Analyses of mKast functions for regulation of honeybee behavior using genome editing.

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23740
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0702:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kohno Hiroki 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科(理学部), 助教 (60846773)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: セイヨウミツバチ / 社会性行動 / ゲノム編集 / キノコ体 / ケニヨン細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

European honeybee is an eusocial insect, and the molecular and neural bases underlying the regulation of honeybee social behavior have been studied for a long time. The lack of efficient genetic tools in this species, however, has been an obstacle to analyze function of genes. This study focused on a gene mKast, which is supposed to regulate higher brain functions of adult honeybee through processing sensory information, and tried to analyze its function by gene knockout using CRISPR/Cas9. This study succeeded to produce heterozygous mutant queens for the first time, and indicated that mKast is not related to the functions predicted from its expression patterns.

Free Research Field

行動遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ミツバチは多数の個体と群れ（コロニー）を作って生活する社会性昆虫であり、社会性行動研究のモデル生物として知られている。しかし、遺伝子操作した個体は室内に設置したコロニー内で飼育しなければならないという難点があるため、ミツバチでの遺伝子操作技術は未発展である。本研究成果は、社会性行動を司る脳の分子神経基盤の解明に重要な、ミツバチ遺伝学の前進に寄与するものである。