Generation of parthenogenetic mice by epigenome editing

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H03143
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 42040:Laboratory animal science-related
• Research Institution: Gunma University
• Principal Investigator: Horii Takuro 群馬大学, 生体調節研究所, 准教授 (00361387)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 森田 純代 群馬大学, 生体調節研究所, 助教 (40589264)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 単為発生 / エピゲノム編集

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Many animals have adopted parthenogenesis, in which an individual develops from an ovum alone without fertilization, as one of their reproductive strategies. On the other hand, parthenogenetic embryos of mammals are lethal during development. This is because only mammals possess "genomic imprinting," a gamete-specific epigenetic modification. In recent years, genetic engineering and developmental engineering have enable to manipulate genomic imprinting to obtain parthenogenetic (bi-maternal) mice. However, it is difficult to apply this method to mammals other than mice because it requires modification of the genome in the regulatory region of the imprinted gene expression and a series of nuclear transfer operations by preparing oocytes at different developmental stages. In this study, we attempted to generate parthenogenetic mice from oocyte-derived ES cells by rewriting only the epigenetic modifications using our recently developed highly efficient epigenome editing method.

Free Research Field

発生工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究ではマウスでの実施にとどまるが、同じ方法はマウス以外の哺乳類にも利用可能と考えられ、今後様々な分野に利用できる可能性がある。１セットのゲノム由来の単為発生動物はホモ接合体となるため、近交系の存在しない家畜や実験動物のホモ接合体を一世代で確立できる可能性がある。また、こうして樹立された動物は様々な原因遺伝子の同定を容易にすることができる。