Operation of nuclear actin filaments and its application to the analysis of gene reprogramming mechanisms

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14706
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied biochemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: HARATA MASAHIKO 東北大学, 農学研究科, 准教授 (70218642)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MITANI Tasuku 近畿大学, 先端技術総合研究所, 教授 (10322265)
• Research Collaborator: Heinis Christian École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞核 / クロマチン / 遺伝子発現

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, we showed that artificial nuclear F-actin associates with chromatin and that nuclear F-actin affects Wnt/beta-catenin signaling, which has important roles on gene reprogramming and cell development. Indeed, the expression of OCT4 is shown to be regulated by nuclear F-actin. By screening a peptide library, we identified bicyclic peptides binding to G- or F-actin. We also showed a possibility that these bicyclic peptides are useful for artificial regulation of nuclear F-actin.

Free Research Field

分子細胞生物学