Quantitative analysis of tissue and cellular dynamics during early forebrain formation

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K12147
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Life / Health / Medical informatics
Research Institution	Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Principal Investigator	OHTSUKA DAISUKE 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 生命システム研究センター, 研究員 (40632865)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	MORISHITA YOSHIHIRO 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 生命システム研究センター, ユニットリーダー (00404062)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Keywords	形態形成 / 発生動態 / 器官形成 / 組織変形動態
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Brain morphogenesis begins with complex 3D deformation of a simple cylindrical structure called neural tube that is composed of monolayer neuroepithelium in earlier stages. As is the case for many organs, “how microscopic molecular and cellular dynamics are linked to macroscopic organ morphology” remains an open question. Here we focus on the optic vesicle evagination process that is a main morphogenetic event during early forebrain morphogenesis. We constructed tissue-level 3D deformation maps for chicken forebrain morphogenesis. The tissue deformation analysis showed that globally-aligned anisotropic deformation along the medio-lateral axis is the predominant morphogenetic mechanism that occurs throughout the entire period of our focus. To clarify the underlying molecular/cellular mechanisms of this directional tissue stretch, we quantified cellular dynamics and characteristics. These analyses indicated that tissue-level anisotropic deformation is driven by cell rearrangements.