Study on the germ cell migration and sex differentiation in domestic chicken

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K08039
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Animal production science
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: TAJIMA Atsushi 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 教授 (40207030)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: ニワトリ / 始原生殖細胞 / 分化 / RNA-seq / 多能性 / 減数分裂

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Attempts have been made to produce germ line chimera (GLC) by transferring germline stem cells (gSCs) from 2-9 days-old chick embryos. GLC was produced in all cases except when gSCs from female 9 days-old embryos have been transferred to the recipients.In the present study, therefore, RNA was extracted from gSCs and RNA-seq was conducted to examine the temporal changes of mRNA pattern of gSCs associated with early embryonic development.
The results indicate that 1) expression of genes related to pluripotency have been down-regulated by 5 days in both sexes. 2) expression of genes related to germ cells were down-regulated throughout the examination periods 3) No significant differences in the expression of genes related to meiosis in both sexes.

Free Research Field

家禽学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

鳥類においては、受精卵の長期保存ができないことから、生殖幹細胞(gSCs)を利用した遺伝資源の保存方法の開発が進められてきた。これまでに、孵卵2日～9日ニワトリ胚由来の生殖系列幹細胞(gSCs)を用いて生殖系列キメラの(GLC)作製を試みた結果、孵卵9日の雌胚由来のgSCsを用いた場合を除きGLCが作製された。これは、胚の発生が進むのに伴い生殖細胞の分化が進むためであると考え、生殖細胞からRNAを抽出してRNA-seqを行った結果、胚の発生に伴いrGCsにおけるｍRNAの発現パターンに変化が生じることが明らかになった。