Capturing the behavior of functional RNAs across the plant-animal boundary contributing to bioregulatory actions

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K19154
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 38:Agricultural chemistry and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Fujimura Yoshinori 九州大学, 農学研究院, 准教授 (20390304)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-06-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: miRNA / 機能性RNA / ファイトケミカル / 緑茶

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, it has been shown that microRNAs (miRNAs), a type of functional RNA derived from dietary plants, may also act in animals, and the role of miRNAs across the plant-animal kingdoms is attracting increasing attention. The aim of the present study was to elucidate miRNA expression profiles of representative dietary plants with biological activities and some of the characteristic miRNA-mRNA regulatory structures linked to the biological activities. The miRNA expression profiles of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) were obtained by next-generation sequencing analysis to find the possible biological target mRNAs involved in their functional regulation and to identify the associated biological events and signalling pathways.

Free Research Field

食品機能学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

生命科学分野では、動物体内における内在性miRNAが様々な生命現象や疾患制御に重要な役割を果たすことが解明されつつあるが、これらの界を超えた動物体内で作用する生体調節機能に関しての研究は未開拓なままである。本研究の実現は、食品科学分野では遅れている「新たな生体調節因子としての機能性 RNA研究」の進展に寄与すると共に、「有用な機能性 RNA を含有する新規品種の開発」や「機能性品種の新たな判別マーカーの開発」への応用も可能となる。また、本研究成果は、植物由来の機能性 RNA に着目した新たな戦略の機能性食品、植物製剤や生薬ならびに補完代替医療（CAM）の研究開発にも貢献できる可能性がある。