Profiling of proteins associated with cell differentiation based on changes in relative abundance and post-translational modification.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670156
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Pathological medical chemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: IGARASHI KAZUHIKO 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (00250738)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SHIMA Hiroki 東北大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 助手 (00448268)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞分化 / 転写因子 / クロマチン / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cell differentiation is mainly regulated by a concerted action of transcription factors and chromatin factors. Since these categories of proteins are relatively scarce in their amounts, identification of critical regulators has been challenging. In this project, we have tried to use mass spectrometry to compare relative levels of nuclear and chromatin proteins between B lymphoid cells and plasma cells. We also tried to compare post-translational modifications of proteins. The reproducibility of the protocols we established was confirmed via many rounds of repetition. The feasibility of the protocols were confirmed by comparing known regulators of B cells and plasma cells, such as Pax5, Bach2 and Irf4. We found several, uncharacterized transcription factors and chromatin factors whose expression was much higher in plasma cells. We are now carrying out functional analyses of these proteins.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学