Molecular mechanism for evolution of metazoan multicellularity

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26891021
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: Prefectural University of Hiroshima
• Principal Investigator: Suga Hiroshi 県立広島大学, 生命環境学部, 准教授 (30734107)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 多細胞性の進化 / 単細胞ホロゾア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

How did the multicellular system of animals evolve? Analysis of unicellular holozoans, the closest unicellular relatives of animals, is a key to solve this question. Surprisingly many “multicellularity genes”, which are in animals used for developing and maintaining multicellular bodies, have been found in the genomes of unicellular holozoans, suggesting that genes for cell adhesion, cell-cell communication, proliferation, extracellular matrix, and organ growth control were abundantly present already in premetazoans. In the project, we aimed to analyze these genes, taking advantage of the whole genome information of unicellular holozoans and the recently-developed method for transformation, in order to understand the molecular mechanisms for evolution of animal multicellularity.

Free Research Field

生物学