Laboratory of Applied Molecular Microbiology
Professor
FUKUZAWA, Hideya
fukuzawa -at- lif.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Associate Professor
YAMANO, Takashi
tyamano -at- lif.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
TSUJI, Yoshinori
tsuji.yoshinori.7a -at- lif.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Main theme
We are focusing on the molecular basis of biological functions of microalgae contributing to production of food, biofuel and industrial materials through photosynthesis. Especially, we employ a green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, as a model eukaryotic photosynthetic microorganism using genomic, proteomic, genetic, molecular and biochemical techniques.
The current projects are
- Molecular characterization of the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) supporting photosynthetic carbon fixation, biofuel production, and cell proliferation.
- Elucidation of regulatory systems controlling photosynthesis and carbon/nitrogen metabolisms by sensing environmental factors including changes of levels in CO2 concentration, light and nutrients.
- Development and utilization of genome information and genome resources of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
- Molecular control and signaling of sexual reproduction and oil production by nutrient starvation.
- Identification of factors essential for intracellular signal transduction including calcium-dependent retrograde signal from chloroplast to nucleus and DYRK family of protein kinases supporting cell survival.