| Budget Amount *help |
¥17,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥13,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,930,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥3,120,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥720,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥10,920,000 (Direct Cost: ¥8,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥2,520,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Gap junctions are intercellular channels that allow passage of ions and small molecules between adjacent cells. The zebrafish has been predicted to contain 39 connexin-encoding genes; the high number can be attributed to gene duplication during fish evolution, which resulted in diversified functions of gap junctions in teleosts. In this project we analyzed two connexin mutants, leopard and stoepsel, which are caused by the mutations in cx41.8 and cx43, respectively. In addition, we also analyzed cx39.4 which is involved in the skin pattern formation of zebrafish as cx41.8 is. Electrophysiological analysis revealed that Cx41.8 and Cx39.4 have different properties and function in a coordinated manner in skin pattern formation. Also electrophysiological analysis revealed that the growth-dependent malformation of the vertebrae in stp fish is likely caused by aberrant hemichannel activity of Connexin43 rather than by its reduced gap junction function due to the stp mutation
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