Establishment of cerebellar connectome

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24370088
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Hibi Masahiko 名古屋大学, 生物機能開発利用研究センター, 教授 (40273627)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TAKEUCHI MIKI 名古屋大学, 生物機能開発利用研究センター, 研究員 (60625127)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 小脳 / 神経回路形成 / ゼブラフィッシュ / 蛍光タンパク質 / 可視化 / ライブイメージング / 変異体 / 神経発生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We isolated transgenic zebrafish lines that express a modified version of Gal4 in the cerebellar neural circuits: granule, Purkinje, eurydendroid cells, Bergmann glia, and or the neurons in the inferior olive nuclei. Using these lines, we investigated the anatomy and developmental processes of the cerebellar neural circuitry. Identification of the locus of the zebrafish mutant shiomaneki, which displays aberrant axons of granule cells, revealed that type IV collagen controls the formation of granule cell axons by regulating the integrity of the basement membrane. Analysis of the medaka mutant ro, which shows abnormal swimming behavior, revealed that Contactin1 plays a conserved role in the formation and/or function of the neural network involved in motor coordination. We carried out transcriptome analysis of cerebellar neurons to identify molecules controlling the cerebellar neural circuit formation.

Free Research Field

発生生物学