2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Gemline development regulation by maternally localized factor PEM
| Project/Area Number |
23570252
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
Developmental biology
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Tohoku University (2013)
Osaka University (2011-2012) |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
KUMANO Gaku 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 教授 (80372605)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2013
|
| Keywords | ホヤ / 生殖細胞 / 転写抑制 / 母性局在因子 / PEM |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Suppression of zygotic transcription in early embryonic germline cells is tightly linked to its separation from the somatic lineage. Many invertebrate embryos utilize localized maternal factors that are successively inherited by the germline cells for silencing the germline. Germline quiescence has also been associated with the underphosphorylation of Ser2 of RNA polymerase II. Using an ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, we identified a first deuterostome example of a maternally localized factor, PEM, which represses germline transcription through Ser2 underphosphorylation. Our results suggest that non-homologous proteins, PEM, Pgc of Drosophila, and PIE-1 of C. elegans, repress germline gene expression through analogous functions: by keeping Ser2 underphosphorylated through binding to the P-TEFb complex, a kinase that phosphorylates Ser2. The present study provides an interesting example of evolutionary constraint on how a mechanism of germline silencing can evolve in diverse animals.
|
