Comprehensive Identification of Interacting Substances and Receptors between Multicellular Plants and Animals and the Inductive Principles of Biodiversity and Evolution

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K19273
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 44:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: Sawa Shinichiro 熊本大学, 大学院先端科学研究部(理), 教授 (00315748)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 石川 勇人 千葉大学, 大学院薬学研究院, 教授 (80453827)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 植物感染性線虫 / 誘引物質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we purified nematode attractants from BY2 culture. The purification was carried out using the attractant activity as an indicator, followed by fractionation by molecular weight using gel filtration and polar column fractionation, and glucomannan was obtained as a candidate attractant. Polysaccharides of various lengths were tested to see if they had attractant activity, and it was confirmed that low molecular weight glucomannan of about 10 saccharides also had attractant activity. Furthermore, based on the genome information of C. elegans, a soil nematode, we extracted candidate receptors for nematode attractants. Based on the information on attractants of various plant species and receptors of various nematode species, it became possible to predict which nematode species will be able to recognize new hosts with which metabolites.

Free Research Field

植物分子形態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、多細胞動物―多細胞植物相互作用が誘導する生物多様性とその進化について、新たなモデル実験系の確立と、あらたな研究手法の確立をもって生物の多様性に関する新たな研究領域の開拓ができるようになったと確信している。また、本研究ではセンチュウの誘引物質の同定を行った。本研究で用いた根瘤線虫類は、世界で年間数十兆円の農業被害をもたらすことがわかっている。この誘引物質を利用する事で、線虫トラップ剤の開発が可能となり、農薬を使わない環境に優しい農業に貢献する事が可能となることから、社会的意義も大きいと考えている。