img_4165_1024.png img_8831.jpg Next generation sequencer gene analysis... img_7564.jpg Ultra-thin section (TEM sample) img_8834_20190703125010462.jpg Next generation sequencer gene analysis... img_8552.jpg Mounting sample for SEM... img_4170.pngNext generation sequencer gene analysis... cultures_20190703125011620.png img_8382.jpg Super-resolution microscope observation... img_4155.png Ultra micotome... img_4283.png img_4157.png img_8681.jpg img_8263.jpg Transmission electron microscope observation... ngsanalitescreensnapz003.png Next generation sequencer gene analysis... img_7349.jpg Making sample for sorting... img_4161.png img_8832.jpg img_8804.jpg Time lapse observation (BZ-9000) img_5700.jpg SEM sample... img_5708.jpgScanning electron microscope observation... img_8837.jpg Next generation sequencer gene analysis...

[%article_date_notime_dot%] [%new:New%]

[%title%]

Gene Expression Regulation through Epigenetic Modifications

Why do skin cells and neurons, despite carrying the exact same DNA sequence, behave so differently? The answer lies in epigenetics. Through mechanisms that reversibly control how genes are "read" — without altering the DNA sequence itself — our lab investigates how cell differentiation and fate decisions are regulated, combining genome-wide analysis by next-generation sequencing with histological approaches.  

 
 

Molecular Mechanisms of Infertility and Developmental Abnormalities

In an era of declining birth rates, the rise in infertility represents a pressing societal challenge. We are working to uncover the unknown molecular mechanisms that govern the journey from germ cells to early embryonic development. Using cutting-edge technologies including next-generation sequencing and super-resolution microscopy, we investigate how epigenetic regulation operates during spermatogenesis and in early embryos.

 
 

Environmental Changes Affect Cell Differentiation through the Epigenome

What if a slight rise in temperature could alter the fate of a cell? Our research has suggested that the germ cell epigenome can be disrupted by even modest temperature increases (Kuroha et al., 2025). Another study suggested that epigenomic abnormalities in the germline may have lasting effects on post-fertilization development (Tomizawa et al., 2018). The finding that environmental change can influence reproduction and development offers a new perspective on health and sustainability in the modern world.

 
 


Development dev.204239. (2025)

Abnormal H3K27me3 underlies degenerative spermatogonial stem cells in cryptorchid testis.

Kazushige Kuroha, Ivana Dočkal, Uroš Radović, Kuniko Nakajima, Ikue Hoshi, Shion Matsuda, Noriko Kojitani, Kazuyuki Ohbo, Shin-ichi Tomizawa

Gene Expr Patterns (2024) 54, 119383

Spatial and temporal expression analysis of BMP signal modifiers, Smoc1 and Smoc2, from postnatal to adult developmental stages in the mouse testis.

M Ono, K Nakajima, S Tomizawa, T Shirakawa, I Okada, H Saitsu, N Matsumoto , K Ohbo

Development (2024) 151(18): dev202834

A non-canonical bivalent gene Wfdc15a controls spermatogenic protease and immune homeostasis.

S. Tomizawa, R. Fellows, M. Ono, K.e Kuroha, I. Dockal, Y. Kobayashi, K. Minamizawa, K. Natsume, K. Nakajima, I. Hoshi,S. Matsuda, M. Seki, Y. Suzuki, K. Aoto, H. Saitsu, K. Ohbo

Asian Journal of Andrology (2024) 26, 1-7

A behind-the-scenes role of BDNF in the survival and differentiation of spermatogonia.

Shin-ichi Tomizawa*, Kazushige Kuroha*, Michio Ono, Kuniko Nakajima, Kazuyuki Ohbo

Clinical Epigenetics 13, Article number: 132 (2021)

Oxygen concentration affects de novo DNA methylation and transcription in in vitro cultured oocytes.

Florence Naillat, Heba Saadeh, Joanna Nowacka-Woszuk, Lenka Gahurova, Fatima Santos, Shin-ichi Tomizawa & Gavin Kelsey.

