My research is focused on the mechanisms of Developmental plasticity that is essential for any living organism to successfully survive, develop, and/or regenerate under the various environment. Specifically, we study the functional contributions of germ line molecules in the somatic lineages during the process of developmental reprogramming and regeneration. We utilize highly regulative sea urchin embryos to understand how the embryo flexibly but tightly regulate its developmental program even when the normal developmental pathway is altered.
| Fernandez-Nicolas A, Xu D, Yajima M. "A tumor suppressor Retinoblastoma1 is essential for embryonic development in the sea urchin." Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, 2019. |
| Poon, Jessica, Fries, Annaliese, Wessel, Gary M., Yajima, Mamiko. "Evolutionary modification of AGS protein contributes to formation of micromeres in sea urchins." Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, 2019. |
| Poon J, Fries A, Wessel GM, Yajima M. "Evolutionary modification of AGS protein contributes to formation of micromeres in sea urchins." Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, 2019, pp. 3779. |
| Uchida A, Yajima M. "An optogenetic approach to control protein localization during embryogenesis of the sea urchin." Developmental Biology, vol. 441, no. 1, 2018, pp. 19-30. |
| Shevidi S, Uchida A, Schudrowitz N, Wessel GM, Yajima M. "Single nucleotide editing without DNA cleavage using CRISPR/Cas9-deaminase in the sea urchin embryo." Developmental Dynamics, vol. 246, no. 12, 2017, pp. 1036-1046. |
| Schudrowitz N, Takagi S, Wessel GM, Yajima M. "The germline factor DDX4 functions in blood-derived cancer cell phenotypes." Cancer Science, vol. 108, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1612-1619. |
| Poon J, Wessel GM, Yajima M. "An unregulated regulator: Vasa expression in the development of somatic cells and in tumorigenesis." Developmental Biology, vol. 415, no. 1, 2016, pp. 24-32. |
| Fresques T, Swartz SZ, Juliano C, Morino Y, Kikuchi M, Akasaka K, Wada H, Yajima M, Wessel GM. "The diversity of nanos expression in echinoderm embryos supports different mechanisms in germ cell specification." Evolution & development, vol. 18, no. 4, 2016, pp. 267-78. |
| Yajima M, Wessel G. "Broad functions for the “germ-line factor” vasa." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 82, no. 6, 2015, pp. 405-405. |
| Yajima, M., Wessel, G. M. "Essential elements for translation: the germline factor Vasa functions broadly in somatic cells." Development, vol. 142, no. 11, 2015, pp. 1960-1970. |
| Yajima M, Kiyomoto M, Wessel GM. "The germ line begins as a single cluster of cells in the penta-radial juvenile starfish." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 82, no. 11, 2015, pp. 821-821. |
| Wessel GM, Fresques T, Kiyomoto M, Yajima M, Zazueta V. "Origin and development of the germ line in sea stars." Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000), vol. 52, no. 5, 2014, pp. 367-77. |
| Yajima M, Gustafson EA, Song JL, Wessel GM. "Piwi regulates Vasa accumulation during embryogenesis in the sea urchin." Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, vol. 243, no. 3, 2014, pp. 451-8. |
| Sakamaki K, Shimizu K, Iwata H, Imai K, Satou Y, Funayama N, Nozaki M, Yajima M, Nishimura O, Higuchi M, Chiba K, Yoshimoto M, Kimura H, Gracey AY, Shimizu T, Tomii K, Gotoh O, Akasaka K, Sawasaki T, Miller DJ. "The apoptotic initiator caspase-8: its functional ubiquity and genetic diversity during animal evolution." Molecular biology and evolution, vol. 31, no. 12, 2014, pp. 3282-301. |
| Wessel GM, Brayboy L, Fresques T, Gustafson EA, Oulhen N, Ramos I, Reich A, Swartz SZ, Yajima M, Zazueta V. "The biology of the germ line in echinoderms." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 81, no. 8, 2014, pp. 679-711. |
| Yajima M, Suglia E, Gustafson EA, Wessel GM. "Meiotic gene expression initiates during larval development in the sea urchin." Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists, vol. 242, no. 2, 2013, pp. 155-63. |
| Oulhen N, Yoshida T, Yajima M, Song JL, Sakuma T, Sakamoto N, Yamamoto T, Wessel GM. "The 3'UTR of nanos2 directs enrichment in the germ cell lineage of the sea urchin." Developmental Biology, vol. 377, no. 1, 2013, pp. 275-83. |
| Yajima M, Wessel GM. "Autonomy in specification of primordial germ cells and their passive translocation in the sea urchin." Development, vol. 139, no. 20, 2012, pp. 3786-94. |
| Yajima M, Fairbrother WG, Wessel GM. "ISWI contributes to ArsI insulator function in development of the sea urchin." Development, vol. 139, no. 19, 2012, pp. 3613-22. |
| Takagi H, Inai Y, Watanabe S, Tatemoto S, Yajima M, Akasaka K, Yamamoto T, Sakamoto N. "Nucleosome exclusion from the interspecies-conserved central AT-rich region of the Ars insulator." Journal of biochemistry, vol. 151, no. 1, 2012, pp. 75-87. |
| Gustafson EA, Yajima M, Juliano CE, Wessel GM. "Post-translational regulation by gustavus contributes to selective Vasa protein accumulation in multipotent cells during embryogenesis." Developmental Biology, vol. 349, no. 2, 2011, pp. 440-50. |
| Yajima M, Wessel GM. "Small micromeres contribute to the germline in the sea urchin." Development, vol. 138, no. 2, 2011, pp. 237-43. |
| Yajima M, Wessel GM. "The DEAD-box RNA helicase Vasa functions in embryonic mitotic progression in the sea urchin." Development, vol. 138, no. 11, 2011, pp. 2217-22. |
| Yajima M, Wessel GM. "The multiple hats of Vasa: its functions in the germline and in cell cycle progression." Mol. Reprod. Dev., vol. 78, no. 10-11, 2011, pp. 861-7. |
| Sasakura Y, Yaguchi J, Yaguchi S, Yajima M. "Excision and transposition activity of Tc1/mariner superfamily transposons in sea urchin embryos." Zoological science, vol. 27, no. 3, 2010, pp. 256-62. |
| Yajima M, Umeda R, Fuchikami T, Kataoka M, Sakamoto N, Yamamoto T, Akasaka K. "Implication of HpEts in gene regulatory networks responsible for specification of sea urchin skeletogenic primary mesenchyme cells." Zoological science, vol. 27, no. 8, 2010, pp. 638-46. |
| Juliano CE, Yajima M, Wessel GM. "Nanos functions to maintain the fate of the small micromere lineage in the sea urchin embryo." Developmental Biology, vol. 337, no. 2, 2010, pp. 220-32. |
| Yajima M. "A switch in the cellular basis of skeletogenesis in late-stage sea urchin larvae." Developmental Biology, vol. 307, no. 2, 2007, pp. 272-81. |
| Yajima M, Kiyomoto M, Akasaka K. "Ars insulator protects transgenes from long-term silencing in sea urchin larva." Development genes and evolution, vol. 217, no. 4, 2007, pp. 331-6. |
| Yajima M. "Evolutionary modification of mesenchyme cells in sand dollars in the transition from indirect to direct development." Evolution & development, vol. 9, no. 3, 2007, pp. 257-66. |
| Yajima M, Kiyomoto M. "Study of larval and adult skeletogenic cells in developing sea urchin larvae." The Biological bulletin, vol. 211, no. 2, 2006, pp. 183-92. |
