Plant Developmental Signaling
- Professor
- NAKAJIMA Keiji
- Associate Professor
- GOH Tatsuaki
- Assistant Professor
- HISANAGA Tetsuya
- Labs HP
- https://bsw3.naist.jp/nakajima/English/English_top.html
NAIST Edge BIOOutline of Research and Education
We investigate how plants optimize their growth and morphology in response to fluctuating environments, as well as how they adapt through sexual reproduction by generating diverse offspring. To uncover these processes, we integrate analyses across multiple scales, from genes and molecules to cells, tissues, and organs. By combining our unique live-imaging technologies, which capture the internal dynamics of growing plants with high precision, with genome-wide approaches and AI-based image analysis, we elucidate the mechanisms that maximize plant growth and reproductive capacity. The insights gained from our research contribute to addressing global challenges such as food and energy security (Fig. 1).
Major Research Topics
How plants optimize their morphology and growth in response to environmental stimuli
Plants, as sessile organisms, adapt to fluctuating environments by dynamically altering the morphology and growth vectors of their organs. To achieve these complex functions, individual plant cells must perceive environmental signals and coordinately regulate the frequency and direction of cell division and elongation, as plants lack specialized organs for sensing and actuation. How these sophisticated mechanisms operate, however, remains largely unknown.
Using the Arabidopsis root tip as a model system, we investigate how roots respond to environmental stimuli across multiple scales, from the molecular to the organ level. By integrating our uniquely developed high-resolution live-imaging system with microdevices for precise environmental control, AI-based image analysis, and mathematical modeling, we aim to elucidate how chemical and physical cues—such as nutrient availability and mechanical contact—are perceived and how this information is processed to optimize organ growth (Fig. 2).
How sexual plant reproduction is achieved to enhance environmental adaptability
Sexual reproduction generates genetic diversity in biological populations, thereby enhancing their ability to adapt to changing environments. Elucidating the mechanisms that regulate sexual reproduction not only deepens our understanding of plant evolution and reproductive capacity, but also contributes to crop breeding aimed at improving food production and energy security. Conventional seed plant models, however, are not well suited for studying plant sexual reproduction, as gametes develop and fertilize deep within floral organs, making it extremely difficult to observe their differentiation processes and underlying regulatory mechanisms.
To overcome this limitation, we leverage the advantages of bryophytes, which allow direct observation of gamete formation and enable efficient genetic analyses based on genomic information. Using this system, we are identifying key regulatory factors involved in sexual differentiation and gamete formation. Building on these findings, we aim to elucidate evolutionarily conserved mechanisms that govern plant sexual reproduction (Fig. 3).
References
- Goh, Song et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 64, 1262-1278, 2023
- Cui et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 64, 866-879, 2023
- Fujiwara et al., Curr. Biol., 33, 886-898, 2023
- Goh, Sakamoto et al., Development, 149, dev200593, 2022
- Hisanaga et al., eLife, 10, e57090, 2021
- Fujiwara, Goh, Tsugawa et al., Development, 148, dev196253, 2021
- Hisanaga, Yamaoka, Kawashima et al., Nature Plants, 5, 663-669, 2019
- Hisanaga, Okahashi et al., EMBO J., 38, e100240, 2019
- Miyashima, Roszak, Sevilem et al., Nature, 565, 490-494, 2019
- Kamiya et al., Development, 143, 4063-4072, 2016
- Koi et al., Curr. Biol., 26, 1775-1781, 2016
