Fri. Jun 8, 2018 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM Room B (5F　Small Hall)

Chairpersons : Hiroki Oda (JT Biohistory Research Hall) / Yasushi Izumi (NIPS)

Cell-cell junctions are membrane-associated subcellular machineries distributed in the metazoan lineage, which are required for the cells organizing a morphogenetically and physiologically active tissue. The functions of cell-cell junctions include adhesion, mechanical force transmission and sensing, and diffusion barrier. We are prone to simply imagine that ancient single-celled organisms successfully assembled to initiate an epithelium-like multicellular system. However, growing knowledge about molecular bases of cell-cell junctions in extant metazoans and relevant genetic components in extant non-metazoans suggests that the non-metazoan/metazoan transition was not as simple a process as we have thought. There are different categories of junctions that have been defined based on structure, function, and molecular composition. The respective junction types are composed of products of specific genes that have distinct evolutionary histories. Some “junctional” genes might have “non-junctional” prehistories. It is also important to note that junctional systems might have evolved and diversified even after the separation of the metazoan lineage from non-metazoan organisms. This symposium aims to discuss the origins of the structure and function of metazoan cell-cell junctions as well as the origins of the diversity of the junctional systems among metazoans.

Sponsored by JT Biohistory Research Hall