ancestral proteins are more akin to those of extant alkaliphilic bacteria, which display greater stability under alkaline conditions. These findings suggest that the common ancestors of bacterial and archaeal species thrived in an alkaline environment. Moreover, we demonstrate the reconstruction method employed in this study is a valuable technique for generating alkali-tolerant proteins that can be used in a variety of biotechnological and environmental applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takayuki Fujikawa
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Takahiro Sasamoto
- Department of Applied Life Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Fangzheng Zhao
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Akihiko Yamagishi
- Department of Applied Life Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
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2
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Schofield P, Taylor AI, Rihon J, Peña Martinez CD, Zinn S, Mattelaer CA, Jackson J, Dhaliwal G, Schepers G, Herdewijn P, Lescrinier E, Christ D, Holliger P. Characterization of an HNA aptamer suggests a non-canonical G-quadruplex motif. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:7736-7748. [PMID: 37439359 PMCID: PMC10450178 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Nucleic acids not only form the basis of heredity, but are increasingly a source of novel nano-structures, -devices and drugs. This has spurred the development of chemically modified alternatives (xeno nucleic acids (XNAs)) comprising chemical configurations not found in nature to extend their chemical and functional scope. XNAs can be evolved into ligands (XNA aptamers) that bind their targets with high affinity and specificity. However, detailed investigations into structural and functional aspects of XNA aptamers have been limited. Here we describe a detailed structure-function analysis of LYS-S8-19, a 1',5'-anhydrohexitol nucleic acid (HNA) aptamer to hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL). Mapping of the aptamer interaction interface with its cognate HEL target antigen revealed interaction epitopes, affinities, kinetics and hot-spots of binding energy similar to protein ligands such as anti-HEL-nanobodies. Truncation analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest that the HNA aptamer core motif folds into a novel and not previously observed HNA tertiary structure, comprising non-canonical hT-hA-hT/hT-hT-hT triplet and hG4-quadruplex structures, consistent with its recognition by two different G4-specific antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Schofield
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Alexander I Taylor
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK
- Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0AW, UK
| | - Jérôme Rihon
- Rega Institute, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, B 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Cristian D Peña Martinez
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Sacha Zinn
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Charles-Alexandre Mattelaer
- Rega Institute, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, B 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jennifer Jackson
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Gurpreet Dhaliwal
- Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0AW, UK
| | - Guy Schepers
- Rega Institute, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, B 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Piet Herdewijn
- Rega Institute, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, B 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Eveline Lescrinier
- Rega Institute, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, B 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Daniel Christ
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
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3
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Zhao F, Akanuma S. Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction of the Ribosomal Protein uS8 and Reduction of Amino Acid Usage to a Smaller Alphabet. J Mol Evol 2023; 91:10-23. [PMID: 36396786 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-022-10078-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the origin and early evolution of proteins is important for unveiling how the RNA world developed into an RNA-protein world. Because the composition of organic molecules in the Earth's primitive environment was plausibly not as diverse as today, the number of different amino acids used in early protein synthesis is likely to be substantially less than the current 20 proteinogenic residues. In this study, we have explored the thermal stability and RNA binding of ancestral variants of the ribosomal protein uS8 constructed from a reduced-alphabet of amino acids. First, we built a phylogenetic tree based on the amino acid sequences of uS8 from multiple extant organisms and used the tree to infer two plausible amino acid sequences corresponding to the last bacterial common ancestor of uS8. Both ancestral proteins were thermally stable and bound to an RNA fragment. By eliminating individual amino acid letters and monitoring thermal stability and RNA binding in the resulting proteins, we reduced the size of the amino acid set constituting one of the ancestral proteins, eventually finding that convergent sequences consisting of 15- or 14-amino acid alphabets still folded into stable structures that bound to the RNA fragment. Furthermore, a simplified variant reconstructed from a 13-amino-acid alphabet retained affinity for the RNA fragment, although it lost conformational stability. Collectively, RNA-binding activity may be achieved with a subset of the current 20 amino acids, raising the possibility of a simpler composition of RNA-binding proteins in the earliest stage of protein evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangzheng Zhao
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15, Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15, Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
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4
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Demongeot J, Seligmann H. Evolution of small and large ribosomal RNAs from accretion of tRNA subelements. Biosystems 2022; 222:104796. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2022.104796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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5
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Ma D, Xin Y, Guo Z, Shi Y, Zhang L, Li Y, Gu Z, Ding Z, Shi G. Ancestral sequence reconstruction and spatial structure analysis guided alteration of longer-chain substrate catalysis for Thermomicrobium roseum lipase. Enzyme Microb Technol 2022; 156:109989. [PMID: 35134708 DOI: 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2022.109989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Danlei Ma
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Yu Xin
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China.
| | - Zitao Guo
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Yi Shi
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Liang Zhang
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China.
