Research Topics

Our research focuses on mechanisms of plant hormone signaling and environmental stress tolerance in higher plants. In particular, our research focuses on abscisic acid, jasmonates, and salicylic acid signaling regulating stomatal movement. Our laboratory also focuses on salt and heavy metal stress resistance mechanisms in plants. The research goal of our laboratory is to understand how plants sense and respond to environmental stimuli and to develop new technologies that can be applied to sustainable food production. Plant hormone signaling Plant hormones are chemicals, small amount of which exert a range of physiological actions in plants. We aim to clarify the mechanisms of signaling cascading from chemical sensing to downstream reactions. In particular, our research focuses on signaling pathways for abscisic acid, jasmonates, and salicylic acid that regulate stomatal movement. Plant environmental stress resistance Plants cannot move away from unfavorable environmental conditions, thus they have developed robust mechanisms to ensure their survival. In particular, our research focuses on drought, salt, and heavy metal stresses and aims to develop technologies that improve crop safety and productivity.

Publication List

• Islam, M. M., Munemasa, S., Hossain, M. A., Nakamura, Y., Mori, I. C., and Murata, Y. (2010) Roles of AtTPC1, Vacuolar Two Pore Channel 1, in Arabidopsis Stomatal Closure. Plant Cell Physiol.51, 302-311.
• Jammes, F., Song, C., Shin, D., Munemasa, S., Takeda, K., Gu, D., Cho, D., Lee, S., Giordo, R., Sritubtim, S., Leonhardt, N., Ellis, B. E., Murata, Y., and Kwak, J. M. (2009) Two MAP kinases, MPK9 and MPK12, are preferentially expressed in guard cells and positively regulate ROS-mediated ABA signaling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 106, 20520-20525.
• Islam, M. M., Tani, C., Watanabe-Sugimoto, M., Uraji, M., Jahan, M. S., Masuda, C., Nakamura, Y., Mori, I. C., and Murata, Y. (2009) Myrosinases, TGG1 and TGG2 redundantly function in ABA and MeJA signaling in Arabidopsis guard cells. Plant Cell Physiol.,50, 1171-1175.
• Saito, N., Munemasa, S., Nakamura, Y., Shimoishi, Y., Mori, I. C. and Murata, Y. (2008) Roles of RCN1, regulatory A subunit of protein phosphatase 2A, in methyl jasmonate signaling and signal crosstalk between methyl jasmonate and abscisic acid. Plant Cell Physiol.,49, 1396-1401.
• Munemasa, S., Oda, K., Watanabe-Sugimoto, M., Nakamura, Y., Shimoishi, Y. and Murata, Y. (2007) The coi1 Mutation Reveals the Hormonal Signaling Interaction Between ABA and MeJA in Arabidopsis Guard Cells: Specific Impairment of Ion Channel Activation and Second Messenger Production. Plant Physiol.,143, 1398-1407.

Introduction Video