Constitutive understanding of the mechanism to generate DNA methylation pattern: a challenge toward synthetic epigenomics

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26640131
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: System genome science
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Ito Takashi 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (90201326)
• Research Collaborator: OKADA Satoshi 九州大学, 大学院医学研究院, 助教 (30734488)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: エピジェネティクス / ヒストン修飾 / DNAメチル化 / CRISPR/Cas9

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The pattern of epigenetic modifications including histone modifications and DNA methylation regulates the function of eukaryotic genome. Accordingly, if one can artificially generate a specific pattern, one may not only make the genome exert an intended function but also prove the mechanism underlying the formation of the pattern. To pursue the possibility of such synthetic epigenomics approaches, we exploited the CRISPR/Cas9 system to modify histone modification patterns at a specific locus in the yeast genome to confer an intended phenotype on the cells.

Free Research Field

ゲノム科学・分子生物学