Laboratory for Vertebrate Body Plan
Research Areas
| Vertebrate body is composed of three regions: the trunk region that is segmented by somites, the hindbrain/pharyngeal region where two rhombomeres unit with one pharyngeal arch and the rostral head where neither somites nor notochord exist. Each tissue and organ are formed in each germ layer, ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm, under positional informations along anterior/posterior, dorsal/ventral and lef/right axes. The ultimate goal of the researches in this group is to elucidate how the vertebrate body plan is established both ontogenetically and phylogenetically. Vertebrate body develops from rostral head, as it is in all metazoan, and brain is a unique creature in vertebrates. Special attention is paid on molecular mechanisms of head development. The research is mainly based on genetic studies in mice, but studies will be also accomplished with a variety of vertebrates. We aim at the comprehensive understanding of the phylogenetic transition of mechanisms of head development in vertebrates. |  Group Director Shinichi AIZAWA (Ph. D.)  |
Research Subjects
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List of Selected Publications
| (1) | Suda, Y., Kurokawa, D., Takeuchi, M., Kajikawa, E., Kuratani, S., Amemiya, C., and Aizawa, S.: "Evolution of Otx paralogue usages in early patterning of the vertebrate head." Developmental Biology 325 282-295. (2009). |
| (2) | Shibata, M., Kurokawa, D., Nakao, H., Ohmura, T., and Aizawa, S.: "MicroRNA-9 modulates Cajal-Retzius cell differentiation by suppressing Foxg1 expression in mouse medial pallium." J Neurosci. 28, 10415-21. (2008). |
| (3) | Hirano, M., Hashimoto, S., Yonemura, S., Sabe, H., and Aizawa, S.: "EPB41L5 functions to post-transcriptionally regulate cadherin and integrin during epithelial-mesenchymal transition." Journal of Cell Biology 182 1217-1230. (2008). |
| (4) | Kimura-Yoshida, C., Tian, E., Nakano, H., Amazaki, S., Shimokawa, K., Rossant, J., Aizawa, S., and Matsuo, I.: "Crucial roles of Foxa2 in mouse anterior-posterior axis polarization via regulation of anterior visceral endoderm-specific genes." PNAS 104, 5919-5924. (2007). |
| (5) | Takasaki, N., Kurokawa, D., Nakayama, R., Nakayama, J., and Aizawa, S.: "Acetylated YY1 regulates Otx2 expression in anterior neuroectoderm at two cis-sites 90kb apart." The EMBO Journal 26, 1649-1659. (2007). |
| (6) | Kurokawa, D., Sakurai, Y., Inoue, A., Nakayama, R., Takasaki, N., Suda, Y., Miyake, T., Amemiya, C., and Aizawa, S.: "Evolutionary constraint on Otx2 neuroectoderm enhacers-deep conservation from skate to mouse and unique divergence in teleost." PNAS 103, 19350-19355 (2006). |
| (7) | Nagano, T., Takehara, S., Takahashi, M., Aizawa, S., and Yamamoto, A.: "Shisa2 promotes the maturation of somatic precursors and transition to the segmental fate in Xenopus embryos." Development 133, 4643-4654 (2006). |
| (8) | Kimura, J., Suda, Y., Kurokawa, D., Houssain, ZM., Nakamura, M., Takahashi, M., Hara, A., and Aizawa, S.: "Emx2 and Pax6 Function in Cooperation with Otx2 and Otx1 to Develop Caudal Forebrain Primordium That Includes Future Archip-allium." The Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 5097-5108 (2005). |
| (9) | Yamamoto, A., Nagano, T., Takehara, S., Hibi, M., and Aizawa, S.: "Shisa promotes head formation through the inhibition of the receptor protein maturation for the caudalizing factors, Wnt and FGF." Cell, 120, 223-235 (2005). |
| (10) | Kurokawa, D., Takasaki, N., Kiyonari, H., Nakayama, R., Kimura, C., Matsuo, I., and Aizawa, S.: "Regulation of Otx2 expression and its functions in mouse epiblast and anterior neuroectoderm." Development, 131, 3307-3317 (2004). |