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Matsunaga Lab
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A lab that uncovers the mechanisms behind plants' ability to regenerate and withstand stress, and puts them to use.
AboutAbout the lab
Plant regeneration and stress tolerance
The Matsunaga Lab studies the mechanisms behind plants' ability to regenerate and to withstand environmental stress.
The lab investigates how processes are coordinated inside the plant cell nucleus, focusing on chromatin dynamics.
It also develops new imaging technologies for observing plants, including a technique that makes plants transparent within a few hours.
Using synthetic biology approaches, the lab is also taking on the challenge of creating animal cells capable of photosynthesis.
Key terms
- Chromatin
- DNA wound around proteins and folded up inside the cell nucleus. It affects how genes function.
- Epigenetics
- A mechanism that switches gene activity through chemical marks on DNA and proteins, without changing the DNA sequence.
- Synthetic biology
- A field that combines biological parts and cells to build, by human design, living systems that do not exist in nature.
NewsLab news
Letter by doctoral students and others warning of the crisis facing coral reefs published in Science
Doctoral student receives Best Poster Award at the EpiSeedLink International Conference 2026
Results of joint research with Nagoya University published in Science Advances
Doctoral student receives The Best Talk Prize at ISE 2025
Paper on the evolution of coral symbiotic algae, from joint research with Kyoto University, published in Genome Biology and Evolution
ResearchResearch themes
The lab is uncovering how processes are coordinated inside the plant cell nucleus, as well as the secret behind plants' high regenerative capacity. Using synthetic biology approaches, it is also taking on the challenge of creating animal cells that take in algae and carry out photosynthesis.
*Illustrative imageCreating animal cells that photosynthesize
The lab uses synthetic biology to recreate secondary endosymbiosis, in which a cell takes in algae, and has created photosynthetic animal cells called "planimal cells." This work builds on research on Cyanidioschyzon merolae, a primitive red alga collected from a volcanic crater.
*Illustrative imageProducing useful materials with microalgae
In cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae, the lab is working to establish strains that produce carotenoids and strains that are tolerant of pH stress. It is also researching how to make nitrogen-fixing bacteria live symbiotically inside the algae so that they supply nitrogen.
*Illustrative imageDynamics inside the plant cell nucleus
The lab analyzes how DNA replication, transcription, and repair are coordinated inside the plant cell nucleus, focusing on chromatin dynamics in four dimensions of space and time.
*Illustrative imagePlant regeneration
The lab is uncovering, through epigenetic regulation, the secret of plants' regenerative capacity, which is high enough to allow propagation by cuttings and grafting. It also studies somatic embryogenesis, in which embryos form without fertilization.
MembersFaculty
The Matsunaga Lab's members include faculty, researchers, visiting researchers, specialized staff, technical staff, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorSachihiro MatsunagaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorShinichiro Maruyama
- Assistant ProfessorYuki Nishimura
- Project Assistant ProfessorHikaru Sato
- Project Assistant ProfessorTomoko Matsunaga
- Project Assistant ProfessorBaptiste Genot
- Project Assistant ProfessorYayoi Inui (Tsujimoto)
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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: “Bryum capillare leaf cells” Des_Callaghan / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Creating animal cells that photosynthesize: “Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D” ja:User:NEON / User:NEON_ja / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Producing useful materials with microalgae: “Cyanobacteria guerrero negro” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Dynamics inside the plant cell nucleus: “Onion root mitosis” staticd / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Plant regeneration: “Ficus cuttings with roots in a bottle, White background” Biusch / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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