Chief Scientist Laboratories Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory
Chief Scientist: Shigeru Kuratani (Ph.D.)
Research Summary

Evolution can be viewed as series of changes introduced to developmental programs of organisms. The ultimate goal of our research project is to reconstruct the mechanical background of development behind evolutionary novelties in vertebrates, such as jaws and turtle crapace, by comparing developmental processes and patterns between different animal species to identify the changed portion of development, by constructing phenocopies to modify a part of developmental programs of model animals, and by integrating the experimental data with fossil data, phylogenetic trees based on molecular data, and variety of genomes in animals.
Main Research Fields
- Biological Sciences
Related Research Fields
- Biology
- Comparative Embryology
- Comparative Morphology
- Developmental Biology
Keywords
- Head
- Skeletomuscular system
- Nervous system
- Vertebrates
- Cyclostomes
Selected Publications
- 1.
Higuchi, S., Sugahara, F., Oisi, Y., Pascual Anaya, J., Takagi, W., and Kuratani, S.:
"Inner ear development in cyclostome and the evolution of vertebrate semicircular canals. "
Nature 565, 347-350 (2019). - 2.
Pascual-Anaya, J., Sato, I., Paps, J., Yandong, R., Sugahara, F., Higuchi, S., Takagi, W., Ruiz-Villalba, A., Ota, K. G., Wang, W., and Kuratani, S.:
"Hagfish and lamprey Hox genes reveal conservation of temporal colinearity in vertebrates. "
Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2, 859-866 (2018). - 3.
Sugahara, F., Pascual-Anaya, J., Oisi, Y., Kuraku, S., Aota, S., Adachi, N., Takagi, W., Hirai, T., Sato, N., Murakami, Y., and Kuratani, S.:
"Evidence from cyclostomes for complex regionalization of the ancestral vertebrate brain."
Nature 531, 97-100 (2016). - 4.
Hirasawa, T., Nagashima, H., and Kuratani, S.:
"The endoskeletal origin of the turtle carapace."
Nat. Commun. 4, 2107 (2013) - 5.
Oisi, Y., Ota, K. G., Kuraku, S., Fujimoto, S. and Kuratani, S.:
"Craniofacial development of hagfishes and the evolution of vertebrates."
Nature 493, 175-180 (2013). - 6.
Ota, K. G., Fujimoto, S., Oisi, Y., and Kuratani, S.:
"Identification of vertebra-like elements and their possible differentiation from sclerotomes in the hagfish."
Nat. Commun. 2, 373 (2011). - 7.
Irie, N., and Kuratani, S.:
"Comparative transcriptome analysis detects vertebrate phylotypic stage during organogenesis."
Nat. Commun. 2, 248 (2011). - 8.
Nagashima, H., Sugahara, F., Takechi, M., Ericsson, R., Kawashima-Ohya, Y., Narita, Y., and Kuratani, S.:
"Evolution of the turtle body plan by the folding and creation of new muscle connections."
Science 325, 193-196 (2009). - 9.
Ota, K. G., Kuraku, S., and Kuratani, S.:
"Hagfish embryology with reference to the evolution of the neural crest."
Nature 446, 672-675 (2007). - 10.
Shigetani, Y., Sugahara, F., Kawakami, Y., Murakami, Y., Hirano, S., and Kuratani, S.:
"Heterotopic shift of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions for vertebrate jaw evolution."
Science 296, 1316-1319 (2002).
Recent Research Results
Apr. 22, 2015
Look mom, no eardrums!Aug. 9, 2013
Unraveling the secrets of the turtle shellJun. 28, 2013
Genomic analysis solves the turtle mystery
Publications
Annual research report
Related Links
- Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory
- July 9, 2013: Press Release
The origin of the turtle shell: mystery solved - April 29, 2013: Press Release
Turtle genome analysis sheds light on turtle ancestry and shell evolution
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Shigeru Kuratani
- Chief Scientist
Core members
- Rie Kusakabe
- Research Scientist
- Juan Pascual Anaya
- Research Scientist
- Masahiro Uesaka
- Research Scientist
- Takahiro Kohsokabe
- Research Scientist
- Shiro Egawa
- Special Postdoctoral Researcher
- Shunya Kuroda
- Student Trainee
- Tamami Hirai
- Technical Staff I
- Iori Sato
- Technical Staff I
- Fumiaki Sugahara
- Visiting Scientist
- Naoki Irie
- Visiting Scientist
- Tatsuya Hirasawa
- Visiting Scientist
Contact Information
2-2-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku
Kobe, Hyogo
650-0047 Japan
Email: saizo [at] cdb.riken.jp