Miyagishima Initiative Research Unit
Research Areas
Mitochondria are energy-generating organelles found in all organisms and chloroplasts are the site of photosynthesis in plants. Both are thought to have originated long ago when bacterial cells were engulfed by primitive eukaryotic cells. During cell proliferation, these organelles must be replicated and separated. We have shown that these organelles use similar division systems, both of which are derived from the ancestral bacterial endosymbionts and the eukaryotic host. The major goal of our research is to identify and characterize novel organelle division proteins that were contributed by the eukaryotic host. Secondly, we aim to discover key regulators of the division apparatus, such as transcription factors and cytosolic signaling molecules and reveal how theses control mechanisms contribute to organelle division. Overall, our results should provide insights into how the primitive eukaryotic host may have regulated the division of bacterial endosymbionts and later enslaved and turned them as organelles.
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List of Selected Publications
| (1) | Nakanishi, H., Suzuki, K., Kabeya, Y., and Miyagishima, S.: "Genome size of Pachypsylla venusta (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), and the ploidy of its bacteriocyte, the symbiotic host cell that harbors intracellular mutualistic bacteria with the smallest cellular genome." Curr. Biol. 19, 151-156. (2009) |
| (2) | Nakabachi, A., Koshikawa, S., Miura, T., and Miyagishima, S.: "Identification of cyanobacterial cell division genes by comparative and mutational analyses." Entomol. Res., in press (2009) |
| (3) | Miyagishima, S., Kuwayama, H., Urushihara, H., and Nakanishi, H.: "Evolutionary linkage between eukaryotic cytokinesis and chloroplast division by dynamin proteins." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 105, 15202-15207. (2008) |
| (4) | Hirai, M., Arai, M., Mori, T., Miyagishima, S., Kawai, S., Kita, K., Kuroiwa, T., Terenius, O., and Matsuoka, H.: "Male fertility of malaria parasites is determined by GCS1, a plant-type reproduction factor." Curr Biol. 18, 607-613. (2008) |
| (5) | Miyagishima, S., Froehlich, J.E., and Osteryoung, K.W.: "PDV1 and PDV2 mediate recruitment of the dynamin-related protein ARC5 to the plastid division site." Plant Cell 18, 2517-2530 (2006) |
| (6) | Miyagishima, S., Wolk, C.P., and Osteryoung, K.W.: "Identification of cyanobacterial cell division genes by comparative and mutational analyses." Mol. Microbiol. 56, 126-143 (2005) |
| (7) | Miyagishima, S., Nishida, K., and Kuroiwa, T.: "An evolutionary puzzle: chloroplast and mitochondrial division rings." Trends Plant Sci. 8, 432-438. (2003) |
| (8) | Miyagishima, S., Nishida, K., Mori, T., Matsuzaki, M., Higashiyama, T., Kuroiwa H., and Kuroiwa, T.: "A plant-specific dynamin-related protein forms a ring at the chloroplast division site." Plant Cell 15, 655-665 (2003) |
| (9) | Miyagishima, S., Takahara, M., Mori, T., Kuroiwa H., Higashiyama, and T., Kuroiwa, T.: "Plastid division is driven by a complex mechanism that involves differential transition of the bacterial and eukaryotic division rings." Plant Cell 13, 2257-2268 (2001) |
| (10) | Miyagishima, S., Takahara, M., and Kuroiwa, T.: "Novel filaments 5 nm in diameter constitute the cytosolic ring of the plastid division apparatus." Plant Cell 13, 707-721 (2001) |