Greetings from the Director

“What is life?” This is a profound theme for humankind as much as the origin of the universe. Molecular biology emerged in the middle of the 20th century, and in 1953 the structure of DNA was solved. This clarified the basic principle of the flow of life information, DNA→RNA→protein. Nevertheless, we are still plagued by many diseases, and we have not figured out their causes or cures. Furthermore, as we enter an age of longevity, aging, dementia and others have emerged as new challenges. Perhaps the reason why we still do not understand life is because there may be “missing pieces” so far.

Our body has three bio-chains that carry life. They are nucleic acids (chains of nucleotides: DNA, RNA, etc. Most genomes are made of DNA), proteins (chains of amino acids), and glycans (chains of monosaccharides). The Human Genome Project, which began in 1990, determined the approximate structure (sequence) of the entire genome of a person in 2003. Subsequent technological innovations have now made genomic medicine a reality. Many structures of proteins have been solved by national projects such as Protein 3000, which started in 2002. However, both nucleic acids and proteins have one type of chain binding mode (can be written with a single stroke). On the other hand, glycans have multiple bonding modes and are branched, so their structures are remarkably complicated. Due to the diversity of structures (it cannot be written in a single stroke), there is still no sequencer that has become common machines for DNA and proteins. In other words, the “missing piece” is apparently the glycan. Therefore, many scientists have tried to understand life by avoiding the study of glycans. However, technology has made great advances now, and we are about to enter an era in which it will be possible to decode the entire structure of glycans. Carbohydrate chains cover the surfaces of all the cells in our body, which are thought to be 37 trillion cells, like a forest on the surface of the Earth. For example, ABO blood type is determined by glycans. The flu drug Tamiflu was also created by targeting glycans. Heparin, an essential drug for hemodialysis and ECMO treatment, is also a glycan. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the things about glycans are still unknown or much less understood.

Glycome (glycome = glycan + ome) means the entire glycan contained in organisms and cells. In this project, “Human Glycome Atlas Project (HGA)”, we will build and share fundamental data of life by “cataloging” human glycan information. This is the essence of this project, HGA. The knowledge base to be built (not just the accumulation of data, but a “knowledge base” with various knowledge and information added) will be fully disclosed in 8 years after the start of the project. Information on glycans will be used as a matter of course both inside and outside the field of life science, and it will be possible to combine it with various information such as genomes and proteins. This will greatly advance our understanding of life and disease. Furthermore, HGA will advance the technology for deciphering glycans. This is expected to have applications in life sciences and medicine, as DNA sequenceing technology made so much impact. In addition, in this project, we will acquire basic data on mechanisms by which glycans are synthesized in our bodies. Through this, we aim to freely modify these glycans and apply them to medicine. These movements will give rise to new developments in Japanese industry, and will also contribute to the construction of a new social system that takes into account the individual prevention. Glycosylation is an academic field that Japan has led. Japanese people discovered and identified 60% of the glycan related genes, and many of the underlying technologies originated in Japan. Therefore, this project can take a step forward as a project led by Japan. We are already sharing our strategies with researchers around the world. We will promote this project with an all-Japan system in conjunction with the Joint Usage/Research Center “J-GlycoNet cooperative network”. We appreciate your understanding and support.