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Katoh Lab
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The lab develops MAFFT, software that aligns sequences so they can be compared, and uses it to decipher molecular evolution.
AboutAbout the lab
Bioinformatics techniques rooted in molecular evolution
The Katoh Lab studies bioinformatics techniques rooted in molecular evolution.
The lab continues to develop MAFFT, software that computes multiple sequence alignments, which line up gene or protein sequences for comparison.
In parallel, the lab also carries out molecular evolutionary sequence analyses using MAFFT and other tools.
While seeking a good balance between biological interest and practical need, the lab has worked for many years on important, long-standing problems.
Key terms
- Multiple sequence alignment
- A computation that lines up the sequences of multiple genes or proteins so that corresponding characters match
- Molecular evolution
- The field that studies the history and mechanisms of the evolution of organisms from changes in gene and protein sequences
- Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
- An enzyme that attaches the correct amino acid to a tRNA, which is used to read the genetic code
ResearchResearch themes
Bearing in mind that molecular evolutionary biology is both the parent field of bioinformatics and its main area of application, the lab develops information analysis methods that are biologically useful. Its two pillars are the development of MAFFT, a multiple sequence alignment program, and molecular evolutionary sequence analysis using it.
*Illustrative imageMAFFT Multiple Sequence Alignment
The lab continues to develop MAFFT, a multiple sequence alignment program. Built on a method that uses the fast Fourier transform to quickly find similar regions, it offers computational methods that take RNA secondary structure and protein three-dimensional structure into account, web-based features for handling large-scale data, and more.
*Illustrative imageApplications to Molecular Evolution
By computing alignments of dissimilar sequences and of protein three-dimensional structures, the lab supports the inference of the function of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases possessed by the common ancestor of all living organisms.
*Illustrative imageSequence Comparison Beyond Biology
Aiming to develop and spread analysis methods that originate in biology, the lab also collaborates on comparing behaviors in behavior analysis and on quantifying the similarity of music recorded in MIDI files.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorKazutaka KatohPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Tree of life by Haeckel” Ernst Haeckel / Public domain (cropped)
- MAFFT Multiple Sequence Alignment: “Multiple sequence alignment 2” Larse801 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Applications to Molecular Evolution: “Scheme of transfer RNA (tRNA) charged with an amino acid” OpenStax (Rice University) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Sequence Comparison Beyond Biology: “Chopin polonaise Op. 53” Frédéric Chopin / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Kasahara Lab): “MinION portable sequencer” Mongan A.E. / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kuroda Lab): “Insulin Structure” Webridge / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Suzuki Lab): “Illumina HiSeq 2500” Konrad Förstner / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Frith Lab): “DNA double helix 45” Jerome Walker,Dennis Myts / Public domain (cropped)
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