Molecular mechanism for the reversible genome modulation

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14577
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Genetics/Chromosome dynamics
• Research Institution: National Institute of Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Tanaka Seiji 国立遺伝学研究所, 細胞遺伝研究系, 助教 (50263314)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: DNA複製 / 複製開始点 / ゲノム安定維持

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Usually genome information must be maintained stably over generations for the integrity of the organism. However, some exceptions exist. One example is the CUP1 locus of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whose copy number changes upon the concentration of copper ion included in the growth medium. Such copy number change might help S. cerevisiae to adapt the environment, however, it also might be a big threat for stable genome maintenance. Therefore, I investigated how this organism keeps these controversial mechanisms. As a first approach, I elucidated how this locus is replicated in the cell cycle and I found that the structure and the mode of regulation of replication origin in the CUP1 locus is very different from that of typical replication origins in S. cerevisiae. This indicate that I found a novel type of replication origin.

Free Research Field

分子生物学