Elucidation of the regulatory mechanism of mRNA stability, which is essential for germ cell differentiation and growth

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K07411
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Sakamoto Hiroshi 神戸大学, 理学研究科, 教授 (00187048)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 始原生殖細胞 / クロモドメイン蛋白質 / 3'非翻訳領域 / mRNA安定性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It was shown that localization of mrg-1 mRNA to primordial germ cells may not be caused by active RNA degradation in somatic cells, but by specific stabilization of mRNA in primordial germ cells.　This RNA stability control that mrg-1 3'UTR undergoes seems to be a sequence-dependent control that does not involve RNA secondary structure. It is also suggested that the tropomyosin protein LEV-11 contributes to the regulation of mRNA stabilization through its interaction with the mrg-1 3'UTR in primordial germ cells. Moreover, the phenotype of mutants that do not express MRG-1 in somatic cells suggests that MRG-1 may also contribute to chromatin regulation in some somatic cells.

Free Research Field

生殖細胞形成機構に関する発生生物学、分子遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、mrg-1 mRNAの始原生殖細胞への限局機構にトロポミオシン蛋白質LEV-11が関与することを示唆する結果を得た。トロポミオシンが直接mrg-1 3’UTRと特異的に結合しているかどうかについては今後の課題であるが、このことはRNAの局在に細胞骨格系が極めて重要な役割を果たしていることを再認識させた点で学術的に意義がある。また、従来生殖細胞系列においてのみ機能すると考えられていたMRG-1が体細胞におけるクロマチン制御にも関与することを示したことは学術的に重要な知見である。