Details of the Researcher

PHOTO

Watal Iwasaki
Section
Graduate School of Life Sciences
Job title
Assistant Professor
Degree
  • PhD (Tohoku University)

e-Rad No.
30838959

Professional Memberships 1

  • Society of Evolutionary Studies, Japan

    2008/08 - Present

Research Areas 1

  • Life sciences / Evolutionary biology /

Papers 12

  1. Modification of <scp>TAWAWA1</scp>‐mediated panicle architecture by genome editing of a downstream conserved noncoding sequence in rice

    Takeshi Kuroha, Fabien Lombardo, Watal M. Iwasaki, Svetlana Chechetka, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Akiko Yoshida, Takashi Makino, Hitoshi Yoshida

    Plant Biotechnology Journal 23 (7) 2667-2669 2025/04/13

    Publisher: Wiley

    DOI: 10.1111/pbi.70043  

    ISSN: 1467-7644

    eISSN: 1467-7652

  2. Fine-TuningTAWAWA1-Mediated Panicle Architecture by Genome Editing of a Downstream Conserved Noncoding Sequence in Rice

    Takeshi Kuroha, Fabien Lombardo, Watal M Iwasaki, Svetlana Chechetka, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Akiko Yoshida, Junko Kyozuka, Takashi Makino, Hitoshi Yoshida

    2024/09/19

    Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

    DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.17.612847  

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    Summary Genome editing is a promising tool to enhance plant breeding, particularly for the generation of practical quantitative traits. We focused on the rice yield-related geneTAWAWA1(TAW1) and produced various degrees of increased panicle branching phenotypes by modifying its downstream conserved noncoding sequence (CNS). Differential modification of two highly conserved regions containing putative repressive elements in this CNS caused transcriptional upregulation ofTAW1, resulting in diverse phenotypes.

  3. Population Genetics and Molecular Evolution of DNA Sequences in Transposable Elements. II. Accumulation of Variation and Evolution of a New Subfamily

    Watal M. Iwasaki, T. E. Kijima, Hideki Innan

    Molecular Biology and Evolution 37 (2) 355-364 2020/02/01

    Publisher: Oxford University Press ({OUP})

    DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz220  

    ISSN: 0737-4038

    eISSN: 1537-1719

  4. Genome-wide SNP analysis of Japanese Thoroughbred racehorses

    Jeffrey A. Fawcett, Fumio Sato, Takahiro Sakamoto, Watal M. Iwasaki, Teruaki Tozaki, Hideki Innan

    PLoS ONE 14 (7) 2019/06/01

    Publisher: Public Library of Science ({PLoS})

    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218407  

    eISSN: 1932-6203

  5. Neutral theory in cancer cell population genetics

    Atsushi Niida, Watal M. Iwasaki, Hideki Innan

    Molecular Biology and Evolution 35 (6) 1316-1321 2018/06

    DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msy091  

    ISSN: 0737-4038

    eISSN: 1537-1719

  6. Replication stress induces accumulation of FANCD2 at central region of large fragile genes

    Yusuke Okamoto, Watal M. Iwasaki, Kazuto Kugou, Kazuki K. Takahashi, Arisa Oda, Koichi Sato, Wataru Kobayashi, Hidehiko Kawai, Ryo Sakasai, Akifumi Takaori-Kondo, Takashi Yamamoto, Masato T. Kanemaki, Masato Taoka, Toshiaki Isobe, Hitoshi Kurumizaka, Hideki Innan, Kunihiro Ohta, Masamichi Ishiai, Minoru Takata

    Nucleic Acids Research 46 (6) 2932-2944 2018/04

    DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky058  

    ISSN: 0305-1048

    eISSN: 1362-4962

  7. Inferring evolutionary responses of Anolis carolinensis introduced into the Ogasawara archipelago using whole genome sequence data

    Satoshi Tamate, Watal M. Iwasaki, Kenneth L. Krysko, Brian J. Camposano, Hideaki Mori, Ryo Funayama, Keiko Nakayama, Takashi Makino, Masakado Kawata

    Scientific Reports 7 (1) 2017/12/01

    DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17852-7  

    eISSN: 2045-2322

  8. Simulation framework for generating intratumor heterogeneity patterns in a cancer cell population

    Watal M. Iwasaki, Hideki Innan

    PLoS ONE 12 (9) 2017/09

    Publisher: Public Library of Science ({PLoS})

