Transgenerational inheritance of glucose condition through males in Drosophila melanogaster

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07429
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Morphology/Structure
• Research Institution: Konan University
• Principal Investigator: Masanori Mukai 甲南大学, 理工学部, 教授 (90281592)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 栄養 / エピジェネティクス / 生殖細胞 / ヒストン修飾

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To study the molecular mechanism of the transgenerational inheritance of nutritional environment in Drosophila melanogaster, we investigated whether the growth of the offspring was affected when the fathers had been growth in the medium containing low glucose. We found that the nutritional environment of the fathers affected the growth patterns of the offspring. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Polycomb (Pc) in germline cells suppressed the effects on the offspring from the fathers. Furthermore, we found that the levels of histone modification in spermatogonial cells were affected by low glucose environment. These results suggested that the nutritional information was transmitted to next generation through males, and the Pc-mediated epigenetic regulation may be involved with the transgenerational transmission of nutritional information in Drosophila.

Free Research Field

分子遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ヒトを含めた哺乳類において、栄養環境の情報が母親から子に伝わることが知られている。この情報伝達が子の疾病のリスクになることが知られている。この伝達に生殖細胞が重要な働きをもつが、その仕組みには不明な点が多い。本研究において、モデル生物、ショウジョウバエを用いて、栄養情報が世代間で伝達されること、雄がその伝達に関わること、世代間の情報伝達に関わる遺伝子の候補が判明した。本研究で得られた遺伝子、ヒストン修飾が、将来的に、疾病のリスクファクターの理解に貢献する可能性がある。