Identification of molecular mechanism for the establishment of circadian clock during development.

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670111
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental physiology(including physical medicine and nutritional physiology)
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: Hirayama Jun 東京医科歯科大学, 難治疾患研究所, 准教授 (90510363)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 概日リズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Circadian clocks constitute ubiquitous processes that regulate various biochemical and physiological events occurring with a 24 hour periodicity. Zebrafish eggs are fertilized externally and embryos develop rapidly from fertilized eggs to larvae that swim, making them an excellent model for studies of vertebrate circadian clocks’ establish. Previous studies have reported that circadian rhythms in clock-controlled genes’ expression and locomotor activity in zebrafish larvae are not observed when zebrafish are raised in constant conditions. These rhythms emerge only if embryos are exposed to environmental signals such as light. However the molecular mechanisms underlying how these circadian rhythms are set in motion during development remains unclear.　This study used chemical library and have identified the signaling pathways and transcription factors, which are involved in establishment of circadian clock during development.

Free Research Field

分子生物学