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Microbial Genetics and Evolution Lab
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A lab that uncovers microbial evolution and adaptation through bacteria that consume environmental pollutants.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring bacterial environmental adaptation and evolution from molecules to the environment.
The Microbial Genetics and Evolution Lab studies bacteria that degrade environmental pollutants chemically synthesized by humans.
It aims to comprehensively understand, at the levels of enzymes, genes, genomes, cells, populations, and the environment, how such bacteria arose and by what mechanisms they can metabolize recalcitrant compounds.
The knowledge gained is also used to establish methods for developing untapped microbial functions and for applications in environmental remediation.
Key terms
- mobile genetic elements
- Carriers of genes, such as plasmids and insertion sequences, that can move between bacterial genomes. They pass new genes on to other bacteria.
NewsLab news
A paper by Prof. Nagata and colleagues was published in ISME Communications
A paper by Prof. Nagata and colleagues was published in Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry
A paper by Prof. Nagata and colleagues was published in Scientific reports
A paper by Prof. Nagata and colleagues was published in Microbiology resource announcements
ResearchResearch themes
Focusing mainly on environmental bacteria capable of degrading environmental pollutants, the lab elucidates the mechanisms of bacterial environmental adaptation and functional evolution. It aims to apply the findings to methods for developing untapped microbial functions and to environmental remediation.
*Illustrative imageElucidating the origin and spread of new genes
The lab investigates where the special genes used by degrading bacteria came from and how they arrived. Focusing on mobile genetic elements such as plasmids and insertion sequences, which are key players, it clarifies the mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer.
*Illustrative imageTracing the process of enzyme evolution
Using degradative enzymes whose activity differs dramatically with a difference of only a few amino acid residues, the lab traces in practice how enzyme substrate specificity changes over the course of evolution.
*Illustrative imageRelationship between genome structure and new metabolic capabilities
Bacterial genomes change relatively easily, and cellular functions change accordingly. The lab clarifies the causes and mechanisms of genome changes and the correlation between genome structure and novel metabolic capabilities, aiming to elucidate the organizing principles of bacterial genomes.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding degradation ability at the level of bacterial communities
In real environments, degrading bacteria exert their abilities as part of bacterial communities that include non-degrading bacteria. The lab studies these bacterial communities and works to clarify the principles by which they are organized.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Microbial Genetics and Evolution Lab consist of faculty, visiting researchers, project researchers, technical assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorYuji Nagata
- Assistant ProfessorKohei Kishida
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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: “Micrococcus riboflavin” GK Sims / Public domain (cropped)
- Elucidating the origin and spread of new genes: “Escherichia coli forming biofilms via F-pilus” Jonasz Patkowski / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Tracing the process of enzyme evolution: “PDB 1cv2 EBI” Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute / Public domain (cropped)
- Relationship between genome structure and new metabolic capabilities: “Séquençage du génome d'une microalgue au laboratoire GENALG (Ifremer )” Stephane Lesbats (Ifremer) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Understanding degradation ability at the level of bacterial communities: “Bakterienwachstum 0349” Bin im Garten / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (進化ゲノミクス): “Human karyotype with bands and sub-bands” Mikael Häggström, M.D. Author info - Reusing images- Conflicts of interest: None Mikael Häggström, M.D.- The work integrates Public Domain source images by Was A Bee, Kelvin Ma and Michał Komorniczak- Also, a special acknowledgement to everyone involved in the Human Genome Project for generating the source data.edit / CC0 (cropped)
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