Identification of key factors involved in the evolution of multicellularity

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24657167
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: National Institute for Basic Biology
• Principal Investigator: HASEBE MITSUYASU 基礎生物学研究所, 生物進化研究部門, 教授 (40237996)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NISHIYAMA Tomoaki 金沢大学, 学際科学実験センター, 助教 (50390688) ; ISHIKAWA Masaki 基礎生物学研究所, 生物進化研究部門, 助教 (00586894)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MURATA Takashi 基礎生物学研究所, 生物進化研究部門, 准教授 (00242024)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 多細胞進化 / オーキシン / ヒメツリガネゴケ / 側方抑制

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the moss Physcomitrella patens, when a neighboring two-leaf cell pair is isolated, only one of the two cells undergoes reprogramming into a chloronema apical stem cell, while the other appears to be laterally suppressed by signal(s) derived from the reprogramming cell. In this study, we suggest a model that (1) auxin accumulates in the both leaf cells at the early stage of the stem cell formation, (2) an auxin efflux carrier expresses in the reprogramming cell and localizes in cellular membrane facing another cell, (3) the carrier function in establishment of auxin gradient between the two cells, and (4) a leaf cell with low auxin changes into a stem cell, while another one with high auxin remains leaf cell gate. Thus, auxin could act as a lateral suppression factor during the stem cell formation.

Free Research Field

進化生物学