Developing an alternative model system of muco-ciliary epithelium and the study of the ERAD function on chondrogenesis

Abstract

Department of Biological SciencesXenopus laevis is a well-known model animal to study developmental biology. Hundreds of eggs can be easily obtained from a single female by ovulation using human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) hormone, and developing embryos can be synchronized by in vitro fertilization. Also, Xenopus laevis egg is relatively larger than other model animals such as drosophila, zebrafish, and mouse. Furthermore, gene expression can be simply manipulated by performing mRNA or morpholino microinjection. Recently, CRISPR/Cas9 -mediated mutagenesis has been widely used to generate an F0 mutant using Xenopus embryos. Moreover, the developmental process is relatively faster compared with other animal models such as mouse or rats. Due to these advantages, I preferentially used Xenopus laevis as a model animal to conduct my graduate research project. My graduate research has two main ideas. First, my research focuses on studying the pathophysiology of the muco-ciliary epithelium. Secondly, I researched craniofacial cartilage development. In muco-ciliary epithelium research, I revealed proteomes of ciliary subdomains, especially transition zone and ciliary axoneme. Also, I developed a high-throughput screening system to discover muco-active reagents. In craniofacial cartilage research, I demonstrated that the ERAD complex is critical for chondrogenesis and is one of the significant causes of osteoarthritis.clos