| Project/Area Number |
17K15200
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Ecology/Environment
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| Research Institution | Konan University |
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Principal Investigator |
Gotoh Ayako 甲南大学, 理工学部, 講師 (70734680)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,550,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,050,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
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| Keywords | 受精嚢 / 精子貯蔵 / 女王アリ / アリ |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Females of social Hymenoptera mate only at the beginning of their adult lives and produce offspring until their death without additional mating. In most ant species, queens live for over a decade, indicating that ant queens can store large numbers of spermatozoa throughout their long lives. To reveal molecular function of the spermatheca, I had previously identified highly expressed genes in the ant spermatheca relative to those in body sample. In this study, I obtained and analyzed full-length sequence of interesting genes selected from the spermatheca genes, and synthesized dsRNA for RNAi experiment. Sperm cells are immotile in the spermatheca of queens at 5 years after mating. The immotile spermatozoa begin to swim when they are ejected from the spermatheca. This indicates that spermatozoa do not lack flagellum functions and continue to survive even after storage for 5 years.
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
精子が常温で10年以上生存するということは、細胞生物学の常識を覆すものであり、生物のもつ能力の可能性を考える上で興味深い。また、本研究を進めることで将来的には、家畜やヒトの精子保存方法の開発という応用的な研究にもつながることが期待できる。現在、家畜やヒトの精子保存は液体窒素による冷却が必須であり、安定的に精子を保存できる技術が求められている。精子の基本構造は各動物で共通しているため、本研究の遂行により家畜やヒトで低エネルギーかつ高品質な精子貯蔵技術へ応用が期待できる。
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