2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Reactivation of the inactive X chromosome through the asymmetric precursor cell division in the embryonal carcinoma cell population

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24650614
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Tumor biology
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	YOSHIDA Ikuya 北海道大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (90240275)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	幹細胞 / 不活性X染色体 / 再活性化 / 非対称分裂 / 胚性腫瘍細胞
Research Abstract	A single-cell derived cell populations of mouse embryonic stem (ES) and embryonal carcinoma (EC) cell are not homogeneous: heterogeneous cells in phenotype and/or function are frequently appeared in these undifferentiated cell populations. However mechanistic detail of their cellular heterogeneity remains unknown. We investigated how inactive X chromosomes (Xi) are reactivated in the undifferentiated EC cell population, and found that (1) stem-cell-like precursor cells are stochastically appeared in the populations, and (2) asymmetric cell divisions of the precursor cell generates a precursor cell and a HAT resistant (= Xi-reactivated) cell. Further analysis will be needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms for the acquisition of stem-cell-like properties, including Xi-reactivation ability, during asymmetric cell divisions.

(2 results)