ChIP-Injection: Identification of functional enhancers using zebrafish embryos

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26430182
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Genome biology
• Research Institution: Saitama University
• Principal Investigator: Akinori Kawamura 埼玉大学, 理工学研究科, 准教授 (10466691)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: エンハンサー / スクリーニング / クロマチン免疫沈降法 / ゼブラフィッシュ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Using zebrafish embryos, we established a ChIP-Injection method that enables identification of functional enhancers based on their enhancer activities in embryos. Each reporter gene possessing the enhancer-associated genomic region enriched by ChIP was injected into zebrafish embryos to analyze the activity of putative enhancers. By using the ChIP-Injection, we identified 32 distinct putative enhancers that drove specific expression. Additionally, we generated transgenic lines that exhibit distributions of the EGFP signal as was observed in the screening. Furthermore, the expression pattern driven by the identified somite-specific enhancer resembled that of the gene acta2. The results indicate that ChIP-Injection provides an efficient approach for identification of active enhancers in a potentially wide variety of developmental tissues and stages.

Free Research Field

ゲノム生物学、発生生物学