Development (2021) 148, dev194605.

Maintenance DNA methylation in pre-meiotic germ cells regulates meiotic prophase by facilitating homologous chromosome pairing.

Takada Y, Yaman-Deveci R, Shirakawa T, Shari J, Tomizawa S, Miura F, Ito T, Ono M, Nakajima K, Koseki Y, Shiotani F, Ishiguro K, Ohbo K, Koseki H.

Development (2021) 148 (8): dev196212.

Tsga8 is required for spermatid morphogenesis and male fertility in mice.

Kobayashi Y, Tomizawa S, Ono M, Kuroha K, Minamizawa K, Natsume K, Dizdarević S, Dočkal I, Tanaka H, Kawagoe T, Seki M, Suzuki Y, Ogonuki N, Inoue K, Matoba S, Anastassiadis K, Mizuki N, Ogura A, Ohbo K.

Dis Model Mech (2019) 12 (11): dmm040139.

Lack of whey acidic protein four disulphide core (WFDC) 2 protease inhibitor causes neonatal death from respiratory failure in mice.

Nakajima K, Ono M, Radović U, Dizdarević S, Tomizawa SI, Kuroha K, Nagamatsu G, Hoshi I, Matsunaga R, Shirakawa T, Kurosawa T, Miyazaki Y, Seki M, Suzuki Y, Koseki H, Nakamura M, Suda T, Ohbo K.

Development 145 (2018)

Kmt2b conveys monovalent and bivalent H3K4me3 in spermatogonial stem cells at germline and embryonic promoters.

Tomizawa S, Kobayashi Y, Shirakawa T, Watanabe K, Mizoguchi K, Hoshi I, Nakajima K, Nakabayashi J, Singh S, Dahl A, Alexopoulou D, Seki M, Suzuki Y, Royo H, Peters AHFM, Anastassiadis K, Stewart AF, Ohbo K

Mol Cell Biol. 37(19): e00082-17 (2017)

EPC1/TIP60-Mediated Histone Acetylation Facilitates Spermiogenesis in Mice.

Dong Y, Isono KI, Ohbo K, Endo TA, Ohara O, Maekawa M, Toyama Y, Ito C, Toshimori K, Helin K, Ogonuki N, Inoue K, Ogura A, Yamagata K, Kitabayashi I, Koseki H.

Epigenetics & Chromatin 10: 25-44 (2017)

Transcription and chromatin determinants of de novo DNA methylation timing in oocytes

Gahurova L*, Tomizawa S*, Smallwood SA, Stewart-Morgan KR, Saadeh H, Kim J, Andrews S, Chen T, Kelsey G *Contributed equally

GENES & DEVELOPMENT 29(23):2449-2462 (2015)

Dynamic changes in histone modifications precede de novo DNA methylation in oocytes

Kathleen R. Stewart, Lenka Veselovska, Jeesun Kim, Jiahao Huang, Heba Saadeh, Shin-ichi Tomizawa, Sébastien A. Smallwood, Taiping Chen, and Gavin Kelsey

Genome Biology 16: 209-215 (2015)

Deep sequencing and de novo assembly of the mouse oocyte transcriptome define the contribution of transcription to the DNA methylation landscape.

Lenka Veselovska, Sebastien A. Smallwood, ... Shin-ichi Tomizawa4, Simon Andrews and Gavin Kelsey*

BioMol Concepts 6(1): 1–9 2015

Epigenetic regulation in stem cell development, cell fate conversion, and reprogramming.

Kazuyuki Ohbo and Shin-ichi Tomizawa

BMC Genomics 16:624-40 2015

DNA methylation and gene expression dynamics during spermatogonial stem cell differentiation in the early postnatal mouse testis.

Naoki Kubo, ……., Takayuki Shirakawa, Hidetoshi Sone, Yasuyuki Sato, Shin-ichi Tomizawa, Kazuyuki Ohbo

Biological Research. 48:48-62 2015

Inhibition of Rho-associated kinases disturbs the collective cell migration of stratified TE-10 cells.

