Heterochronic regulatry mechanisms of cranial neural crest development in marsupials

• Project/Area Number: 15K07070
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: WAKAMATSU YOSHIO 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 准教授 (60311560)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鈴木 久仁博 日本大学, 松戸歯学部, 特任教授 (30256903)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
• Keywords: 哺乳類 / 進化 / ヘテロクロニー / 有袋類 / 神経堤 / 顎 / エンハンサー / 顎原基 / Sox9 / オポッサム / ウズラ / 神経板 / マウス / リプログラミング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Marsupial neonates are immature at birth, compared to placentals. Since they must suckle on mother’s milk, their jaws develop early. Yet, underlying mechanisms regulating this temporal shift of developmental program is unknown. We have previously found that Sox9 expression is turned on early in the cranial neural crest of opossum embryos, compared to mouse ones, and that marsupial-specific sequence alteration in the neural crest enhancer of Sox9 is responsible, at least in part, for this temporal shift. In this study using quail embryos, we have found that Myb transcription factor, a neural-border specifier, activates the enhancer, while Wnt signaling, a neural crest inducer, does not. Aiming to perform similar experiments in opossum embryos/cells, our attempts of culturing opossum embryos, making iPS cells, or direct-reprograming of fibroblasts into neural crest cells all failed. Thus, technical improvements of these methods seem to be essential for future studies.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Conversion of neural plate explants to pre-placodal ectoderm-like tissue in vitro (2016)
  • Author(s): Shigetani Y, Wakamatsu Y, Tachibana T, Okabe M
  • Journal Title: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Volume: 477 Issue: 4 Pages: 807-813
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.06.139
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The evolution of basal progenitors in the developing non-mammalian brain. (2016)
  • Author(s): NOmura, T., Ohtaka-Maruyama, C., Yamashita, W., Wakamatsu, Y., Murakami, Y., Calegari, F., Suzuki, K., Gotoh, H., Ono, K.
  • Journal Title: Development Volume: 143 Issue: 1 Pages: 66-74
  • DOI: 10.1242/dev.127100
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Otic placode cell specification and proliferation re regulated by Notch signaling in avian development (2015)
  • Author(s): Shida, H., Mende, M., Takano-Yamamoto, T., Osumi, N., Streit, A., Wakamatsu, Y.
  • Journal Title: Developmental Dynamics Volume: 244 Issue: 7 Pages: 839-851
  • DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.24291
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Identification of neural crest-specific enhancer of Seraf gene in avian peripheral nervous system development (2015)
  • Author(s): Suzuki, T., Osumi, N., Wakamatsu, Y.
  • Journal Title: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Volume: 467 Issue: 4 Pages: 1103-1109
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.10.074
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] Homeobox code in the jaw primordia of marsupial opossum (Monodelphis domestica) may represent the prototypical state for the heterodont dentition of mammals (2017)
  • Author(s): Yoshio Wakamatsu, Shiro Egawa, Yukari Terashita, Noriko Osumi, Hiroshi Kawasaki, Koji Tamura, Kunihiro Suzuki
  • Organizer: 第51回日本発生生物学会年会
• [Presentation] 有袋類における頭部神経堤のヘテロクロニー的発生メカニズム (2016)
  • Author(s): 若松義雄
  • Organizer: 第27回日本色素細胞学会
  • Place of Presentation: 岐阜大学サテライトキャンパス（岐阜市）
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Recruitment of Sox9 to the neural border specification in marsupial cranial neural crest development. (2015)
  • Author(s): Wakamatsu, Y., Osumi, N., Suzuki, K.
  • Organizer: 第48回日本発生生物学会年会
  • Place of Presentation: つくば国際会議場、つくば市
  • Year and Date: 2015-06-03
  • Int'l Joint Research