    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184229  

    ISSN: 1932-6203

    eISSN: 1932-6203

  9. Origami Bird Simulator: A Teaching Resource Linking Natural Selection and Speciation

    Takahiro Yamanoi, Watal M. Iwasaki

    Evolution: Education and Outreach 8 (1) 2015/08/11

    Publisher: Springer Nature

    DOI: 10.1186/s12052-015-0043-6  

    ISSN: 1936-6426

    eISSN: 1936-6434

  10. Developmental Stages for the Divergence of Relative Limb Length Between a Twig and a Trunk-Ground Anolis Lizard Species

    Hajime Wakasa, Antonio Cádiz, Lázaro M. Echenique-Díaz, Watal M. Iwasaki, Namiko Kamiyama, Yuki Nishimura, Hitoshi Yokoyama, Koji Tamura, Masakado Kawata

    Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 324 (5) 410-423 2015/07/01

    DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22627  

    ISSN: 1552-5007

    eISSN: 1552-5015

  11. Divergent selection for opsin gene variation in guppy (Poecilia reticulata) populations of Trinidad and Tobago

    A. Tezuka, S. Kasagi, C. Van Oosterhout, M. McMullan, W. M. Iwasaki, D. Kasai, M. Yamamichi, H. Innan, S. Kawamura, M. Kawata

    Heredity 113 (5) 381-389 2014/11/25

    Publisher: Springer Nature

    DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2014.35  

    ISSN: 0018-067X

    eISSN: 1365-2540

  12. Genetic and environmental factors affecting cryptic variations in gene regulatory networks

    Watal M. Iwasaki, Masaki E. Tsuda, Masakado Kawata

    BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (1) 2013

    DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-91  

    eISSN: 1471-2148

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Books and Other Publications 2

  1. ゲノムを司るインターメア : 非コードDNAの新たな展開

    小林, 武彦

    化学同人 2015/12

    ISBN: 9784759817249

  2. 社会的責任学入門 : 環境危機時代に適応する7つの教養 : social responsibility

    東北大学生態適応グローバルCOEチームPEM, 木村, 麻紀, 足立, 直樹, 竹本, 徳子

    東北大学出版会 2011/06

    ISBN: 9784861631733

Research Projects 2

  1. Massively parallel cancer evolution simulation to elucidate mechanisms of intratumor heterogeneity generation

    Niida Atsushi

    Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

    System: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

    Institution: The University of Tokyo

    2019/04/01 - 2022/03/31

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    In this study, we constructed a simulation model that describes the various evolutionary patterns of cancer in a unified way, and explored the mechanism of intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) generation in cancer through massively parallel simulations and parameter sensitivity analysis using a supercomputer. As a result, several interesting findings were extracted. For example, we found not only that a high mutation rate leads to the formation of extensive ITH by neutral evolution, but also that the cancer stem cell hierarchy contributes to the formation of the neutral ITH by increasing the apparent mutation rate. It has also become clear that the evolutionary shifts observed during colorectal tumorigenesis may be caused by dramatic evolutionary events that occur in a short period of time and result in significant fitness gains in one or a few cells.

  2. 遺伝子制御ネットワークの隠蔽変異が表現型進化に与える影響

    岩嵜 航

    Offer Organization: 日本学術振興会

    System: 科学研究費助成事業 特別研究員奨励費

    Category: 特別研究員奨励費

    Institution: 東北大学

    2010 - 2012

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    環境により初期状態が変化する遺伝子制御ネットワークの個体ペースモデルを構築し、突然変異率や選択圧の強さ・異質性といった諸パラメータが各個体の遺伝子制御ネットワークの構造的特徴の進化にどのような影響を与えるか、また、ネットワーク構造が集団の遺伝的多様性にどのような影響を与えるかを調べた。その結果、多くの遺伝子が相互作用しあう大きなネットワークほど隠蔽変異による表現型多様化を起こしやすいことが示された。また、生物が可塑的な応答を求められるような環境異質性の高い状況ではより大きく密な遺伝子制御ネットワークが好まれる傾向が見られた。これらのことから、生命システムの複雑化と環境の多様化が相互促進的に働き、生物の進化を駆動している可能性が示唆された。こうした考察は、遺伝子と表現型の間を結ぶシステムに着目し、環境との相互作用と集団遺伝学的プロセスを明示的にモデル化することで初めて可能になる。ここまでの結果をまとめて論文として投稿した(年度を超えて4月に受理された)。 それと並行して、遺伝的構造の進化に重要な役割を果たすと考えられている遺伝子重複・欠失を遺伝子制御ネットワークのモデルに盛り込んだ。また、環境異質性の評価方法として、確率的な環境変動の頻度や大きさを変化させてシミュレーションを試みた。これらの結果については現在解析中であるが、前述の結論をさらに補強し、生物多様性の進化メカニズムを理解する上で重要な理論的基盤を提供することが期待される。