How to get transparency for generation of transparent animals.

• Project/Area Number: 15K14564
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Morphology/Structure
• Research Institution: Okazaki Research Facilities, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
• Principal Investigator: Miyanari Yusuke 大学共同利用機関法人自然科学研究機構(岡崎共通研究施設), 岡崎統合バイオサイエンスセンター, 特任准教授 (60469608)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: クロマチン高次構造 / ゲノム構造 / 遺伝学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recent advantages of fluorescent proteins and chemi-luminescent proteins allow us to monitor various biological phenomenon through biological imaging. In this project, we aim to understand molecular mechanisms underlying transparency of Leptocephalus, transparent larva of the eel. We analyzed chromatin structures in cells of its transparent tissues to find out a contribution of chromatin structures onto the transparency. We first focused on heterochromatin structure, which is one of potential nuclear structure to affect reflection of light. We stained cells with DAPI and H3K9me3, a histone marker for heterochromatin and found no significant correlation between the transparency and three dimensional distribution of heterochromatin within nuclear space.