Elucidating the molecular basis of evolution of gamete fusion mechanism associated with the establishment of male-female gamete dimorphism

• Project/Area Number: 25891009
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kawai-Toyooka Hiroko 東京大学, 理学系研究科, 特任研究員 (00442997)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
• Keywords: 配偶子融合 / 群体性ボルボックス目 / ボルボックス系列 / 異型配偶化 / GCS1 / ゴニウム / 有性生殖 / 進化 / 藻類

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Oogamy, which involves the fusion of a large non-motile female gamete (egg) and a small motile male gamete (sperm), appears to have successively evolved from isogamy (equal sized gametes) and anisogamy (large and small gametes). To elucidate the evolutionary transition of the gamete fusion mechanism , this project focused on the volvocine green algae, because they comprise a series of genera with all the three modes of gamete fusion. Using isogamous volvocine Gonium, this project first focus on the gamete fusion mechanism itself and clarified the cellular basis for male-specific action of the gamete fusion protein GCS1, and then established a method to isolate mating structures from both sex gametes. Moreover, this project identified an orthologous gene of isogamous gamete adhesion protein FUS1 in anisogamous Eudorina, providing insight into the molecular basis of evolution of gamete fusion mechanism associated with the establishment of male-female gamete dimorphism.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] カンザス州立大学/アリゾナ大学(米国)
• [Journal Article] The Gonium pectorale genome demonstrates cooption of cell cycle regulation during the evolution of multicellularity (2016)
  • Author(s): Erik R. Hanschen, Tara N. Marriage, Patrick J. Ferris, Takashi Hamaji, Atsushi Toyoda, Asao Fujiyama, Rafik Neme, Hideki Noguchi, Yohei Minakuchi, Masahiro Suzuki, Hiroko Kawai-Toyooka, David R. Smith, Halle Sparks, Jaden Anderson, Robert Bakaric, Victor Luria, Amir Karger, Marc Kirschner, et al.
  • Journal Title: Nature Communications Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 11370-11370
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11370
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Revisiting the taxonomic significance of aplanozygote morphologies of two cosmopolitan snow species of the genus Chloromonas (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae). (2015)
  • Author(s): Matsuzaki R., Kawai-Toyooka H., Hara Y., and Nozaki H.
  • Journal Title: Phycologia Volume: 54 Issue: 5 Pages: 491-502
  • DOI: 10.2216/15-33.1
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Gamete dialogs in green lineages. (2015)
  • Author(s): Mori T., Kawai-Toyooka H., Igawa T., Nozaki, H.
  • Journal Title: Molecular Plant Volume: 8 Issue: 10 Pages: 1442-1454
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2015.06.008
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Sex-specific post-translational regulation of the gamete fusogen GCSI in the isogamous volvocine alga Gonium pectorale. (2014)
  • Author(s): Kawai-Toyooka H, Mori T, Hamaji T, Suzuki M, Olson BJ, Uemura T, Ueda T, Nakano A, Toyoda A, Fujiyama A, Nozaki H
  • Journal Title: EUkaryotic Cell Volume: (in press) Issue: 5 Pages: 648-656
  • DOI: 10.1128/ec.00330-13
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The evolution of male-female sexual dimorphism predates the gender-based divergence of the mating locus gene MAT3/RB. (2013)
  • Author(s): Rintaro Hiraide
  • Journal Title: Molecular Biology and Evolution Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Pages: 1038-1040
  • DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mst018
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The Simplest Multicellular Organism Unvailed. (2013)
  • Author(s): Yoko Arakaki・Hiroko Kawai-Toyooka・Yuki Hamamura・Tetsuya Higashiyama・Akira Noga・Masafumi Hirono・Bradley J. S. C. Olson・Hisayoshi Nozaki.
  • Journal Title: PLOS ONE Volume: 8 Issue: 12 Pages: 1-8
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081641
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Presentation] Evolution of volvocine mating-type/gender-specific genes deduced from de novo genome sequencing of isogamous Yamagishiella and anisogamous Eudorina. (2016)
  • Author(s): Kawai-Toyooka H., Hamaji T., Uchimura H., Suzuki M., Toyoda A., Noguchi H., Minakuchi Y., Fujiyama A., Miyagishima S., and Nozaki H.
  • Organizer: The 17th international Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas
  • Place of Presentation: 国立京都国際会館（京都府京都市）
  • Year and Date: 2016-06-26
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 緑藻ゴニウムのプラス／マイナス配偶子からの接合突起の単離と解析―新規接合関連因子の同定を目指して― (2015)
  • Author(s): 豊岡博子, 森稔幸, 中澤志織, 山田力志, 鈴木雅大, 茂木祐子, 浜地貴志, 宮城島進也, 澤田均, 野崎久義
  • Organizer: 日本植物学会第79回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 朱鷺メッセ（新潟県新潟市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-08
• [Presentation] Isolation and characterization of the plus and minus tubular mating structures from the isogamous volvocine alga Gonium pectorale. (2015)
  • Author(s): Kawai-Toyooka H., Mori T., Nakazawa S., Yamada L., Suzuki M., Mogi Y., Hamaji T., Miyagishima S., Sawada H. and Nozaki H.
  • Organizer: The 3rd International Volvox Conference
  • Place of Presentation: ケンブリッジ（イギリス）
  • Year and Date: 2015-08-20
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Genome data of the evolutionary time machine colonial volvocaleans unveiling origins of genders and multicellularity. (2015)
  • Author(s): Nozaki H., Kawai-Toyooka H., Suzuki M., Mori T., Hamaji T., Toyoda A., Noguchi H., and Fujiyama A.
  • Organizer: International Symposium on Genome Science 2015
  • Place of Presentation: 一橋大学一橋講堂（東京都千代田区）
  • Year and Date: 2015-01-20
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 群体性ボルボックス目ゴニウムを用いた配偶子接合メカニズムの解析 (2014)
  • Author(s): 豊岡博子
  • Organizer: 微細藻類研究会2014
  • Place of Presentation: 基礎生物学研究所（愛知県岡崎市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-12-23
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 群体性ボルボックス目ゴニウムにおけるプラス/マイナス交配型配偶子からの接合突起の単離 (2014)
  • Author(s): 豊岡博子, 森稔幸, 鈴木雅大，茂木祐子，浜地貴志，宮城島進也， 野崎久義
  • Organizer: 日本植物学会第78回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 明治大学生田キャンパス（神奈川県川崎市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-12
• [Presentation] 群体性ボルボックス目で探る配偶子融合の分子メカニズムとその進化
  • Author(s): 豊岡 博子，浜地 貴志，茂木 祐子, 鈴木 雅大, 森 稔幸, 野崎 久義
  • Organizer: 日本植物学会 第77回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道大学（札幌）
  • Invited
• [Remarks] 東京大学大学院・理学系研究科・生物科学専攻・多様性起源学研究室ホームページ
  • URL: http://www.biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/tayousei/index.html
• [Remarks] 多様性起源学研究室ホームページ
  • URL: http://www.biol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/tayousei/news.html#news140314