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Yatsunami Lab
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The lab engineers enzymes from microorganisms living in extreme environments to produce useful substances.
AboutAbout the lab
Extremophiles, with limitless potential.
The Yatsunami Lab studies how to enhance the function of enzymes produced by extremophiles through protein engineering.
The lab also works on producing useful substances through metabolic engineering of extremophiles.
Its main subjects are the extremely halophilic archaeon known in Japanese as "sankaku-kin" (the "triangle microbe"), which has the odd shape of a flat triangular plate, along with alkaliphilic bacteria and thermophiles.
Microorganisms from extreme environments have special abilities that ordinary microorganisms lack, such as enzymes that work well under alkaline conditions.
Key terms
- Extremophile
- A microorganism that thrives in environments where life would seem impossible, such as hot water, strong acid or alkali, and saturated salt water
- Protein engineering
- A technology that artificially creates proteins with desired properties and functions, for example by introducing mutations into genes
- Metabolic engineering
- A technology that rewires a microorganism's metabolic pathways so that it efficiently produces a target substance
NewsLab news
An undergraduate student received the Excellent Research Presentation Award for Bachelor's Students
An undergraduate student received the Excellent Research Presentation Award for Bachelor's Students
A lab paper was published in Extremophiles
A study on the biosynthetic pathway of an extremely halophilic archaeon was published in Microbes Environ.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to enhance the function of enzymes derived from extremophiles through protein engineering. It finds gifted extremophiles and extremozymes in nature, elucidates their functions using genetic engineering techniques, and applies the results to enzyme improvement and the production of useful substances.
*Illustrative imageProtein engineering of extremozymes
Using mutated genes or chemically synthesized genes, the lab artificially creates proteins with desired properties and functions. The enzymes it works with include hydrolases, 3-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase, and plastic-degrading enzymes.
*Illustrative imageProduction of useful substances by microorganisms
This research has extremophiles produce useful substances. The targets are carotenoids, highly branched glucans, polyhydroxyalkanoates, squalene, and cell surface membrane proteins.
MembersFaculty
The Yatsunami Lab consists of faculty members and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorYatsunami RiePublications ↗
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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: “Salin de Gruissan (Ifremer )” Isabelle Cheret / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Protein engineering of extremozymes: “2o28” Pedrogmartins / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Production of useful substances by microorganisms: “Plant pigments” Nevena Morel, with my team Lisa Bourne and Nicolas Jacquemin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (金原研究室): “Lipid Bilayer” US gov / Public domain (cropped)
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