我々は，病原微生物と動物細胞の共培養法を開発し，微生物の休眠遺伝子活性化に成功した．この新規手法は，疑似感染状態を模倣したもので，国内外でも初めての例であり独創的で新規性が高い．臨床検体から分離された病原真菌と免疫細胞を様々な条件下共培養を行い，共培養特異的化合物を見いだした．共培養特異的化合物には，大変興味深いことに免疫抑制作用を示す化合物が複数見いだされた．本共培養法を病原菌だけでなく，酒，味噌等を作る麹カビや，熱に耐性の耐熱カビ，また乳酸菌にも適用し，それぞれが共培養特異的化合物を生産しうることを突き止めた．またその生産メカニズムの解明研究も行い，興味深い知見を得ることができた．
We developed a method for co-culturing pathogenic microorganisms and animal cells and succeeded in activating silent genes in microorganisms. This new method imitates a pseudo-infection state. We co-cultured immune cells and pathogenic fungi isolated from clinical specimens under various conditions and discovered co-culture-specific compounds. Interestingly, several co-culture-specific compounds were found to exhibit immunosuppressive effects. We applied this co-culture method not only to pathogenic bacteria, but also to koji mold, which produces sake and miso, heat-resistant mold, and lactic acid bacteria, and found that each of them can produce co-culture-specific compounds. We also conducted research to elucidate the production mechanism and obtained some interesting findings.

研究種目 : 基盤研究 (B) (一般)
研究期間 : 2021～2023
課題番号 : 21H02639
研究分野 : 天然物化学, ケミカルバイオロジー