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Molecular Genetics Lab
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A lab that uses cellular slime molds to explore how cells perceive space and move.
AboutAbout the lab
How do cells perceive space and move?
The lab studies how cells perceive space and move, mainly using cellular slime molds (Dictyostelium).
Using molecular biology and genetic engineering, the lab creates and examines strains with disrupted genes and strains expressing genes fused to fluorescent proteins.
It also conducts research related to pharmacology and medicine, such as cellular tolerance to caffeine and the function of genes involved in human Huntington's disease.
As the core institution of the National BioResource Project for cellular slime molds, the lab also collects, preserves, and distributes cellular slime mold resources.
Key terms
- Cellular slime mold
- A type of amoeba that lives in soil. It is the organism this lab mainly uses in its experiments.
- Huntington's disease
- A genetic disease whose causative gene, huntingtin, is known.
- Soliton
- A physical phenomenon in which a stable wave travels while keeping its shape, like spreading ripples.
- Apoptosis
- Cell death that occurs through a mechanism built in advance. Also called programmed cell death.
ResearchResearch themes
Using cellular slime molds as its main experimental organism, the lab investigates with molecular biology and genetic engineering methods how cells perceive space and move. It also works on themes related to pharmacology and medicine, including tolerance to caffeine, genes responsible for human diseases, and factors that suppress cancer.
*Illustrative imageFunction of the gene responsible for Huntington's disease
The lab studies the normal function of huntingtin, the gene responsible for Huntington's disease. Cellular slime molds have a homologous gene, and disrupting it is not lethal, so the lab analyzes its function in intracellular signaling, aiming to apply the findings to research in humans.
*Illustrative imageHow caffeine kills cells
The lab investigates how high concentrations of caffeine become toxic to cells. It has found a pathway in which caffeine promotes the release of arachidonic acid and causes cell death, and it is working to clarify that pathway using molecular biology methods.
*Illustrative imageCell populations that move like solitons
In one mutant strain, the cells do not aggregate even when starved, and a soliton-like phenomenon was found in which wave-shaped cell populations keep their shape and keep moving after colliding. The lab is identifying the mutated gene and investigating the molecular mechanism of the movement.
*Illustrative imageAnalysis of the cancer suppressor DdMRP4
DdMRP4, a molecule in cellular slime molds, is thought to be involved in the cessation of growth and the start of differentiation. When it was expressed in human cancer cells, apoptosis occurred and proliferation was suppressed. The lab is analyzing it at the gene level, aiming at application to cancer drugs.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty, doctoral students, research students, and technical staff.As of 2017
- ProfessorHidekazu Kuwayama
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Dictyostelium discoideum 06” Usman Bashir / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Function of the gene responsible for Huntington's disease: “Dictyostelium discoideum fb 2” Tyler Larsen / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How caffeine kills cells: “Roasted coffee beans” MarkSweep / Public domain (cropped)
- Cell populations that move like solitons: “Slime mold sporangia 01” Tony Wills / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Analysis of the cancer suppressor DdMRP4: “Dictyostelium purpureum fruiting bodies” Hliangbiology / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Organelle Cell Biology Lab): “Fluorescence Microscopy of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Following Auramine O Staining. 03” Siduduziwe Nxumalo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Phylogenetics Lab): “Darwin tree” Charles Darwin / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Genetics Lab): “Yeast cultures in incubator-1” Masur / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Tani Lab): “Crystal structure of chicken brain-type creatine kinase” Cytochrome c at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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