日本遺伝学会主催の第23回遺伝学談話会を下記の要領で開催いたします。今回は、角谷徹二会長と坪内知美先生をお迎えし、最新の研究成果についてご講演いただきます。その後、お二人がPIに至るまでの道のりや、PIとしてのキャリア形成・研究とライフイベントの両立などについてもお話しいただきます。談話会は英語にて行わせていただきますのでご了承ください。一人でも多くの方のご参加を心よりお待ちしております。

日時：2026年2月27日（金）13:30~15:30
場所：静岡県三島市谷田1111
　　　国立遺伝学研究所　講堂
プログラム： 第一部 （研究発表、各公演者につき講演30分、質疑応答10分)
　　　　　　 第二部 （キャリアパスセミナー、質疑応答)
参加費：無料（どなたでも参加できます）
　談話会終了後、簡単な懇親会を開きます。
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Dear all,

The Genetics Society of Japan will hold the Genetics Forum in the lecture hall on February 27. In the first part, we will have scientific seminars by Tetsuji Kakutani and Tomomi Tsubouchi, who will present their latest research findings. After their talks, we will also have a career-path session in which they will share their journeys to becoming principal investigators (PIs), their career development as PIs, and how
they balance research with major life events. Please note that the forum will be held in English. We welcome the participation of as many people as possible. Young scientists such as graduate students, postdocs, and staff scientists are especially encouraged to attend and hear about their research and career paths.

Date and time: Friday, February 27, 2026, 13:30–15:30
Venue: Lecture Hall
Program:
 Part 1: Research talks (30 min talk + 10 min Q&A for each speaker)
 Part 2: Career path seminar and Q&A
Participation fee: Free (open to everyone)
Social hours will be held after the colloquium.
Contact: Mariko Sasaki (m_sasaki@nig.ac.jp)

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Back to the Researchers’ Paradise: Two stories in Arabidopsis genetics
Tetsuji Kakutani (National Institute of Genetics)
角谷　徹二（国立遺伝学研究所）

Someone described NIG as the Researchers’ Paradise and I completely agree. When I joined NIG in 2000, I was trying to address the question: “What are the biological functions of DNA methylation?” The brief answer turned out to be “control of transposable elements”, which is conserved across animals and plants. After a short break during 2021-2025, I came back to NIG and am addressing new questions: “Why do centromeres evolve rapidly?” and “How are centromere positions controlled?” I will talk about these old and new stories, in which Arabidopsis turned out to be an amazingly powerful experimental system.
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Single-cell tracking of reprogramming cells induced by cell fusion
Tomomi Tsubouchi (Department of Applied Life Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University)
坪内　知美（静岡大学　農学部）

Lineage-committed cells can be induced to reprogram to pluripotency albeit generally at a low frequency and taking days before showing signs of reprogramming. Several reports indicate that reprogramming processes are tightly linked to cell cycle progression, although the exact contribution of each cell cycle phase remains largely unknown. This is partly because monitoring cells for many rounds of the cell cycle after exposing them to reprogramming factors is technically challenging, especially without prior knowledge of which cells will undergo reprogramming. Therefore, we employed a cell fusion system, known to induce reprogramming of the somatic nuclei towards pluripotency in approximately 10% of the fused population within the first round of the cell cycle. By establishing a system to isolate fused cells, track, and evaluate reprogramming levels through the analysis of pluripotency-associated gene expression using single-molecule RNA-FISH, we cataloged the first few cycles of fused cells and linked this information to the gene-expression profiles. We found that the speed of progression through the first round of the cell cycle post-fusion already impacts the induction of pluripotency-associated genes in the somatic nuclei. Furthermore, we show that pluripotency-associated genes are expressed at different times relative to cell cycle stages. Our finding suggests that certain cell cycle phases may facilitate or hinder the activation of a subset of pluripotency-associated genes, implicating the importance of temporal coordination between these processes. These insights could have implications for optimizing reprogramming strategies.