Establishment of bilateral asymmetry through selective segregatin of sister chromatids

• Project/Area Number: 24770204
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: NAKANO Shunji 名古屋大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (60608529)
• 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: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: 左右非対称性 / 遺伝子同定 / クロマチン制御因子 / 染色体分配制御 / 線虫 / 神経系左右非対称性 / 遺伝学 / エピジェネティクス / 分子生物学 / クロマチン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Bilateral asymmetry is a prevalent feature of the nervous system of many animals and is thought to play an important role in the lateralized brain function. Abnormality in brain asymmetry is implicated in several neuropathology. Identification of the molecular mechanism that establish left-right asymmetry is thus a fundamental problem in developmental biology, neurobiology and neuropathology.
The nervous system of C. elegans displays left-right asymmetry. We have previously isolated mutants in which a neuronal left-right asymmetry is lost. In this study, we identified a novel gene required for the establishment of neuronal asymmetry and found that an evolutionarily conserved protein kinase is required to generate a bilateral asymmetry. This protein kinase was previously shown to be important for chromosome segregation. These observations suggested that regulation of chromosome segregation might be involved in the generation of bilateral asymmetry in the C. elegans nervous system.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Differing Levels of MAST Kinase Activity Can Code Two Opposing Behavioral Drives During C. elegans Thermotaxis (2014)
  • Author(s): Shunji Nakano, Isabel de Ridder, Takamasa Suzuki, Tetsuya Higashiyama and Ikue Mori
  • Organizer: C. elegans topic meeting: neuronal development, synaptic function & behavior
  • Place of Presentation: University of Madison, Wisconsin
  • Year and Date: 2014-07-07 – 2014-07-10
• [Presentation] クロマチン、転写制御因子による線虫神経系左右非対称性の確立 (2013)
  • Author(s): 中野 俊詩
  • Organizer: 理研エピジェネティクスセミナーシリーズ
  • Place of Presentation: 理化学研究所
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Tousled-like Kinase Is Required to Generate a Bilateral Asymmetry in the C. elegans Nervous System (2013)
  • Author(s): Shunji Nakano, Bob Horvitz, Ikue Mori
  • Organizer: 19th International C. elegans meeting
  • Place of Presentation: UCLA, USA
• [Presentation] Chromatin and transcriptional regulators act in a cascade to establish a bilateral asymmetry in the C. elegans nervous system (2013)
  • Author(s): Shunji Nakano
  • Organizer: Neural Epigenetics: From Mechanisms to Disease UK-Japan Workshop（招待講演）
  • Place of Presentation: UK Embassy, Tokyo
  • Invited