School of Science,
International College of Arts and Sciences,
Graduate School of Nanobioscience,
Yokohama City University
Laboratory of
Plant Developmental Biology
Research Interests:
Generally, in higher plants, zygotic embryos show desiccation
tolerance and dormancy that is induced by abscisic acid
(ABA; a kind of phytohormone) at the later phase of
seed development. Seed dormancy is a very
important system for its survival by allowing it to avoid bad environmental
conditions.
We have been studying the mechanisms of the
acquisition of desiccation tolerance and
ABA-signal transduction in embryos by physiological and molecular biological
methods. For the analysis, carrot somatic embryos
are used as plant materials, because a large quantity of embryos that are
synchronized to the same stage can be collected easily, and somatic embryos are
able to respond to exogenous ABA as seen in zygotic embryos. Our results
suggest that some ABA-inducible genes and C-ABI3, the transcriptional factor,
are involved in seed-specific desiccation tolerance induced by ABA.
In addition, studies on the mechanism of seed
dehydration and somatic embryogenesis are under way.
Members:
SHIOTA, Hajime;
Associate Professor, Yokohama City
University
INO, Natsumi;
Graduate Student, Yokohama City University
KIKUCHI, Tamae;
Graduate Student, Yokohama City University
KOBAYASHI, Ai; Graduate
Student, Yokohama City University
KATO, Mugito;
Graduate Student, Yokohama City University
NAKAGAWA, Rina;
Graduate Student, Yokohama City University
EHARA, Honoka;
Undergraduate Student, Yokohama City University
OBATA, Misaki;
Undergraduate Student, Yokohama City University
TAKAHASHI, Risa;
Undergraduate Student, Yokohama City University
MIURA, Naoya;
Undergraduate Student, Yokohama City University
WATANABE, Sayaka;
Undergraduate Student, Yokohama City University
Professional
Organizations:
The Botanical Society of
Japan, The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologist, Japanese Society for Plant
Cell and Molecular Biology, The Japanese Society for Chemical Regulation of
Plants
(updated on April 1, 2019)