Exploration of cytokinesis systems specific in multi-cellular organisms

• Project/Area Number: 24770193
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cell biology
• Research Institution: National Institute for Basic Biology
• Principal Investigator: KOYAMA Hiroshi 基礎生物学研究所, 初期発生研究部門, 助教 (10530462)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
• Keywords: 細胞質分裂 / 多細胞生物 / 非筋細胞ミオシンII / 力学 / ミオシンII

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I explored cytokinesis systems specific in multi-cellular organisms. In mouse early embryos as a model system, to examine whether there were cells whose cytokinesis did not depend on non-muscle myosin II (NMYII) proteins, I tested sensitivity of each cell to an inhibitor specific to NMYII. I analyzed spatio-temporal patterns of the localization of NMYII in mice expressing NMYII fused to a green fluorescent protein, and examined whether there were cells exhibiting atypical localization patterns of NMYII compared to that in the “general” cytokinesis. Moreover, I constructed basic techniques for analyzing cytokinesis in multi-cellular organisms: image processing algorithms to count cell numbers and to extract protein localization patterns, and a mathematical platform to perform mechanical simulations of cytokinesis.