| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Our previous data suggested alternative splicing of aquaporin (AQP) -2 in bottle nose dolphins. As aqp2 gene has response element to hypertonicity, we hypothesized the alternatively spiced-AQP2 (AQP2') has some functions for cellular osmoregulation. Experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis and interesting results were obtained: (1) Culture technique of primary cells from several organs of the dolphin was established. (2) AQP2 was expressed only in the kidney, whereas AQP2' expression was confirmed in all organs tested. (3) Genomic analyses showed AQP2' sequence is highly and broadly conserved in cetacean species, but not in other mammals. (4) Expression of AQP2 and AQP2' were increased in response to increase in Na+ concentration in medium. (5) Knockdown for AQP2 and AQP2' by small interfering RNA resulted in severe shrinkage and lowering cellular viability in dolphins' cells. Collectively, there data suggested AQP2' may contribute to cellular osmotic tolerance.
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