Analysis of molecular mechanisms controlling fate choice of pigment cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26440121
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Hashimoto Hisashi 名古屋大学, 生物機能開発利用研究センター, 助教 (30359757)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NARUSE Kiyoshi 基礎生物学研究所, 進化多様性生物学領域, 特任教授 (50208089)
• Research Collaborator: NAGAO Yusuke ; TAKADA Hiroyuki ; MYADAI Motohiro
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 転写因子 / 分化制御

Outline of Final Research Achievements

How individual cell fates become specified from multipotent progenitors is a fundamental question in developmental biology. Pigment cells derive from a multipotent progenitor, but while in zebrafish there are three types of pigment cells (melanocytes, iridophores and xanthophores), in medaka the progenitors form four (as zebrafish, plus leucophores), raising questions about how conserved mechanisms of fate specification of each pigment cell type are in these fish. To address them, we focus on Sox5 and Sox10, which we previously showed were involved in pigment cell development in medaka and zebrafish, respectively. We show that development of all pigment cells, except leucophores, is dependent on Sox10, and that Sox5 modulates Sox10 activity antagonistically in all pigment cells in zebrafish, and melanocytes and iridophores in medaka. In medaka, Sox5 acts cooperatively with Sox10 to promote xanthophore fate and to repress leucophore fate.

Free Research Field

発生遺伝学