Establishment of a novel mutant mouse strain showing age-related pigmentation and epigenetic changes in the age-related pigmentation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24650233
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Laboratory animal science
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: ISHIKAWA Akira 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 准教授 (20211724)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 遺伝学 / 遺伝子 / マウス / エピジェネティクス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

During development of a mixed strain carrying the Oca2p-cas (oculocutaneous albinism II; pink-eyed dilution castaneus) gene discovered from Indonesian wild mice, a novel spontaneous mutant showing age-related pigmentation was found. A line fixed for this mutant phenotype was established by selective breeding of the mutant phenotype. mRNA-sequencing analysis indicated no remarkable differences in expression levels of genes related to melanin synthesis between mutant and control mice. Whole-genome DNA methylation analysis identified two autosomes with high and low methylated regions. In vitro serum-free epidermal cell culture supplemented with L-tyrosine greatly induced the differentiation of melanocytes in mutant mice compared with controls.

Free Research Field

実験動物学