| Project/Area Number |
08680801
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Developmental biology
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| Research Institution | Japan Women's University |
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Principal Investigator |
NAGATA Saburo Japan Women's University, Faculty of Science, Professor, 理学部, 教授 (00164434)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1997
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1997)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
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| Keywords | Meural network / Morphogenesis / Cell adhesion molecule / Xenopus / アフリカツメガエル |
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| Research Abstract |
Contactin is an immunoglobulin superfamily neural adhesion molecule reported in mammalian and chicken central nervous system. We cloned cDNAs encoding two non-allelic contactin isoforms and produced monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. The structure and tissue distribution of Xenopus contactin seemed similar to those in other vertebrate species. Whole mount in situ hybridization and immunolabeling studies indicate that contactin and its mRNA started expression in specific neuronal subtypes of late neurula to early tailbud embryos.
Microinjection of mRNAs or expression vectors encoding intact or various mutant contactin, or antisense into a blastomere of two cell stage embryos was performed to assess the roles of contactin in morphogenesis of neural system. The result that the suppression of contactin expression by antisense RNA disturbed formation of the larval sensory nervous system suggested the involvement of contactin in morphogenesis of certain nervous system. In addition, the similar injection experiment on Fyn tyrosine kinase indicated that this kinase was required to dvelopment of contactin-positive neurons, suggesting a link between these molecules. The present study demonstrates that Xenopus microinjection system is useful in analyzing molecular mechanisms of neurogenesis which involves cellular interactions, signal transduction and cell differentiation.
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