Maternal factors related to body plan of sea urchin

ウニ形態形成に関わる母系因子の研究

Ogawa Mari

Expression of genes underlying various developmental processes such as morphogenesis, body plan, etc. is regulated by cascades of transcription factors. Factors or cell fate determinants of maternal origin are supposed to play important roles to drive these cascades. Sea urchin is one of the most useful material to study maternal factors and transcriptional cascades, because of simplicity of its developmental pattern and body plan and of easiness to get synchronized embryos in a large amount. In addition, the simple and quick procedure to introduce exogenous genes into a large number of sea urchin eggs has been developed in our laboratory.

The study in the present thesis has been undertaken to identify some of the maternal factors of sea urchin eggs and to elucidate their role in sea urchin development. In Part 1 of this thesis, detection and identification of maternal factors, poly(A)+ mitochondrial ribosomal type RNA (mt 12S rRNA and mt 16S rRNA), asymmetrically enriched in small micromeres are described. These two mt rRNAs are localize outside of mitochondria and distinguished from intramitochondrial rRNAs. Based on this findings, the author speculates possible role of extramitochondrial mt rRNAs in sea urchin development.

In Part II, the author has detected other maternal factor, HpSox protein, in sea urchin eggs, and found that by binding to a Sox motif in the promoter of the arylsulfatase gene HpSox protein regulates expression of arylsulfatase protein that is related to build up body plan of pluteus larvae.

Zoology [ 480 ]

eng

Copyright(c) by Author

Asymmetrical distribution of mitochondrial rRNA into small micromeres of sea urchin embryos. Mari Ogawa, Reiko Amikura, Koji Akasaka, Tsutomu Kinoshita, Satoru Kobayashi and Hiraku Shimada. accepted for Zoological Science references

[DOI] http://dx.doi.org/10.2108/zsj.16.445 references

広島大学