Taro Mikami, Keiichiro Yoshida, Hajime Sawada, Michiyo Esaki, Kazunori Yasumura and Michio Ono

Dev Cell., 34: 1-12 2015

The RNA binding protein Nanos2 organizes a post-transcriptional buffering system to retain primitive state of mouse spermatogonial stem cells.

Zhou, Z., Shirakawa, T., Ohbo, K., Sada, A., Wu, Q., Hasegawa, K., Saba, R. and Saga, Y.

Curr. Pathobiol. Rep., 2:1-9 2014

Stem Cell Epigenetics: Insights from Studies on Embryonic, Induced Pluripotent, and Germline Stem Cells.

Shin-ichi Tomizawa, Takayuki Shirakawa, Kazuyuki Ohbo

Development, 140:3565-3576. 2013

An epigenetic checkpoint controls the transition from a stem cell pool to a progenitor cell state in mouse male germ cells.

Shirakawa T., Yaman-Deveci R., Tomizawa S., Kamizato Y., Nakajima K., at.,al.

Cell Biochem. Func 30(1), 33-40 2012

Plasmodium induced by SU6656, an Src family kinase inhibitor, is accompanied by a contractile ring defect.

Yoshida K, Ono M, Bito H, Mikami T, Sawada H

The International journal of developmental biology 56 867-875 2012

DNA methylation establishment during oocyte growth: mechanisms and significance.

Tomizawa S, Nowacka-Woszuk J, Kelsey G

Nature genetics 43 811-814 2011

Dynamic CpG island methylation landscape in oocytes and preimplantation embryos.

Smallwood SA, Tomizawa S, Krueger F, Ruf N, Carli N, Segonds-Pichon A, Sato S, Hata K, Andrews SR, Kelsey G

Development, 138:4207-4217. 2011

HP1γ links histone methylation marks to meiotic synapsis in mice.

Takada Y., Naruse C., Costa Y., Shirakawa S., Tachibana M., Sharif J., Kezuka-Shiotani F., Kakiuchi D., Masumoto H., Shinkai Y., Ohbo K., Peters A. H.F.M., Turner J. M.A., Asano M. and Koseki K.

Development 138 811-820 2011

Dynamic stage-specific changes in imprinted differentially methylated regions during early mammalian development and prevalence of non-CpG methylation in oocytes.

Tomizawa S, Kobayashi H, Watanabe T, Andrews S, Hata K, Kelsey G, Sasaki H

Shin-ichi Tomizawa

Lecturer

Michio Ono

Assistant Professor

Kazushige Kuroha

Assistant Professor

Kuniko Nakajima

Technician

Ikue Hoshi

Technician

Noriko Kojitani

Doctoral Program

Aki Hayashi

Keisuke Minamizawa

Nana Matsuda

Master's Program

Yuga Kashiwagi

Master's Program

Kazuyuki Ohbo

Retired in March 2026
Current and former students
  • Doctoral Program:Takayuki Shirakawa, Yuki Kobayashi
  • Master's Program:Shion Matsuda, Monika Šafhauzer, Ivana Dočkal, Selma Dizdarevic, Koji Natsume、Keita Mizoguchi、Uroš Radović
  • Graduate Student: Tomoki Maekawa, Kumiko Watanabe, Sotaro Sugiyama
  • Research Clerkship:Ryo Kumagai, Kentaro Fujisawa



Research interest
-Analysis of cellular differentiation and fate determination by epigenetic mechanisms

For more information about our graduate programs contact us by e-mail.
E-mail: soshiki@yokohama-cu.ac.jp  

Phone: +81-45-787-2567  Fax: +81-45-787-2568
URL: http://www-user.yokohama-cu.ac.jp/~finemorp

Outline

Department

Histology and Cell Biology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine

Address

3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawaku, Yokohama, Japan

Principal Investigator/Professor

-----

Study areas

anatomy, histology, epigenetics, germ cells, cell biology

Technology

electron microscopy, super-resolution fluorescent microscopy, gene expression and epigenetic analysis (NGS)

Member

4 faculty instructors; 4 technical staff