2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

マウス胚のオーガナイザー・脊索形成に関与する新規転写因子の単離と機能解析

Research Project

Project/Area Number	11680722
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Developmental biology
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	SASAKI Hiroshi Osaka Univ., IMCB, Assistant professor, 細胞生体工学センター, 助手 (10211939)
Project Period (FY)	1999 – 2000
Keywords	organizer / notochord / mouse / enhancer / transcriptional factor / Foxa2
Research Abstract	Expression of a winged-helix transcription factor Foxa2/HNF3β is essential for development of the node and the notochord. We examined the node/notochord enhancer of mouse Foxa2 for sequence motifs conserved across vertebrate species. We cloned Foxa2 genes from chicken and fish, and identified respective node/notochord enhancers that were active in transgenic mouse embryos. Comparison of the sequences of the enhancers revealed three evolutionally conserved sequence motifs CS1, CS2 and CS3. Mutational analysis of the mouse enhancer indicated that CS3 is indispensable for gene expression in the node and the notochord, while CS1 and CS2 are required to augment enhancer activity. These motifs do not correspond to the consensus binding sequences of transcription factors known to be involved in node/notochord development.