Improvement of the genetically encoded probe for retinoic acid, GEPRA.

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26460089
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biological pharmacy
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Shimozono Satoshi 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 脳科学総合研究センター, 研究員 (40391982)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 蛍光タンパク質 / レチノイン酸 / FRET / 発生生物学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

GEPRA is the genetically encoded probe for retinoic acid. Because a high dose uptake of the retinoic acid results in teratogenesis in vertebrates, it is crucial to know how the retinoic acid distribute in embryos. Although we have successfully visualized the retinoic acid distribution in zebrafish, GEPRA had a tendency to form aggregates in mammalian cells when overly expressed. Furthermore, it is not bright because GEPRA utilizes a dim fluorescent protein.
To overcome the drawbacks, we extensively engineered the probe. Finally we have obtained a brighter GEPRA without aggregates (we named the improved GEPRA, mGEPRA). We further succeeded in establishing transgenic mouse lines expressing mGEPRA.

Free Research Field

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