Elucidation of molecular mechanisms that brought about positional diversity of the hindlimb in tetrapod

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18H02487
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 45020:Evolutionary biology-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Takayuki 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 准教授 (40451629)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 脊椎動物 / 骨格 / パターン / 後肢 / 進化 / 遺伝子発現 / ヘテロクロニー / エンハンサー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanism that produces diversity in the position of the hind limbs of vertebrates by investigating the functional mechanism of Gdf11 using various animal embryos with different positions of the hind limbs. Gdf11 was not expressed in the lateral plate mesoderm, which is the planned hindlimb region, but was expressed at the posterior end of the presomitic mesoderm, which is the prototype of the vertebra. It was found that when Gdf11 is expressed, the sacral spine is formed there and at the same time, the formation of the hind limbs is also induced. It was found that the timing of the onset of expression of Gdf11 varies from species to species, which creates a variety of hindlimb position in vertebrates. The existence of a species-specific enhancer region was suggested as a mechanism for inducing this difference in expression initiation timing.

Free Research Field

進化発生学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

脊椎動物の後肢の位置の違いは、Gdf11というたった１つの遺伝子が、発生中に働くタイングの違いが進化的に生じた結果もたらされたことが分かりました。またヘビはGdf11が働き始めるタイミングが他の種と比べて遅いために、長い胴体を持つということが分かりました。これらの成果は、後肢の位置の違いという生物の大進化は思った以上に少ない遺伝子の変化によりもたらされたことを示しています。