2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Formation of facultative heterochromatin in fission yeast
| Project/Area Number |
23657005
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Genetics/Genome dynamics
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
ISHIKAWA Fuyuki 京都大学, 大学院・生命科学研究科, 教授 (30184493)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TARUMOTO Yusuke 京都大学, 大学院・生命科学研究科, 助教 (70551381)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2012
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| Keywords | 遺伝学 / ゲノム / 発現制御 / 発生・分化 / エピジェネティックス |
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| Research Abstract |
We have studied the molecular mechanism of facultative heterochromatin formation in fission yeast. We first demonstrated that the fission yeast meiotic genes, mei4 and ssm4 loci are heterochromatinated, as evidenced by the presence of histone H3 methylated at lysine 9 (H3K9me), in vegetative growth. This heterochromatin marker disappears upon the entry of cells into meiotic cell cycle. We then revealed that the Mmi1 -degradation machinery of mei4 and ssm4 mRNA transcript is required for the establishment of H3K9me when cells enters vegetative growth phase. Moreover, we found that DSRs, a set of mRNA regions included in mei4 and ssm4 transcripts, are required for the Mmi1 -dependent heterochromatin establishment. These results shed an insight into our understanding of how heterochromatin is formed in eukaryotes.
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