Developmental stage-dependent change of SMAD target genes defines the direction of neural stem cell differentiation induced by bone morphogenetic proteins

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26710003
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Neurophysiology / General neuroscience
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Katada Sayako 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (00615685)
• Research Collaborator: HONDA Mizuki 九州大学, 医学系学府 ; TAKOUDA Jun 九州大学, 医学系学府 ; KAWAMURA Youichiro 九州大学, 医学系学府 ; YAMASHITA Rie 九州大学, 医学系学府
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 神経幹細胞 / BMP / エピジェネティクス / 分化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

During brain development, tight regulation of neurogenesis to astrogenesis switching of NSCs is critical. Accumulating evidence has indicated that epigenetic modifications and extracellular factors control the timing of neuronal and astrocytic differentiation of NSCs, however, complete understanding is still far from clear. Although BMPs are one group of well-characterized factors to induce astrocytic differentiation, we have recently found that BMPs induce neuronal differentiation of NSCs at mid-gestational stages. To elucidate molecular mechanism underlying this developmental stage specific responsiveness of NSCs, we have performed ChIP-seq and RNAseq analyses of E11 and E14 NSCs after BMP2 stimulation. Genome-wide mapping for the P-SMADs binding sites revealed that SMAD target genes were altered dramatically. By analyzing stage-specific P-SMADs binding sites, we identified several novel epigenetically regulated regions, which may contribute NSC’s fate choice.

Free Research Field

神経科学