Chief Scientist Laboratories RNA Systems Biochemistry Laboratory
Chief Scientist: Shintaro Iwasaki (Ph.D.)
Research Summary

“The central dogma of molecular biology”, which represents information flow from DNA to RNA to protein, has been most basic principle in life. Recent quantitative and comprehensive analysis revealed that amount of RNA could not simply correlate with protein abundance in cells, suggesting that “translation control” significantly contributes to gene expression in more general than as we previously expected. Our laboratory tackles the unknown mechanism of translation control, by the combination of next-generation deep sequencing and classical biochemistry.
Main Research Fields
- Biology
Related Research Fields
- Biological Sciences
- Life science
- Genome science
Keywords
- translation
- RNA
- Inhibitors
Selected Publications
Papers with an asterisk(*) are based on research conducted outside of RIKEN.
- 1.
Saito H, Handa Y, Chen M, Schneider-Poetsch T, Shichino Y, Takahashi M, Romo D, Yoshida M, Fürstner A, Ito T, Fukuzawa K, and Iwasaki S#.
"DMDA-PatA mediates RNA sequence-selective translation repression by anchoring eIF4A and DDX3 to GNG motifs."
Nat Commun. 15(1):7418 (2024) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51635-9 - 2.
Tomuro K#, Mito M#, Toh H, Kawamoto N, Miyake T, Chow SYA, Doi M, Ikeuchi Y, Shichino Y#, and Iwasaki S#.
"Calibrated ribosome profiling assesses the dynamics of ribosomal flux on transcripts."
Nat Commun. 15(1):7061 (2024) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51258-0 - 3.
Shichino Y#, Yamaguchi T, Kashiwagi K, Mito M, Takahashi M, Ito T, Ingolia NT, Kuba K, and Iwasaki S#.
"eIF4A1 enhances LARP1-mediated translational repression during mTORC1 inhibition."
Nat Struct Mol Biol. Online ahead of print. (2024) DOI: 10.1038/s41594-024-01321-7 - 4.
Apostolopoulos A, Kawamoto N, Chow SYA, Tsuiji H, Ikeuchi Y, Shichino Y#, and Iwasaki S#.
"dCas13-mediated translational repression for accurate gene silencing in mammalian cells."
Nat Commun. 15(1):2205 (2024) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46412-7 - 5.
Tanaka M#, Yokoyama T#, Saito H#, Nishimoto M, Tsuda K, Sotta N, Shigematsu H, Shirouzu M, Iwasaki S#, Ito T#, and Fujiwara T#.
"Boric acid intercepts 80S ribosome migration from AUG-stop by stabilizing eRF1."
Nat Chem Biol. 20(5):605–614 (2024) DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01513-0 - 6.
Kashiwagi K#, Shichino Y#, Osaki T#, Sakamoto A, Nishimoto M, Takahashi M, Mito M, Weber F, Ikeuchi Y#, Iwasaki S#, and Ito T#.
"eIF2B-capturing viral protein NSs suppresses the integrated stress response."
Nat Commun. 12(1):7102. (2021) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27337-x - 7.
Chen M, Asanuma M#, Takahashi M#, Shichino Y, Mito M, Fujiwara K, Saito H, Floor SN, Ingolia NT, Sodeoka M, Dodo K, Ito T, and Iwasaki S#.
"Dual targeting of DDX3 and eIF4A by the translation inhibitor rocaglamide A."
Cell Chem Biol. 28(4):475-486.e8. (2021) DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.11.008 - 8.
Han P, Shichino Y, Schneider-Poetsch T, Mito M, Hashimoto S, Udagawa T, Kohno K, Yoshida M, Mishima Y, Inada T, and Iwasaki S#.
"Genome-wide survey of ribosome collision."
Cell Rep. 31(5):107610. (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107610 - 9.
Iwasaki S#, Iwasaki W#, Takahashi M#, Sakamoto A, Watanabe C, Shichino Y, Floor SN, Fujiwara K, Mito M, Dodo K, Sodeoka M, Imataka H, Honma T, Fukuzawa K, Ito T#, and Ingolia NT#.
"The translation inhibitor rocaglamide targets a bimolecular cavity between eIF4A and polypurine RNA."
Mol Cell. 73(4):738-748.e9. (2019) DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2018.11.026 - 10.
*Iwasaki S, Floor SN, and Ingolia NT#.
"Rocaglates convert DEAD-box protein eIF4A into a sequence-selective translational repressor."
Nature. 534(7608):558-61. (2016) DOI: 10.1038/nature17978
Recent Research Results
Jun. 1, 2023
How a fungus sidesteps a plant’s defense mechanism
Annual research report
Related Links
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Shintaro Iwasaki
- Chief Scientist
Core members
- Yuichi Shichino
- Senior Research Scientist
- Tatsuaki Kurata
- Research Scientist
- Hirotaka Tou
- Special Postdoctoral Researcher
- Naohiro Kawamoto
- Special Postdoctoral Researcher
- Akira Yamashita
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Elie Marcel Teyssonniere
- Visiting Researcher
- Taisei Wakigawa
- Research Associate
- Mari Mito
- Technical Staff I
- Masami Shima
- Technical Staff I
- Kotaro Tomuro
- Junior Research Associate
- Kaho Maeta
- Student Trainee
- Miho Tsunashima
- Assistant
Contact Information
S205 Bioscience Bldg,
2-1 Hirosawa,
Wako, Saitama
351-0198, Japan
Email: shintaro.iwasaki [at] riken.jp