Optogenetics breakthrough achieved in Japan
9 Feb 2017 by Evoluted New Media
Light has been successfully used by a Japanese researcher to manipulate gene expression to produce double-headed zebrafish.
Light has been successfully used by a Japanese researcher to manipulate gene expression to produce double-headed zebrafish.
Attempts to manipulate gene expression, not solely limited to using light, have often focused on transcribing DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA). However Shinzi Ogasawara, a researcher at Hokkaido University, chose to focus on controlling the process of translating mRNA to protein.
Assistant Professor Shinzi Ogasawara said, “Our method would be particularly useful to accurately manipulate embryonic development, and reveal the importance of the timing and duration of gene expression in biological events.”
Ogasawara modified fluorescent protein mRNAs to bind to Initiation Factors - proteins involved in the initiation of translation - when irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light.
The research team discovered that protein production began several minutes after UV light irradiation, stopping after exposure to blue light. This is a considerable achievement as other light technologies take several hours between the beginning and end of protein production.
The culmination of this research saw Ogasawara create double headed zebrafish by controlling the expression duration of squint, a gene responsible for regulation body axis formation. Ogasawara said: “By applying this technology to higher model organisms such as mice, we hope to help clarify the role each gene plays in the development of animals as well as in various diseases”
The study was published in ACS Chemical Biology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIs1yC6qKM
