Research
Welcome to Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics
Every year, approximately 15% of crop production is lost due to diseases. This loss is equivalent to the food supply for one billion people worldwide. Furthermore, many crops have been damaged by the emergence of newly evolved pathogens, and the expansion of disease areas resulting from global environmental changes. Therefore, developing next-generation disease resistance technologies is highly desirable to sustainably stabilize food production.
In our laboratory, we use model plants such as rice (a monocotyledon) and Arabidopsis thaliana (a dicotyledon) to study the "plant immunity" and "pathogen virulence" using molecular biology, cell biology, and plant pathology techniques. In our research on plant immunity, we are analyzing how plants recognize pathogen infections and activate the immune signaling. In the study of pathogen virulence, we are investigating how pathogen effectors inhibit plant immune responses. Furthermore, based on these research findings, we are working on developing technologies to enhance the plants' own immunity and suppress the infectivity of pathogens.