2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Molecular basis of immortality-to-mortality switch in the life cycle of Cnidaria
Project/Area Number |
17K07420
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Research Institution | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University |
Principal Investigator |
ハルトゥーリン コンスタンチン 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, マリンゲノミックスユニット, スタッフサイエンティスト (80725458)
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Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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Keywords | Aurelia / metamorphosis / life cycle / immortality / polyp / jellyfish |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
According to the research plan, additional sequencing was performed in order to identify the patterns of DNA modifications at various life stages of the life cycle. Preliminary analysis of the results shows that there might be considerable differences in DNA methylation not only between the life stages, but also among the cells belonging to different lineages within each stage, for example, epithelial cells in the ectodermal and entodermal tissue layers. This finding is important for the interpretation of the results and indicates that the analysis of genome modifications in the specific cellular populations that undergo trans-differentiation during methamorphosis, for example, ectodermal cells of sub-umbrella region which give rise to striated muscle cells, might provide much better view of epigenetic mechanisms that regulate jellyfish life cycle progression. In the current approach the differences between cell types may to some extent obscure the differences between the stages and these differences should be taken care of in the course of data analysis. Transcriptomic and genomic data generated by this project were integrated into web resources and utilized as reference datasets in two publications.
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Remarks |
Cnidarian resource created at Marine Genomics Unit at OIST. For downloading data or in order to perform BLAST searches please use the following credentials: Login: guest Password: welcome
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