Laboratories and faculty

Plant Cell Function

Prof. Hashimoto

Assoc prof. Shouji

Professor: Takashi HASHIMOTO
Associate Professor: Tsubasa SHOJI
Assistant Professor: Takehide KATO, Shinichiro KOMAKI
Labs HP: https://bsw3.naist.jp/hashimoto/

Outline of Research and Education

We conduct extensive research, from basic to applied, concerning protein function, cell morphogenesis, signal transduction and regulation of gene expression in various plants, making effective use of molecular genetics and imaging technology on Arabidopsis thaliana, liverwort, and green algae.

Major Research Topics

Dynamic reorganization of microtubule cytoskeleton in response to environmental stimuli leading to stress adaptation

Pattern formation of bio-polymer networks
Regulators of microtubule dynamics
Stress-induced reorganization of microtubule arrays
Stress-signal transduction leading activation of tubulin kinase
Novel growth arrest mechanisms by microtubule disassembly

Why and how plant pavement cells adopt a jigsaw puzzle-like shape?

Microtubule regulators generate complex cell shapes
Bio-mechanics for local growth anisotropy
Physical advantages for complex cell shapes

Fig. 1 — Fig. 1 Environmental stresses remodel the microtubule cytoskeleton by phosphorylation of tubulin subunits.

Fig. 2 — Fig. 2 The plant microtubule cytoskeleton remodels in response to developmental and environmental signals, and controls plant cell shape.

Fig. 3 — Fig. 3 Microtubules regulate plant cell shapes. Wild-type pavement cells of Arabidopsis cotyledons adopt a jigsaw puzzle-like shape, whereas the mutant cells of the microtubule regulator are polyhedoral.

References