Mechanistic analysis of the circadian clock development in mammals

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23390051
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental physiology(including physical medicine and nutritional physiology)
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: YAGITA Kazuhiro 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (90324920)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): INOKAWA Hitoshi 京都府立医科大学, 医学研究科, 講師 (40285250)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 体内時計 / 細胞分化 / ES細胞 / 発生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In mammals, the emergence of circadian clock oscillation gradually occurs during the developmental process. However, developmental mechanisms of circadian clock have not been well understood.
We have shown that the circadian clock oscillation is not detected in the mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. We also showed that the apparent circadian clock oscillation is induced during the differentiation culture of mouse ES cells without maternal entraining factors. These results demonstrate that the intrinsic program controls the circadian oscillator formation during the differentiation process of ES cells in cultural condition.
To understand the circadian clock development in mammals, we performed ES cell-based screening to find out factors contributing to the clock formation mechanisms, and found Dnmt1 as an essential factor for circadian clock development. Epigenetic programming and following organization of transcriptional network may be essential for circadian clock development in mammals.

Free Research Field

環境生理学、時間生物学、細胞分化