RIKEN BioResource Research Center (BRC^®) Bioresource Engineering Division

Director: Atsuo Ogura (D.V.M., Ph.D.)

Japanese Page

Research Summary

To sustain the reliability of the Bioresource Project, it is critically important to continuously maintain and distribute bioresources at a high quality. We develop new techniques for this purpose. The major subjects include those essential for the projects of mouse and cell resources, such as nuclear transfer, assisted fertilization (microinjection), establishment of stem cell lines of various origins, and cryopreservation of embryos/gametes. We also undertake studies on developmental/reproductive biology and epigenetics by using the techniques we develop.

Main Research Fields

Biological Sciences

Related Research Fields

Biology
Agricultural Sciences
Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
Laboratory animal science
Integrative animal science

Keywords

Fertilization
Genome Reprogramming
Germ Cells
Epigenetics

Selected Publications

1. Inoue K, Ogonuki N, Kamimura S, Inoue H, Matoba S, Hirose M, Honda A, Miura K, Hada M, Hasegawa A, Watanabe N, Dodo Y, Mochida K, and Ogura A.:
"Loss of H3K27me3 imprinting in the Sfmbt2 miRNA cluster causes enlargement of cloned mouse placentas."
Nat Commun 11, 2150. (2020).
2. Hirose M,Honda A, Fulka H, Tamura-Nakano M, Matoba S, Tomishima T, Mochida K, Hasegawa A, Nagashima K, Inoue K, Ohtsuka M, Baba T, Yanagimachi R, and Ogura A.:
"Acrosin is essential for sperm penetration through the zona pellucida in hamsters."
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 117, 2513-2518 (2020)
3. Matoba S, Miura K, Hirose M, Shiura H, Kohda T, Nakamuta N, and Ogura A.:
"Paternal knockout of Slc38a4/SNAT4 causes placental hypoplasia associated with intrauterine growth restriction in mice."
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116, 21047-21053 (2019)
4. Hatanaka Y, Tsusaka T, Shimizu N, Morita K, Suzuki T, Machida S, Satoh M, Honda A, Hirose M, Kamimura S, Ogonuki N, Nakamura T, Inoue K, Hosoi Y, Dohmae N, Nakano T, Kurumizaka H, Matsumoto K, Shinkai Y, and Ogura A.:
"Histone H3 methylated at arginine 17 is essential for reprogramming the paternal genome in zygotes."
Cell Rep 20, 2756-2765. (2017).
5. Inoue, K., Hirose, M., Inoue, H., Hatanaka, Y., Honda, A., Hasegawa, A., Mochida, K., and Ogura, A.:
"The rodent-specific microRNA cluster within the Sfmbt2 gene is imprinted and essential for placental development."
Cell Rep 19, 949-956 (2017).
6. Kaminuma, O., Katayama, K., Inoue, K., Saeki, M., Nishimura, T., Kitamura, N., Shimo, Y., Tofukuji, S., Ishida, S., Ogonuki, N., Kamimura, S., Oikawa, M., Katoh, S., Mori, A., Shichijo, M., Hiroi, T., and Ogura, A.:
"Hyper-reactive cloned mice generated by direct nuclear transfer of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells."
EMBO Rep 18, 885-893. (2017).
7. Hatanaka, Y., Inoue, K., Oikawa, M., Kamimura, S., Ogonuki, N., Kodama, E., Ohkawa, Y., Tsukada, Y., and Ogura, A.:
"Histone chaperone CAF-1 mediates repressive histone modifications to protect preimplantation mouse embryos from endogenous retrotransposon."
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112, 14641-14646. (2015).
8. Ogura, A., Inoue, K., and Wakayama, T.:
"Recent advancements in cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer."
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 368, 20110329. (2013).
9. Matoba, S., Inoue, K., Kohda, K., Sugimioto, M., Mizutani, E., Ogonuki, N., Nakamura, T., Abe, K., Nakano, T., Ishino, F., and Ogura, A.:
"RNAi-mediated knockdown of Xist can rescue the impaired postimplantation development of cloned mouse embryos."
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108, 20621-20626. (2011).
10. Inoue, K., Kohda, T., Sugimoto, M., Sado, T., Ogonuki, N., Matoba, S., Shiura, H., Ikeda, R., Mochida, K., Fujii, T., Sawai, K., Otte, AP., Tian, XC., Yang, X., Ishino, F., Abe, K., and Ogura, A.:
"Impeding Xist expression from the active X chromosome improves mouse somatic cell nuclear transfer."
Science 330, 496-499. (2010).