EAPSI:Understanding the Genetic and Protein Dynamics Involved in the Seasonally Breeding Japanese Macaque

致力于加强对灵长类生殖中涉及的基因、蛋白质和过程的理解的研究，对于形成进化和生物医学知识都是重要的。该奖项支持将日本猕猴作为配子产生的灵长类模型进行研究，重点研究其季节性繁殖能力所涉及的遗传和蛋白质动力学。雄性日本猕猴在生育季节关闭生殖功能，在繁殖季节恢复功能，挑战了之前认为配子产生在哺乳动物中高度保守的想法。最近的研究表明，啮齿动物和灵长类动物模型在遗传和分子动力学方面存在差异。这强调了开发与人类关系更密切的灵长类模型的必要性，以便对人类生殖生物学做出更准确的推断。该项目将在日本犬山灵长类研究所(PRI)著名分子生物学家和灵长类动物学家Hirohisa Hirai博士的指导下进行，该研究所收集了大量保存下来的日本猕猴组织，这些组织对这项研究将是无价的。以前的研究集中在日本猕猴睾丸功能抑制的激素和细胞途径上，但潜在的遗传和分子机制仍然不清楚。该项目将专注于三种可能的机制：i)精子增殖停滞，ii)睾丸细胞凋亡，iii)特定阶段的精子产生停止。在繁殖和分娩季节从男性身上收集的睾丸组织将使用RT-PCR分析精子发生基因、生殖细胞标记和表观遗传状态。然后，研究人员将使用HE染色和免疫荧光显微镜对灵长类繁殖的动力学有一个清晰的时空了解。该奖项由东亚和太平洋夏季学院项目资助一名美国研究生的暑期研究，由NSF和日本科学促进会(JSPS)共同资助。

Research that works to enhance the understanding of the genes, proteins, and processes involved in primate reproduction is important for shaping both evolutionary and biomedical knowledge. This award supports research to examine the Japanese macaque as a primate model for gamete production, with emphasis on the genetic and protein dynamics involved in its seasonal-breeding ability. Male Japanese macaques shut down reproductive functions in the birthing season and resume function in the breeding season, challenging previous thinking that gamete production was highly conserved across mammals. Recent research has shown differences in genetic and molecular dynamics between rodent and primate models. This emphasizes the need to develop primate models, which are more closely related to humans, in order to make more accurate extrapolations to human reproductive biology. This project will be conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Hirohisa Hirai, a noted molecular biologist and primatologist, at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) in Inuyama, Japan, home to extensive collections of preserved Japanese macaque tissue which will be invaluable to this research.Previous research has focused on the hormonal and cellular pathways involved in the suppression of testicular function in Japanese macaques, but the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms remain elusive. The project will focus on three potential mechanisms: i) the quiescence of sperm proliferation, ii) apoptosis in the testes, and iii) stage-specific cessation of sperm production. Testis tissue collected from males in both the breeding and birthing seasons will be analyzed for spermatogenesis genes, germ cell markers, and epigenetic states using RT-PCR. Then, the researcher will use HE-staining and immunofluorescence microscopy to gain a clear spatiotemporal understanding about the dynamics of primate reproduction. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).