Gene Discovery Research Group

Our group is discovering plant genes of which functions are linked to quantitative improvements in plants and those with new functions for minimizing the effects of the environmental stresses to achieve maximum productivity. Other targets of research include not only genes that respond to environmental changes and stimuli and adaptation but also genes involved in photosynthesis and productions of useful metabolites. Our group explores key genes involved in improved productivity and abiotic stress tolerance based on genomics including transcriptome and metabolome analyses, and are analyzing regulatory factors and signaling factors involved in the control of gene expression in response to abiotic environmental stresses. We also explore genes involved in metabolic regulation for the improvement plant productivity.

Research Fields

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

• Exploration and analysis of regulatory factors and signaling factors in environmental stress responses
• Exploration and use of genes involved in plant productivity using a reverse genetic approach
• Development of environmental stress resistance wheat and rice
• Development of bio-imaging and microscopy technologies
• Collection of Arabidopsis knock-out mutants for the phenome analysis in gene discovery

Publications

1. Fujita, M., Fujita, Y., Iuchi, S., Yamada, K., Kobayashi, Y., Urano, K., Kobayashi, M., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K. and Shinozaki, K.
   "Natural variation in a polyamine transporter determines paraquat tolerance in Arabidopsis."
   Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 109, 6343-6347. (2012)
2. Takahashi, F., Mizoguchi, T., Yoshida, R., Ichimura, K. and Shinozaki, K.
   "Calmodulin-dependent activation of MAP kinase for ROS homeostasis in Arabidopsis."
   Mol. Cell, 41, 649-660 (2011)
3. Urano, K., Kurihara, Y., Seki, K., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "'Omics' analyses of regulatory networks in plant abiotic stress responses."
   Curr.Opin. Plant Biol., 13, 132-138 (2010)
4. Kuromori, T., Miyaji, T., Yabuuchi, H., Shimizu, H., Sugimoto, E., Kamiya, A., Moriyama, Y., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "ABC transporter AtABCG25 is involved in abscisic acid transport and responses."
   Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 2361-2366 (2010)
5. Umezawa, T., Sugiyama, N., Mizoguchi, M., Hayashi, S., Myouga, F., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., Ishihama, Y., Hirayama, T., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "Type 2C protein phosphatases directly regulate abscisic acid-activated protein kinases in Arabidopsis."
   Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 106, 17588-93 (2009)
6. Urano, K., Maruyama, K., Ogata, Y., Morishita, Y., Takeda, M., Sakurai, N., Suzuki, H., Saito, K., Shibata, D., Kobayashi, M., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "Characterization of the ABA-regulated global responses to dehydration in Arabidopsis by metabolomics."
   Plant J, 57. 1065-1078 (2009)
7. Myouga, F., Hosoda, C., Umezawa, T., Iizumi, H., Kuromori, T., Motohashi, R., Shono, Y., Nagata, N., Ikeuchi, M., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "Heterocomplex of Arabidopsis chloroplast-targeted iron superoxide dismutases, FSD2 and FSD3, mediates defense against oxidative stress in chloroplast nucleoids and is essential for chloroplast development."
   Plant Cell, 20, 3148-3162 (2008)
8. Umezawa, T., Sakurai, T., Totoki, Y., Toyoda, A., Seki, M., Ishiwata, A., Akiyama, K., Kurotani, A., Yoshida, T., Mochida, K., Kasuga, M., Todaka, D., Maruyama, K., Nakashima, K., Enju, A., Mizukado, S., Selina, A., Yoshiwara, K., Harada, K., Tsubokura, Y., Hayashi, M., Sato, S., Anai, T., Ishimoto, M., Funatsuki, H., Teraishi, M., Osaki, M., Shinano, T., Akashi, R., Sakaki, Y., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "Sequencing and analysis of approximately 40,000 soybean cDNA clones from a full-length enriched cDNA library."
   DNA Res, 15. 333-346 (2008)
9. Fujita, M., Mizukado, S., Fujita, Y., Ichikawa, T., Nakazawa, M., Seki, M., Matsui, M., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K.:
   "Identification of stress-tolerance-related transcription-factor genes via mini-scale Full-length cDNA over-eXpressor (FOX) gene hunting system."
   Biochem. Biophys.Res.Commun. 364, 250-257 (2007)
10. Takahashi, F., Yoshida, R., Ichimura, K., Mizoguchi, T., Seo, S., Yonezawa, M., Maruyama, K., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K.:
    "Dissecting the jasmonate signaling pathway by a novel MAP kinase cascade, MKK3-MPK6, in Arabidopsis. ."
    Plant Cell, 19, 805-818 (2007)