Deciphering the molecular networks underpinning mammalian sperm-egg fusion

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24K02033
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 44020:Developmental biology-related
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	Lu Yonggang 大阪大学, ヒューマン・メタバース疾患研究拠点, 特任准教授(常勤) (00817033)
Project Period (FY)	2024-04-01 – 2027-03-31
Project Status	Granted (Fiscal Year 2024)
Budget Amount *help	¥18,590,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,290,000) Fiscal Year 2026: ¥5,720,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,320,000) Fiscal Year 2025: ¥6,370,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,470,000) Fiscal Year 2024: ¥6,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Keywords	Sperm-egg fusion / Fertilization / Interactome / Fusogen / Membrane fusion
Outline of Research at the Start	Generate mice expressing epitope-tagged FREGs and perform affinity purification and proximity labeling followed by MS to identify their interactome Develop and perform in vitro high-throughput screens to identify FREG-interacting proteins Conduct in silico protein interaction analysis using AlphaFold-Multimer Perform mutagenesis analyses to study physiological function of the candidate FREGs Carry out comprehensive assays to decipher the mechanisms of action of newly identified FREGs during sperm-egg fusion Examine fusogenic activity of FREGs through quantitative cell-cell fusion assays