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Plant Breeding Lab
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This lab takes on rice breeding using genetics and mathematical models.
AboutAbout the lab
Taking on new crop development with genetics and mathematical models
The Plant Breeding Lab uses genetics and mathematical models to explore new directions in crop improvement (breeding).
In particular, it aims to use mathematical models to understand the unusual traits of rice genetic resources that have not yet been put to use, and to develop ways of using them through molecular genetics.
Research involves growing a wide variety of rice, including Asian wild rice and African rice, in paddy fields and greenhouses.
Students can learn mathematical modeling from the basics, and many students also work on genetics research that does not use models.
Key terms
- Breeding
- The practice of improving the genetic traits of organisms to create new varieties that are useful to people
- Hybrid sterility
- A phenomenon in which hybrids produced by crossing different species fail to develop pollen or seeds properly and so do not set seed
- Mathematical model
- A description of how a phenomenon works, expressed in mathematical equations. It can be used to reproduce and study the phenomenon on a computer
NewsLab news
Clarified how rice leaves become twisted and published the paper in New Phytologist
A student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the 148th Meeting of the Japanese Society of Breeding
A student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the Hokkaido Joint Meeting of the Crop Science Society of Japan and the Japanese Society of Breeding
Published a paper analyzing cultivated-wild rice hybrid lines developed for high-latitude regions
A student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the 146th Meeting of the Japanese Society of Breeding
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to understand the novel traits of underused rice genetic resources through genetics and mathematical models, and to apply them to crop breeding. Its research covers overcoming the species barrier in rice, how wild rice grows, and the mathematics of plant form and movement.
*Illustrative imageCrossing the species barrier in rice
The lab identifies the genes behind hybrid sterility, in which pollen and seeds degenerate in hybrids between cultivated rice and Asian wild rice or African rice. It also studies how to make these hybrids set seed, using mutations and genome editing.
*Illustrative imageWild rice that grows spreading across the ground
Wild rice growing in the tropics has a prostrate growth habit, spreading horizontally along the ground. The lab investigates the mechanism behind it by combining genetics and mathematical models.
*Illustrative imageThe mathematics of plant form and movement
Using mathematical modeling that reproduces the form and movement of plants on a computer, the lab explores the fundamental mechanisms behind them. It also develops measurement methods, and works with crops such as rice and soybean.
*Illustrative imageRice that is less sensitive to cold
Regarding cold damage, a problem in rice cultivation in Hokkaido, the lab focuses on low-temperature insensitivity: the ability to tolerate cold by not sensing cold stress. It also studies how to adjust heading time, based on how day length and temperature affect the speed of development.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members are faculty, researchers, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorYohei Koide
- Assistant ProfessorYoshiki Tokuyama
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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: “Bagged rice panicles” Desmanthus4food / CC BY-SA 3.0 us (cropped)
- Crossing the species barrier in rice: “CSIRO ScienceImage 11349 Rice flower” Mark Talbot, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Wild rice that grows spreading across the ground: “Oryza meridinalis near Townsville 5803” Btcpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- The mathematics of plant form and movement: “Asian rice (Oryza sativa) നെല്ല്. ( )” Rison Thumboor from Thrissur, India / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Rice that is less sensitive to cold: “Rice Fields Before Harvest in Autumn Hokkaido Japan” Sgroey / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ecological Chemical Biology Lab): “Колонии плесневых грибов на питательной среде” Andrei Trigubovich / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Biology Lab): “Arabidopsis thal twice background” Reo On / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Gene Regulation Lab): “Sugar beet field ( )” Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Applied Molecular Entomology Lab): “Da Lat - Silkworms eating mulberry leaves” P. Hughes / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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