Development of a genome editing system for analyzing the molecular mechanism of parthenogenesis in the water flea Daphnia pulex

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26840115
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Genetics/Chromosome dynamics
• Research Institution: Iwate Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Hiruta Chizue 岩手医科大学, 教養教育センター, 助教 (20723018)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: モデル生物開発 / ゲノム編集 / 単為生殖 / ミジンコ / ノックアウト / TALEN

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to be able to reveal the molecular mechanism of the parthenogenetic oogenesis in the water flea Daphnia pulex, I conducted microinjection of TALEN mRNAs into early embryos and examined the possibility of using TALEN to edit the genome. As a result, I have succeeded the development of targeted gene disruption (knock-out) by using Platinum TALEN in D. pulex. Now, I am engaged on the development of knock-in system by using TAL-PITCh. Moreover, I described the developmental staging of both sexes during embryogenesis in D. pulex to use for its phenotype analysis of knock-in/out strains.

Free Research Field

生殖発生生物学