Specific upregulation of candidate gene by probiotics in Caenorhabditis elegans

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26882032
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Komura Tomomi 大阪市立大学, 大学院生活科学研究科, 客員研究員 (10736515)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 線虫 / ビフィズス菌 / プロバイオティクス / 老化 / 寿命

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Immunosenescence is one of the most important determinants of disease morbidity and mortality in elderly humans. We have studied whether food factors could control senescence of immune function and contribute to the successful aging.
More than 70% of human genes have an ortholog in Caenorhabditis elegans genome. This organism has been used as an experimental system to study aging because of its short lifespan and the discoveries of genes associated with the senescence. We previously showed that probiotics could prolong the lifespan of metazoan, the first in the world, using the nematodes (Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2007；73：6404-9).I had successfully established a transgenic nematode of that candidate gene was fused to GFP. This study is to reveal the immunogenics, which is immunomodulatory factors of the probiotics, by a molecular biological approach using the nematodes. The reporter assay would be used to screen probiotic bacteria as immunoenhancer.

Free Research Field

免疫栄養学