Clarification of molecular mechanisms regulating lineage commitment taking place on the way from multipotent hematopoietic progenitors to unipotent T cell progenitors

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Molecular mechanisms of cell fate determination in the cells that undergo stepwise differentiation to multiple pathways
• Project/Area Number: 22118004
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Biological Sciences
• Research Institution: Kyoto University (2012-2014); The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (2010-2011)
• Principal Investigator: KAWAMOTO Hiroshi 京都大学, 再生医科学研究所, 教授 (00343228)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TANIUCHI Ichiro 理化学研究所, 統合生命医科学研究センター, グループディレクター (20284573) ; SASHIDA Goro 千葉大学, 大学院医学研究科, 助教 (70349447) ; IWAMA Atsushi 千葉大学, 大学院医学研究科, 教授 (70244126)
• Project Period (FY): 2010-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 系列決定 / 転写因子 / エピジェネティクス / T細胞系列 / B細胞系列

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aimed to clarify molecular mechanisms that regulate lineage determination steps taking place during developmental process from multipotent hematopoietic progenitors to unipotent T cell progenitors. By using in vitro on/off differentiation culture system, we disclosed that transcription factor Bcl11b works as a master regulator of T cell lineage determination（Science, 2010）. The data on the time course sample of in vitro T cell differentiation was published as a part of Riken FANTOM5 project （Science, 2015）. We further found that by conditionally inactivating polycomb function in T cell lineage, T cell progenitors were converted to B cell lineage (submitted). Thus, we have succeeded in revealing transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms of T cell lineage determination.

Free Research Field

免疫学・血液学