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Horie Lab
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A lab that uncovers the mechanisms of degradation carried out by autophagy.
AboutAbout the lab
Taking on autophagy and the mystery of degradation.
Horie Lab studies autophagy, the process by which cells enclose their own contents and degrade them.
In particular, the lab focuses on degradation itself, investigating the identity of the degradative enzymes that act in vacuoles and lysosomes.
The targets extend beyond proteins to RNA, lipids, sugars, and metabolites.
Using yeast, the lab aims to draw a comprehensive atlas of the biomolecules that are degraded, metabolized, and transported.
Key terms
- Autophagy
- A mechanism by which a cell encloses its own proteins and organelles, degrades them, and remakes them into building materials
- Vacuole
- A large sac found in yeast and plant cells. It contains degradative enzymes and is the site where taken-in material is broken down
- Autophagosome
- A double-membrane structure that appears during autophagy. It surrounds the material to be degraded and carries it
NewsLab news
A follow-up study on Atg15 (a lipase) was published in PNAS, and a press release was issued
Horie Lab was established
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to elucidate the mechanisms of degradation, metabolism, and recycling by autophagy. Using the model organism yeast, and relying on techniques for isolating vacuoles (the site of degradation) and autophagic bodies (the inner membrane structures of autophagosomes) at high purity, the lab investigates the identity and regulation of degradative enzymes.
*Illustrative imageRNA degradation
The lab reported that RNA is degraded on a large scale by autophagy. It has clarified the enzymes involved in this degradation, such as RNases and nucleotidases, and their metabolic processes, and has also shown that the mRNAs that get degraded are selected rather than random.
*Illustrative imageRecycling of metal ions
The lab showed that autophagy is induced when metal ions such as zinc and iron run short, and that recycling metals within the cell is essential for survival and function.
*Illustrative imagePurification of autophagic bodies
Building on its techniques for isolating yeast vacuoles at high purity, the lab established a method for purifying autophagic bodies, the inner membrane structures of autophagosomes. This made it possible to analyze the substrates contained in autophagosomes.
*Illustrative imageLipid degradation
The lab biochemically demonstrated that Atg15, an enzyme that degrades phospholipids inside the vacuole, has phospholipase B activity. It also showed that proteases in the vacuole are essential for Atg15 to become active.
MembersFaculty
The members of Horie Lab are faculty, undergraduate students, and technical staff and secretaries.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorTomoko HoriePublications ↗
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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: “Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEM” Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- RNA degradation: “1z7xa” Deposition authors: McCoy, J.G., Johnson, R.J., Raines, R.T., Bitto, E., Bingman, C.A., Wesenberg, G.E., Allard, S.T.M., Phillips Jr., G.N., Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics (CESG); visualization author: User:Astrojan / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Recycling of metal ions: “Autophagy” David S. Goodsell / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Purification of autophagic bodies: “CsCl density gradient centrifugation” Dr Graham Beards / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Lipid degradation: “Emulsion physics” Shubha suba / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (藤田研究室): “Drosophila melanogaster under microscope” Talita Oliveira / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (中戸川研究室): “S cerevisiae septins” Spitfire ch, Philippsen Lab, Biozentrum Basel / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (八波研究室): “Salin de Gruissan (Ifremer )” Isabelle Cheret / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (松田研究室): “Diacylglycerol lipase α (via AlphaFold2, ColabFold, and PyMol)” Zhazhir / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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