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Experimental Plant Division
Masatomo KOBAYASHI
Head of Experimental Plant Division
Masatomo KOBAYASHI (Ph.D.)
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Research Areas

Plant science is important for the production of food and useful materials as well as the preservation of world environment. Since April 2002, the Experimental Plant Division has been selected as a national core institution of the Arabidopsis, plant cultured cells and DNA resources by the Japanese government. The aim of the laboratory is the collection, preservation and distribution of seeds, plant DNA materials and plant cultured cells. A model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana is the major origin of these resources. Development of novel technologies for the preservation and characterization of wild-type Arabidopsis and plant cultured cells is carried out. Training course is operated to distribute the technologies, and project information is provided through web site and presentations in the scientific conferences.

Research Subject

  1. Cryopreservation of plant cultured cells
  2. Development of crop genomic resources and related techniques
  3. Characterization of natural accessions of Arabidopsis
  4. Establishment and characterization of homozygous plants of Arabidopsis transposon-tagged lines

Press release

May 29, 2007
Experimental Plant Division of BRC identified a new plant gene involved in a plant's tolerance to acidic soil.

Related links

  1. RIKEN BioResource Center Website_Laboratories PageNew Window

RIKEN RESEARCH

February 01, 2008
The value of Arabidopsis in crop research New Window
August 17, 2007
Putting a STOP to acid stress
A transcription protein called STOP1 helps plants to tolerate aluminum ions and protons New Window

List of Selected Publications

  1. Katori T., Ikeda A., Iuchi S., Kobayashi M., Shinozaki K., Maehashi K., Sakata Y., Tanaka S. and Taji T.:
    "Dissecting the genetic control of natural variation in salt tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions"
    J. Exp. Bot. 61, 1125-1138 (2010).
  2. Abe H., Shimoda T., Onishi J., Kugimiya S., Narusaka M., Seo S., Narusaka Y., Tsuda S. and Kobayashi M.:
    "Jasmonate-dependent plant defence restricts thrips performance and preference"
    BMC Plant Biol. 9, 1-12 (2009)
  3. Abe H., Ohnishi J., Narusaka M., Seo S., Narusaka Y., Tsuda S. and Kobayashi M.:
    "Function of Jasmonate in Response and Tolerance of Arabidopsis to Thrip Feeding"
    Plant Cell Physiol. 49, 68-80 (2008).
  4. Iuchi S., Suzuki H., Kim Y.-C., Iuchi A., Kuromori T., Ueguchi M., Asami T., Yamaguchi I., Matsuoka M., Kobayashi M. and Nakajima M.:
    "Multiple loss-of-function of Arabidopsis gibberellin receptor AtGID1s completely shuts down a gibberellin signal"
    Plant J. 50, 958-966 (2007).
  5. Iuchi S., Koyama H., Iuchi A., Kobayashi Y., Kitabayashi S., Kobayashi Y., Ikka T., Hirayama T., Shinozaki K. and Kobayashi M.:
    "Zinc finger protein STOP1 is critical for proton tolerance in Arabidopsis and coregulates a key gene in aluminum tolerance"
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104(23), 9990-9905 (2007).
  6. Kobayashi T., Niino T. and Kobayashi M.:
    "Simple cryopreservation protocol with an encapsulation technique for tabacco BY-2 suspension cell cultures"
    Plant Biotechnology 22(2), 105-112 (2005).
  7. Ueguchi-Tanaka, M., Ashikari, M., Nakajima, M., Itoh H., Katoh, E., Kobayashi, M., Chow, T., Hsing, YC., Kitano, H., Yamaguchi, I. and Matsuoka, M.:
    "GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1 encodes a soluble receptor for gibberellin"
    Nature 437, 693-698 (2005).
  8. Sakamoto, T., Morinaka, Y., Ishiyama, K., Kobayashi, M., Itoh, H., Kayano, T., Iwahori, S., Matsuoka, M. and Tanaka, H.:
    "Genetic manipulation of gibberellin metabolism in transgenic rice"
    Nature Biotech. 21, 900-913 (2003).
  9. Sasaki, A., Itoh, H., Gomi, K., Ueguchi-Tanaka, M., Ishiyama, K., Kobayashi, M., Jeong, D.-H., An, G., Kitano, H., Ashikari, M. and Matsuoka, M.:
    "Accumulation of phosphorylated repressor for gibberellin signaling in an F-box mutant"
    Science 299, 1896-1898 (2003).
  10. Sasaki, A., Ashikari, M., Ueguchi-Tanaka, M., Itoh, H., Nishimura, A., Swapen, D., Saito, T., Ishiyama, K., Kobayashi, M., Kitano, H., Khushu, GS. and Matsuoka, M.:
    "A mutant gibberellin-synthesis gene in rice"
    Nature 416, 701-702 (2002).

Members

Principal Investigator

Masatomo KOBAYASHI
Head

Staff Scientist

Toshihiro KOBAYASHI
Senior Research Scientist
Satoshi IUCHI
Senior Research Scientist
Hiroshi ABE
Senior Research Scientist

Technical Assistant

Atsuko IUCHI
Technical Staff 2
Issei SASAKI
Technical Staff 2
Kanako ISHIYAMA
Technical Staff 2
Fumie MORI
Technical Staff 2
Yuri SHITOMI
Technical Staff 2
Yukie ASO
Technical Staff 2
Setsuko KAWAMURA
Technical Staff 2
Tomoko UCHIDA
Technical Staff 2