Nobuaki Kikyo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Medicine Tokyo University Medical School, 1993, Ph.D. kikyo001@umn.edu 612-624-0498 - office 612-625-1452 - lab

Research Interests:

Nuclear remodeling, stem cells and cancer

Differentiated somatic nuclei can dedifferentiate in egg cytoplasm and redifferentiate during early development as proven by somatic cells nuclear cloning. Our long-term goal is to understand the reprogramming mechanism of somatic nuclei at the molecular level. This study will contribute to future regeneration/transplantation medicine avoiding ethically controversial embryonic cells. One of our two projects concerns reversible disassembly of somatic nucleoli by the frog germ cell proteins FRGY2a and FRGY2 (Gonda et al, 2003). Since nucleoli sequester many proteins essential for cell proliferation, such as telomerase, nucleostemin and the p53 regulator ARF, this research will also contribute to our understanding of cancer progression. The second project investigates reprogramming of histone modifications and heterochromatin in nuclear cloning. This study of epigenetic gene regulation is important for cancer biology as well. Thus, investigation of nuclear reprogramming significantly benefits progress of cancer research.

Selected Recent Publications:

• Gonda, K. and Kikyo, N. Nuclear remodeling assay in Xenopus egg extract. Methods Mol Biol. in press.    

• Tamada, H., Thuan, N. V., Reed, P., Nelson, D., Katoku-Kikyo, N., Wudel,J., Wakayama, T. and Kikyo, N. 2006. Chromatin decondensation and nuclear reprogramming by nucleoplasmin.  Mol Cell Biol 26, 1259-71.

• Gonda, K., Wudel, J., Nelson, D., Katoku-Kikyo, N., Reed, P, Tamada, H. and Kikyo, N. 2006. Requirement of the protein B23 for nucleolar disassembly induced by the FRGY2a family proteins. J Biol Chem 281, 8153-60.

• Tamada, H. and Kikyo, N. 2004. Nuclear reprogramming in mammalian somatic cell nuclear cloning. Cytogen Genome Research, 105:285-291.

• Gonda, K., Fowler, J., Katoku-Kikyo, N., Haroldson, J., Wudel, J. and Kikyo, N. 2003. Reversible disassembly of somatic nucleoli by the germ cell proteins FRGY2a and FRGY2b. Nature Cell Biol 5, 205-10.

• Wade, P. A. and Kikyo, N. 2002. Chromatin remodeling in nuclear cloning. Eur J Biochem 269, 2284-2287.

• Kikyo, N., Wade, P. A., Guschin, D., Ge, H. and Wolffe, A. P. 2000. Active remodeling of somatic nuclei in egg cytoplasm by the nucleosomal ATPase ISWI. Science 289, 2360-2362.

Last updated: August 15, 2006