Study on spatial organization of chromosomes mediated by small RNA

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26840009
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Molecular biology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KAWAKAMI Kei 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 特任研究員 (00722836)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ヘテロクロマチン / 核内構造 / 低分子RNA / 分裂酵母 / RNAi

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although It is known that heterochromatin (HC) structure that suppresses the gene expression is clustered at nuclear periphery or around the nucleolus, its mechanism and biological significance are not well understood. In this study, I aimed to clarify the mechanism of HC cluster formation using fission yeast as a model organism. A system capable of artificially inducing HC dependent on small RNAs was constructed in the arm of the chromosome. The behavior of this artificially induced HC in the nucleus was analyzed in detail by the 3C method (Chromosome Conformation Capture). As a result, we reveled this artificially induced HC region spatially interacts with the native HC region such as centromere and telomere at the chromatin level. This result clearly showed that the RNAi-dependent HC structure has the ability to form clusters in the nucleus.

Free Research Field

核内構造