Oct 19 2020

A research group including Professor Shuh-ichi Nishikawa and a Graduate Student Ayaka Yabe, both of the Faculty of Science, Niigata University; Professor Tetsuya Higashiyama of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WRI-ITbM), Nagoya University, and of the Department of Biological Sciences, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science; and Assistant Professor Daisuke Maruyama of the Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University?identified gamete expressed 1 (GEX1), a key protein in nuclear fusion, or karyogamy, which is an essential event during reproduction in land plants using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
GEX1 is a nuclear-membrane protein which is specifically expressed during sexual reproduction, and plays an essential role in nuclear fusion, particularly in nuclear membrane fusion. In addition, an ortholog of GEX1 also plays a role in nuclear membrane fusion during sexual reproduction in budding yeast, suggesting that the mechanism of nuclear membrane fusion during sexual reproduction is conserved from yeast to plants as a common mechanism shared among eukaryotes. The results of this research should help to elucidate the mechanism by which gametes achieve efficient nuclear fusion. The results of this research were published in Frontiers in Plant Science on October 12, 2020.

Publication Details

Title: Arabidopsis GEX1 is a Nuclear Membrane Protein of Gametes Required for Nuclear Fusion During Reproduction
Journal: Frontiers in Plant Science
Authors: Shuh-ichi Nishikawa, Yuki Yamaguchi, Chiharu Suzuki, Ayaka Yabe, Yuzuru Sato, Daisuke Kurihara, Yoshikatsu Sato, Daichi Susaki, Tetsuya Higasiyama, and Daisuke Maruyama
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.548032