Dual origin of melanocytes defined by Sox1 expression and their distribution in the skin

• Project/Area Number: 25670092
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General anatomy (including histology/embryology)
• Research Institution: Gifu University
• Principal Investigator: Kunisada Takahiro 岐阜大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (30205108)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: 神経堤細胞 / 色素細胞 / 細胞系譜 / Ｓｏｘ１ / Ｋｉｔ / Sox1 / Kit / Ｋ１４

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Melanocytes are pigment-producing cells generated from neural crest cells (NCCs) that delaminate from the dorsal neural tube. We used transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase under control of the Sox1 promoter crossed to the Rosa26-YFP reporter strain that contains a floxed stop cassette preventing YFP expression until the Cre-induced deletion (Sox1-Cre/+; Rosa26R-YFP/+ mice), we noticed that melanocytes were derived differently from Sox1-Cre+ and from Sox1-Cre－ populations in Sox1-Cre/YFP embryos. We showed that a significant population of melanocytes in the skin of mice are derived from trunk NCCs that originated from the non-neuroepithelium. We also observed a clear segregation of these two types of melanocytes in adult mouse skin suggesting a competitive acquisition of their stem cell niche.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Gene array analysis of neural crest cells identifies transcription factors necessary for direct conversion of embryonic fibroblasts into neural crest cells. (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsutomu Motohashi, Natsuki Watanabe, Masahiro Nishioka, Yuhki Nakatake, Piao Yulan, Hiromi Mochizuki, Yoshifumi Kawamura, Minoru S. H. Ko, Naoki Goshima and Takahiro Kunisada
  • Journal Title: Biology Open Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Pages: 311-322
  • DOI: 10.1242/bio.015735
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] xtended multipotency of neural crest cells and neural crest-derived cells. (2015)
  • Author(s): Motohashi T and Kunisada, T.
  • Journal Title: Current Topics in Developmental Biology Volume: 111 Pages: 69-95
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] The stemness of neural crest cells and their derivatives. (2014)
  • Author(s): Kunisada T, Tezulka K, Aoki H, Motohashi T
  • Journal Title: Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. Volume: 102 Issue: 3 Pages: 251-261
  • DOI: 10.1002/bdrc.21079
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Dual origin of melanocytes defined by Sox 1 expression and their region-specific distribution in mammalian skin. (2013)
  • Author(s): Naoko Yoshimura, Tsutomu Motohashi, Hitomi Aoki, Ken-ichi Tezuka, Natsuki Watanabe, Takanori Wakaoka, Takumi Era, Takahiro Kunisada
  • Journal Title: Development, Growth and Differentiation Volume: 55 Issue: 2 Pages: 270-281
  • DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12034
  • NAID: 40019734976
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Dual origin of melanocytes defined by Sox1 expression and their region-specific distribution in mammalian skin (2013)
  • Author(s): Kunisada T and Aoki H
  • Organizer: ASPCR-ASDR
  • Place of Presentation: Sydney, Australia
  • Invited
• [Book] 色素細胞第２版 (2015)
  • Author(s): 國貞隆弘 青木仁美 吉田尚弘
  • Total Pages: 310
  • Publisher: 慶応大学出版会