Development of selection technology for preimplantation embryos

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19261
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 42:Veterinary medical science, animal science, and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Fujii Wataru 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 助教 (40708161)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 発生工学 / ゲノム編集

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study attempted to develop new selection technology for preimplantation embryos, which has the desired mutation while avoiding mosaicism. We have established a useful Anti-CRISPR inactivation tool usable in zygotes. Besides, we screened for Cas9 mutants in zygotes and found that SpCas9-NG and HypaCas9 are usable for the expansion of targetable loci and accurate target recognition at the single-base level, respectively. Also, we found that genotoxin-related factors were effective in stopping preimplantation development artificially. It is expected that a scheme for selecting preimplantation embryos can be constructed by integrating these findings.

Free Research Field

動物発生工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究計画内で、有効なツールの確立には至らなかったが、得られた知見を統合することで、塩基配列に依存した着床前胚の選抜技術が確立できると期待される。また、派生技術として、得られた受精卵内で精密なゲノム編集が可能なツールに関しては、今後、受精卵を介したゲノム編集による遺伝子改変動物の作製系に有用であると期待される。