Biomass Research Platform Team

Our aim is research and development concerning the resources related to plants, microorganisms etc., the development of bases for genome information etc. and metabolome analysis approaches, among others. We undertake gene hunt studies related to the enhancement of the production, growth and environmental tolerance of cellulose in Brachypodium, a species of plant expected to serve as the model for studies on the increased production of cellulose biomass. In addition, we perform metagenomics and genomics with the use of single cells in symbiotic microorganisms of termites and other subjects.

Research Fields

Biology & Biochemistry / Molecular Biology & Genetics / Agricultural Sciences / Plant & Animal Science

Research Subjects

• Development of the resource of mutants and full-length cDNA of Brachypodium distachyon, a model soft biomass plants.
• Exploration and use of genes involved in plant biomass productivity and stress tolerance using a reverse genetic approach.
• Consolidation of integrated-meta databases to biomass production and yield.
• Ddentification of important and useful genes to contribute to efficient woody-biomass degradation based on meta-genomics and single-cell genomics analyses complex bacterial community especially in the termite intestine.
• Consolidation and analysis of metabolic profiling related to biomass production and metabolism.

Publications

1. Takahashi, F., Mizoguchi, T ., Yoshida, R ., Ichimura, K ., and Shinozaki, K .:
   "Calmodulin-Dependent Activation of MAP Kinase for ROS Homeostasis in Arabidopsis"
   Molecular Cell 41 , 649-660 (2011).
2. Mochida, K ., Yoshida, T ., Sakurai, T .,Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., Shinozaki, K ., and Tran, L.S.P.:
   "In Silico Analysis of Transcription Factor Repertoires and Prediction of Stress-Responsive Transcription Factors from Six Major Gramineae Plants"
   DNA Res. 18 , 321-332 (2011).
3. Mochida, K ., and Shinozaki, K .:
   "Advances in Omics and Bioinformatics Tools for Systems Analyses of Plant Functions"
   Plant Cell Phys. 52, 2017-2038 (2011).
4. Himuro, Y., Tanaka, H., Hashiguchi, M., Ichikawa, T., Nakazawa, M., Seki, M., Fujita, M., Shinozaki, K., Matsui, M., Akashi, R., and Hoffmann, F.:
   "FOX-superroots of Lotus corniculatus, overexpressing Arabidopsis full-length cDNA, show stable variations in morphological traits"
   J. Plant Physiol. 168, 181-187 (2011).
5. Kazama, Y, Ma, L, Hirano, T, Ohbu, S, Shirakawa, Y, Hatakeyama, S, Tanaka, S., and Abe, T.:
   "Rapid evaluation of effective linear energy transfer in heavy ion utagenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana"
   Plant Biotechnol. 29, 440-444 (2012).
6. Ogata, Y., Chikayama, E., Morioka, Y., Everroad, R.C., Shino, A., Matsushima, A., Haruna, H., Moriya, S., Toyoda, T., and Kikuchi, J.:
   "ECOMICS: A web-based toolkit for investigating the biomolecular web in ecosystems using a trans-omics approach"
   PLoS ONE 7, e30263 (2012).
7. Okushita, K., Komatsu, T., Chikayama, E., and Kikuchi, J.:
   "Statistical approach for solid-state NMR spectra of a cellulose derived from a series of variable parameters"
   Polymer J. 44: 895-900 (2012).
8. Utsumi, Y, Tanaka, M, Morosawa, T, Kurotani, A, Yoshida, T, Mochida, K, Matsui, A, Umemura, Y, Ishitani, M, Shinozaki, K, Sakurai, T. , and Seki, M.:
   "Transcriptome analysis using a high-density oligomicroarray under drought stress in various genotypes of cassava: an important tropical crop"
   DNA Res 19, 335-45 (2012).
9. Otagiri, M, Lopez, CM, Kitamoto, K, Arioka, M, Kudo, T., and Moriya, S.:
   "Heterologous Expression and Characterization of a Glycoside Hydrolase Family 45 endo-β-1,4-Glucanase from a Symbiotic Protist of the Lower Termite"
   Reticulitermes speratus Appl Biochem Biotechnol., in press (2013).
10. Mochida, K., Yoshida, T., Sakurai, T., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., Shinozaki, K., and Tran, L.S. :
    "TreeTFDB: an integrative database of the transcription factors from six economically important tree crops for functional predictions and comparative and functional genomics"
    DNA Res, in press (2013)