Endocytic pathway involving microautophagy in animals

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25650066
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cell biology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Wada Yoh 大阪大学, 産業科学研究所, 准教授 (50212329)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: エンドサイトーシス / シグナル伝達 / 上皮細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Endocytic pathway plays essential roles in signal transduction, although its significance in a multi-cellular context remains largely unknown. In rodent perigastrulation embryos, signalling molecules as well as maternal nutrients must cross a tightly sealed epithelium, visceral endoderm, to reach the embryo proper, implicating importance of endocytosis. We found that the endocytic delivery in VE proceeds by microautophagy: large vacuoles engulf incoming pre-vacuolar endosomes without forming a continuous membrane. This unique membrane dynamics is quite different from the canonical endosome-lysosome traffic that involves the fusion of two distinct membranes. Microautophagic delivery is also implicated in food absorption in illium. Loss of the autophagic machinery resulted in mild retardation in weight-gain of newborn animals. We are also interested in proliferation profiles of gut epithelium at later stages, which are highly dependent on proper regulation of multiple signaling.

Free Research Field

細胞生物学