Kyungpook National University Research Team Led by Professor Ji Won Oh Publishes Paper in “Nature” on Clonal Dynamics in Early Human Embryogenesis Inferred from Somatic Mutation
- Date
- 2021/10/05
- Writer
- Oh
- Hit
- 1511
Kyungpook National University’s research team
led by Professor Ji Won Oh (School of Medicine) collaborated in joint research with KAIST's research team led by Professor Young Seok Ju, and succeeded in identifying clonal dynamics in early human embryogenesis using whole-genome sequencing (WGS). The results of this study were published in the online edition of Nature, a
world-renowned journal, on August 25. It is currently the largest systematic
study on the small number of cells in the human embryo and their constitution of
the 40 trillion cells in the human body as well as their cellular
differentiation into different human organs.
To date, research on human development, based
on the destruction of embryos, has been conducted through animal
experimentation with nematodes, fruit flies, and mice. However, fundamental
differences in species have placed an inevitable limitation on providing a full
understanding of human development.
To account for this limitation, the research
team thereby focused on genomic mutations. As genomic mutations presumably
accumulate in somatic cells throughout life, beginning with the first cell
division, the team found that these mutations could systematically be analyzed
and used as cellular barcodes to reconstruct developmental phylogenies of
somatic cells and trace early embryonic mutations (EEM) in human individuals.
Thus, the team performed the world’s largest whole-genome analysis of 334 single-cell
colonies and targeted deep sequences of 379 bulk tissues donated from 7 adult
human donors.
As a result, the team succeeded in
identifying important traits of human embryonic development, such as that embryonic
cells are different in nature in the beginning stages of development as well as
that it is possible to identify the period of differentiation of embryonic
cells into each organ-specific cell. These findings are significant because they
suggest the tracing of human embryonic development using whole-genome big data without
raising ethical issues. Through this method, it becomes not only possible to
identify and reconstruct cellular movements that appear within each human
individual, but also help prevent, screen, and develop an effective system for the
treatment of rare diseases in the future.
This research was supported by the Ministry
of Health and Welfare's World-Leading Medical Scientist Development Project,
Seo Kyung-Bae Science Foundation, National Research Foundation of Korea
(Leader, Excellent New Research, Excellent Local Scientist Projects), Kyungpook
National University Vascular Organ Interaction Control Center (Center Director You
Mie Lee), Korea Institute of
Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Catholic Medical University, Genome
Insight Co., Ltd., and Immune Square Co., Ltd.
Dr. Nanda
Mali, presently a postdoctoral researcher at Kyungpook National University’s Vascular
Organ Interaction Control Center, participated as the co-first author of this
research. She conducted the research as a Ph.D. candidate under Professor
Dongsun Kim at Kyungpook National University, in collaboration with KNU College
of Medicine BK Human Resources Development Project Team (KNU Convergence
Medical Life Sciences Future Creative Talent Cultivation Education Research
Center).