2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Functional Analysis of acentrosomal microtubule orginizing center in mouse oocytes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23657125
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Cell biology
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	OHSUGI MIHO 東京大学, 総合文化研究科, 准教授 (00332586)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	中心体 / 微小管 / がん細胞 / γチューブリン
Research Abstract	Gamma-tubulin localizes mainly to the centrosome and plays a central role in microtubule nucleation. Among the vertebrates, only mammals possess two gamma-tubulin genes, TUBG1, which is expressed ubiquitously and TUBG2, which is specific to early embryos and neurons. Here we addressed the question of whether there is a functional difference between these two gene products. We found that TUBG2 was ectopically expressed in several cancer cell lines. Our studies using these cell lines and TUBG2 deficient mouse oocytes suggest that TUBG1 and TUBG2 plays dirrefent roles in somatic cells, especially in mitotic spindle formation.

(5 results)