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Hori Lab
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A lab that uncovers how mushrooms break down trees.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading the battle between trees and fungi at the molecular level
The Hori Lab studies the struggle over carbon between trees and fungi in forests.
Trees defend themselves against microbial attack with sturdy cell walls and antimicrobial compounds, but fungi such as mushrooms have evolved the ability to break these down.
Using fungi that the lab isolates from the environment itself, together with their genetic information, the lab searches for the molecular mechanisms of decomposition and for new enzymes.
The lab also pursues applied research that links its basic findings to the use of degrading enzymes and to microbial control for trees.
Key terms
- Wood-decay fungi
- Fungi that break down wood. Some decompose fallen trees, while others attack living trees.
- Cell wall
- A tough structure surrounding plant cells, made of cellulose, lignin, and other components.
- Omics analysis
- Analysis that examines genes, proteins, and other molecules comprehensively all at once, rather than one by one.
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab clarifies the molecular mechanisms of plant decomposition that fungi have acquired through evolution in forest ecosystems. Its work ranges widely, from fieldwork and experiments in culture rooms to the analysis of enzymes, genes, and genomic data.
*Illustrative imageInteractions Between Trees and Fungi
Ordinary wood-decay fungi break down fallen trees, but parasitic wood-decay fungi also attack living trees, weakening them until they fall. The lab builds experimental systems to investigate why only parasitic fungi can weaken living trees.
*Illustrative imageSearching for New Wood-Degrading Enzymes
The lab performs meta-omics analysis to obtain genetic information on cell wall-degrading enzymes directly from wood decaying in nature. It also searches for new degradation mechanisms and enzymes in fungi that can break down the antimicrobial compounds trees produce.
*Illustrative imagePutting Degrading Enzymes to Use
The lab is working to develop enzymes that degrade natural polymers, obtained from basidiomycetes, into enzymes that degrade synthetic polymers. It also develops inhibitors that suppress the enzymes of parasitic wood-decay fungi, with the aim of achieving microbial control for trees.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Hori Lab are faculty, researchers, technical assistants, and students in the master's program and the undergraduate program.As of 2026
- ProfessorChiaki Hori
VoicesStudent voices
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Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Hori Lab
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RTNakano LabFaculty of Science, Department of Biological SciencesPlant-microbe interactions, molecular genetics, cell biology…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “Dense poplar wood seba beach” Quinn Desilets / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Interactions Between Trees and Fungi: “Bracket Fungus or Birch Polypore - geograph.org.uk - 297136” Trish Steel / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Searching for New Wood-Degrading Enzymes: “White rot on oak” Auró / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Putting Degrading Enzymes to Use: “Diacylglycerol lipase α (via AlphaFold2, ColabFold, and PyMol)” Zhazhir / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yoshida Lab): “Docosahexaenoic-acid-3D-sf” Ben Mills / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Environmental Molecular Biology Lab): “Reissetzlinge vor der Aussaat” Myrmux / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Chiba Lab): “A thaliana” Safflle / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (RTNakano Lab): “-Chlorophytum comosum-02” Wildfeuer / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
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