Individual Biology Unit
Decoding Individuality Along a Single Life Course with Live-cell Transcriptomics
Faculty
Research Summary
Our unit aims to understand the origin of individuality embedded in a single life course and its causal structure. Individuality has long been framed by the two major factors of genetics and environment, yet life, from cells to organisms, can adopt distinct traits and fates even under the same genome and environment. This suggests that, beyond genetics and environment, life carries an intrinsic mechanism through which individuality arises spontaneously. However, it remains largely unknown when such spontaneous individuality first arises, what molecular signatures trigger it, and how it becomes embedded in a life course. To address this problem, we have developed and now apply live-cell omics technologies that enable repeated transcriptome sampling from the same living cell or embryo without destroying it. This allows us to record the molecular continuity of individuality within a single life course and to uncover the trajectory that links early molecular features to later behavioral individuality and fate.
出版物
Kotaro Torii, Keiko Watanabe, Alissa Gordon, Masahiro Yo, Asako Sakaue-Sawano, Atsushi Miyawaki, Kaori Nishikawa, Asuka Takeishi, Hirofumi Shintaku: Live-embryonic Transcriptomics unveils Organismal Fates. In revision.