Analysis of epigenetic changes during reproductive cycle by nuclear transfer techniques

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Analyses and regulation of germline epigenome
• Project/Area Number: 25112009
• 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: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: OGURA Atsuo 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, バイオリソースセンター, 室長 (20194524)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 幸田 尚 東京医科歯科大学, 難治疾患研究所, 准教授 (60211893)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-06-28 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 核移植 / エピジェネティクス / 生殖細胞 / 受精 / 着床

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Epigenetic changes during the germline cycle were analyzed by nuclear transfer techniques using somatic cells and other cell types as donors. We found that somatic, repressive histone marks such as H3K9me2 and me3 were resistant to reprogramming by nuclear transfer and caused developmental failure of somatically cloned embryos. Another histone mark, H3K27me3, which controls placenta-specific imprinting was lost in cloned embryos, leading to placental enlargement. A histone arginine methylation mark, H3R17me2, was essential for incorporation of maternal H3.3 into the paternal genome and active DNA demethylation of the paternal genome. Thus, we uncovered the importance of histone methylation during the germline cycle.

Free Research Field

発生工学