| | - Youran Li
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Zhenghua Gu
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Zhongyang Ding
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
| | - Guiyang Shi
- National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu, PR China
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6
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Rouet R, Mazigi O, Walker GJ, Langley DB, Sobti M, Schofield P, Lenthall H, Jackson J, Ubiparipovic S, Henry JY, Abayasingam A, Burnett D, Kelleher A, Brink R, Bull RA, Turville S, Stewart AG, Goodnow CC, Rawlinson WD, Christ D. Potent SARS-CoV-2 binding and neutralization through maturation of iconic SARS-CoV-1 antibodies. MAbs 2021; 13:1922134. [PMID: 34024246 PMCID: PMC8158043 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2021.1922134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Antibodies against coronavirus spike protein potently protect against infection and disease, but whether such protection can be extended to variant coronaviruses is unclear. This is exemplified by a set of iconic and well-characterized monoclonal antibodies developed after the 2003 SARS outbreak, including mAbs m396, CR3022, CR3014 and 80R, which potently neutralize SARS-CoV-1, but not SARS-CoV-2. Here, we explore antibody engineering strategies to change and broaden their specificity, enabling nanomolar binding and potent neutralization of SARS-CoV-2. Intriguingly, while many of the matured clones maintained specificity of the parental antibody, new specificities were also observed, which was further confirmed by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, indicating that a limited set of VH antibody domains can give rise to variants targeting diverse epitopes, when paired with a diverse VL repertoire. Our findings open up over 15 years of antibody development efforts against SARS-CoV-1 to the SARS-CoV-2 field and outline general principles for the maturation of antibody specificity against emerging viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Rouet
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Ohan Mazigi
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Gregory J Walker
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Virology Research Laboratory, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - David B Langley
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Meghna Sobti
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Peter Schofield
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Helen Lenthall
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Jennifer Jackson
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Stephanie Ubiparipovic
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Jake Y Henry
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Arunasingam Abayasingam
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Deborah Burnett
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Anthony Kelleher
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Robert Brink
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Rowena A Bull
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Stuart Turville
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Alastair G Stewart
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Christopher C Goodnow
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - William D Rawlinson
- Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Virology Research Laboratory, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Daniel Christ
- Immunology Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Immunology Department, UNSW Sydney, St Vincent's Clinical School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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7
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Karlsson E, Paissoni C, Erkelens AM, Tehranizadeh ZA, Sorgenfrei FA, Andersson E, Ye W, Camilloni C, Jemth P. Mapping the transition state for a binding reaction between ancient intrinsically disordered proteins. J Biol Chem 2021; 295:17698-17712. [PMID: 33454008 PMCID: PMC7762952 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.015645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered protein domains often have multiple binding partners. It is plausible that the strength of pairing with specific partners evolves from an initial low affinity to a higher affinity. However, little is known about the molecular changes in the binding mechanism that would facilitate such a transition. We previously showed that the interaction between two intrinsically disordered domains, NCBD and CID, likely emerged in an ancestral deuterostome organism as a low-affinity interaction that subsequently evolved into a higher-affinity interaction before the radiation of modern vertebrate groups. Here we map native contacts in the transition states of the low-affinity ancestral and high-affinity human NCBD/CID interactions. We show that the coupled binding and folding mechanism is overall similar but with a higher degree of native hydrophobic contact formation in the transition state of the ancestral complex and more heterogeneous transient interactions, including electrostatic pairings, and an increased disorder for the human complex. Adaptation to new binding partners may be facilitated by this ability to exploit multiple alternative transient interactions while retaining the overall binding and folding pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elin Karlsson
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Cristina Paissoni
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Amanda M Erkelens
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Zeinab A Tehranizadeh
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
| | - Frieda A Sorgenfrei
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Eva Andersson
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Weihua Ye
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carlo Camilloni
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
| | - Per Jemth
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
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8
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Furukawa R, Toma W, Yamazaki K, Akanuma S. Ancestral sequence reconstruction produces thermally stable enzymes with mesophilic enzyme-like catalytic properties. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15493. [PMID: 32968141 PMCID: PMC7511310 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72418-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzymes have high catalytic efficiency and low environmental impact, and are therefore potentially useful tools for various industrial processes. Crucially, however, natural enzymes do not always have the properties required for specific processes. It may be necessary, therefore, to design, engineer, and evolve enzymes with properties that are not found in natural enzymes. In particular, the creation of enzymes that are thermally stable and catalytically active at low temperature is desirable for processes involving both high and low temperatures. In the current study, we designed two ancestral sequences of 3-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase by an ancestral sequence reconstruction technique based on a phylogenetic analysis of extant homologous amino acid sequences. Genes encoding the designed sequences were artificially synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. The reconstructed enzymes were found to be slightly more thermally stable than the extant thermophilic homologue from Thermus thermophilus. Moreover, they had considerably higher low-temperature catalytic activity as compared with the T. thermophilus enzyme. Detailed analyses of their temperature-dependent specific activities and kinetic properties showed that the reconstructed enzymes have catalytic properties similar to those of mesophilic homologues. Collectively, our study demonstrates that ancestral sequence reconstruction can produce a thermally stable enzyme with catalytic properties adapted to low-temperature reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryutaro Furukawa
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Wakako Toma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Koji Yamazaki
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
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