Tohoku University · Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Professor Junko Kyozuka's research lab focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant development, particularly in monocots such as rice. Her work centers on the genetic and molecular regulation of shoot architecture, inflorescence and floral organ identity, and phase transition, with a strong emphasis on conserved transcriptional regulators like TFL1/CEN homologs and MADS-box genes. The lab employs functional genomics, gene expression analysis, and transgenic approaches to dissect developmental pathways in rice, aiming to understand evolutionary and mechanistic parallels with eudicot models like Arabidopsis. Their research provides key insights into how gene networks control plant form and reproductive development in monocots.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Plant architecture is mostly determined by shoot branching patterns. Apical dominance is a well-known control mechanism in the development of branching patterns, but little is known regarding its role in monocots such as rice. Here, we show that the concept of apical dominance can be applied to tiller bud outgrowth of rice. In dwarf10 (d10), an enhanced branching mutant of rice, apical dominance can be observed, but the inhibitory effects of the apical meristem was reduced. D10 is a rice ortholo
TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1)/CENTRORADIALIS (CEN)-like genes play important roles in determining plant architecture, mainly by controlling the timing of phase transition. To investigate the possibility of similar mechanisms operating in the control of inflorescence architecture in rice, we analysed the functions of RCN1 and RCN2, rice TFL1/CEN homologs. Constitutive overexpression of RCN1 or RCN2 in Arabidopsis caused a late-flowering and highly branching phenotype, indicating that they possess cons
The floral morphology of grass species is distinct from that of typical dicot plants. In order to achieve a better understanding of the molecular basis for this diversion, we isolated RAP1A, RAP1B and RAG, putative rice orthologs for the Arabidopsis class A gene APETALA1 (AP1) and class C gene AGAMOUS (AG). The expression patterns of RAP1A, RAG and OsMADS2, a rice ortholog of the class B gene, were analyzed by in situ hybridization. RAP1A mRNA was expressed in the apical region of the floral mer
FLORICAULA (FLO) of Antirrhinum and LEAFY (FLY) of Arabidopsis regulate the formation of floral meristems. To examine whether same mechanisms control floral development in distantly related species such as grasses, we isolated RFL, FLO-LFY homolog of rice, and examined its expression and function. Northern analysis showed that RFL is expressed predominantly in very young panicle but not in mature florets, mature leaves, or roots. In situ hybridization revealed that RFL RNA was expressed in epide
A previously isolated rice (Oryza sativa) rbcS gene was further characterized. This analysis revealed specific sequences in the 5' regulatory region of the rice rbcS gene that are conserved in rbcS genes of other monocotyledonous species. In transgenic rice plants, we examined the expression of the beta-glucuronidase (gusA) reporter gene directed by the 2.8-kb promoter region of the rice rbcS gene. To examine differences in the regulation of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous rbcS promoters, th
The basic structure of a rice inflorescence (the panicle) is determined by the pattern of branch formation, which is established at the early stages of panicle development. In this study we conducted global transcriptome profiling of the early stages of rice panicle development from phase transition to floral organ differentiation. To generate a meristem-specific gene-expression profile, shoot apical meristems (SAMs) and subsequently formed, very young panicles were collected manually and used f
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