Regulating genetic codes by high pressure

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26620138
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Bio-related chemistry
• Research Institution: Konan University
• Principal Investigator: Sugimoto Naoki 甲南大学, 先端生命工学研究所, 教授 (60206430)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Shuntaro Takahashi 甲南大学, 先端生命工学研究所, 講師 (40456257)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 核酸 / RNA / DNA / 熱力学的安定性 / 高圧力 / 遺伝暗号

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we used high pressure and investigated to regulate gene expression by changing the stability of non-canonical structure of nucleic acids selectively. As a result, the non-canonical structures such as G-quadruplex was largely destabilized with increasing pressure. By using this property, we found that gene expression from the DNA including non-canonical nucleic acids structure could be regulated by tuning pressure. These results shed light on the development of novel system of gene expression by using pressure changes and the elucidation of the origin of life, which was possibly born under a high pressure condition.

Free Research Field

生命分子化学