2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Testing the recapitulation tendency in vertebrate embryogenesis by analyzing developmental patterns of gene regulatory activities
Project/Area Number |
18K14711
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Review Section |
Basic Section 44020:Developmental biology-related
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Research Institution | Institute of Physical and Chemical Research |
Principal Investigator |
Masahiro Uesaka 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 生命機能科学研究センター, 研究員 (20756499)
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Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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Keywords | 進化発生学 / 進化 / 発生 / 反復説 / 比較エピゲノム |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Animal development generally proceeds from a single-celled zygote to a complex multicellular organism. This has led biologists to propose parallel relationships between development and evolution. One of the famous hypotheses is recapitulation theory. This assumes embryogenesis of an animal parallels its evolutionary history, sequentially developing from more ancestral features to more derived ones. However, no molecular studies have not quantitatively supported such recapitulation in vertebrate embryogenesis so far. In this study, we tested the recapitulation from the perspective of gene regulation. By examining developmental changes in active gene regulatory regions and estimating their evolutionary ages, we found that regulatory regions tend to become sequentially activated in an order that parallels their evolutionary ages in three vertebrates. This suggests a recapitulative pattern in gene regulatory activity during embryogenesis.
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Free Research Field |
進化発生学
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
本研究で、発生過程における遺伝子制御領域の活性動態が反復パターンを示したことは、 発生過程は完全に自由自在に変化しながら進化してきたわけではないことを示唆している。これは、何らかの進化的制約が発生過程の進化的変更を徐々に後期段階に偏らせてきた可能性をも提起し、発生がもたらす進化的制約の重要性を、現在の進化学の理解において強調するものとなりうる。また、本研究で得られたゲノムワイドなクロマチン状態の発生系列データは、進化研究はもちろん、ゲノム情報からどのように表現型が生まれるかを理解する上でも重要な基盤的情報となる。
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