Laboratories
Electron Microscope Laboratory
Shigenobu YONEMURA
Head,Electron Microscope Laboratory
Shigenobu YONEMURA (Ph.D.)
mail

Research Areas

Various types of cells that constitute the body have their specific shapes to play their specific roles. It is an important basis to understand development of the whole body which elucidate the molecular mechanism of cellular morphogenesis. Although cytoskeletons such as actin filaments and microtubules are known to be major materials for morphogenesis, our knowledge about the regulatory mechanism for their construction/destruction is still fragmentary. Our laboratory aims at understanding the molecular mechanism of organization of cell-to-cell junctions and of dynamic cellular morphological changes at cytokinesis or wound closure movement, taking morphological approaches as well as molecular biological approaches. Regulatory mechanism of force generation within cells and how cells use mechanical signals for establishement of cell polarity and cell-to-cell junctions are our recent projects.

Research Subject

  1. Regulation of adherens junction remodellig by forces using alpha-catenin as a mechanotransducer.
  2. Molecular mechanism of perception of dead cells and signaling of wound closure in cell sheets.
  3. Role of force generated by myosin II on establishment of epithelial polarity.

Related links

  1. RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology Website_Laboratories PageNew Window

RIKEN RESEARCH

December 24, 2010
Pulling it togetherNew Window
July 09,2010
A matter of give and take
Sheets of cells stick together by monitoring and responding to the pull of their neighbors New Window

List of Selected Publications

  1. Suga H, Kadoshima T, Minaguchi M, Ohgushi M, Soen M, Nakano T, Takata N, Wataya T, Muguruma K, Miyoshi H, Yonemura S, Oiso Y, Sasai Y.:
    "Self-formation of functional adenohypophysis in three-dimensional culture."
    Nature. 480:57-62 (2011)
  2. Tajiri R, Misaki K, Yonemura S, Hayashi S.:
    "Joint morphology in the insect leg: evolutionary history inferred from Notch loss-of-function phenotypes in Drosophila."
    Development. 138:4621-4626 (2011)
  3. *Yonemura S.:
    "A mechanism of mechanotransduction at the cell-cell interface: emergence of α-catenin as the center of a force-balancing mechanism for morphogenesis in multicellular organisms."
    Bioessays. 33:732-736 (2011)
  4. *Yonemura S.:
    "Cadherin-actin interactions at adherens junctions."
    Curr Opin Cell Biol. 23:515-522 (2011)
  5. *Yonemura, S., Wada, Y., Watanabe, T., Nagafuchi, A. and Shibata, M.:
    "α-catenin as a tension transducer that induces adherens junction development."
    Nature Cell Biol. 12:533-542 (2010)
  6. Wada K, Itoga K, Okano T, Yonemura S, Sasaki H.:
    "Hippo pathway regulation by cell morphology and stress fibers."
    Development. 138:3907-3914 (2011)
  7. *Iida, A., Sakaguchi, K., Sato, K., Sakurai, H., Nishimura, D., Iwaki, A., Takeuchi, M., Kobayashi, M., Misaki, K., Yonemura, S., Kawahara, A., and Sehara-Fujisawa, A.:
    "Metalloprotease-dependent onset of blood circulation in zebrafish."
    Curr. Biol. 20:1110-1116 (2010)
  8. *Otani T, Oshima K, Onishi S, Takeda M, Shinmyozu K, Yonemura S, and Hayashi S.:
    "Kke regulates cell elongation through recycling endosome shuttling."
    Dev. Cell. 20: 219-232 (2011)
  9. Tanaka-Okamoto M, Hori K, Ishizaki H, Itoh Y, Onishi S, Yonemura S, Takai Y, Miyoshi J.:
    "Involvement of afadin in barrier function and homeostasis of mouse intestinal epithelia."
    J Cell Sci. 124:2231-2240 (2011)
  10. *Takeuchi, K., Nakano, Y., Kato, U., Kaneda, M., Aizu, M., Awano, W., Yonemura, S., Kiyonaka, S., Mori, Y., Yamamoto, D., and Umeda M.:
    "Changes in temperature preferences and energy homeostasis in dystroglycan mutants."
    Science. 323, 1740-1743 (2009)

Members

Principal Investigator

Shigenobu YONEMURA
Head

Members

Hanako HAYASHI
Research Scientist
Kazuyo MISAKI
Technical Staff I
Kisa KAKIGUCHI
Technical Staff I