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Plant Nutritional Physiology Lab
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The lab studies how plants take up and metabolize sulfur.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how sulfur works as a plant's 'food'.
The Plant Nutritional Physiology Lab studies sulfur, one of the essential elements plants need to live.
Plants make cysteine and methionine, amino acids that humans also need, from sulfate ions in the environment.
The lab investigates how plants take up and use sulfur, and how they respond when it is deficient.
Undergraduate students can join the lab through the Applied Biological Chemistry field of the Applied Biological Science Course, and graduate students through the Biological Functional Molecular Chemistry Division of the Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences.
Key terms
- Sulfur assimilation
- The process of reducing absorbed sulfate ions and converting them into sulfur-containing organic compounds such as cysteine
- Sulfate transporter
- A protein (SULTR) involved in sulfate uptake. Some of them work in the cell layers at the root surface
- Glucosinolates
- Sulfur-containing metabolites specific to Brassicaceae plants. They help repel pests and pathogens, attract certain insects, and also serve to store sulfur
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab focuses on sulfur among the essential elements and studies how plants take it up and use it. The lab believes that understanding how sulfur assimilation and metabolism are regulated in plants can provide clues for improving crop productivity, promoting human health through diet, and solving environmental problems.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms of Sulfur Assimilation and Metabolism
The lab covers the flow from sulfate uptake to the synthesis of sulfur-containing metabolites such as cysteine, methionine, and glutathione. By studying the signaling pathways that lead from changes in sulfur nutrition to changes in gene expression, it aims to clarify the mechanisms and regulation of assimilation and metabolism.
*Illustrative imageResponse Mechanisms to Sulfur Deficiency
The lab discovered SLIM1, a transcription factor that promotes sulfur assimilation and represses glucosinolate biosynthesis in response to sulfur deficiency. It aims to answer questions such as how plants sense sulfur deficiency and how SLIM1 becomes active.
*Illustrative imageRegulation of Sulfate Uptake
In Arabidopsis, sulfur deficiency induces expression of the sulfate transporter genes SULTR1;1 and SULTR1;2 and raises uptake activity. The lab has determined the regulatory sequence of SULTR1;1, and is working on determining that of SULTR1;2 and searching for transcription factors that regulate the expression of both.
*Illustrative imageRegulation of Methionine-Derived Glucosinolates
The lab studies the regulation of biosynthesis and degradation of glucosinolates made from methionine. It analyzes the mechanism by which sulfur deficiency increases expression of SDI, BGLU28, and BGLU30, and how this relates to SLIM1.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Plant Nutritional Physiology Lab consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and research students.As of 2025
- ProfessorAkiko Maruyama
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Brassica oleracea italica, Sault Ste Marie 1” Fungus Guy / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Mechanisms of Sulfur Assimilation and Metabolism: “Sulfur - El Desierto mine, San Pablo de Napa, Daniel Campos Province, Potosí, Bolivia” Ivar Leidus / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Response Mechanisms to Sulfur Deficiency: “Yellow leaves - autumn” Dmitry Makeev / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Regulation of Sulfate Uptake: “Roots of a hydroponically-grown plant” Banana patrol / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Regulation of Methionine-Derived Glucosinolates: “Mustard plant flower” This work was made by Nafiur Rahman and released under the license(s) stated below. Please feel free to use it for any purpose as long as you credit Nafiur Rahman as author and follow the terms of the chosen license. If you use this work outside of the Wikimedia projects, I would very much like to get a note from you. Thanks! / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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- Related lab (Fermentation Chemistry Lab): “Yeast cells in Gram stain” Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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