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Nishihama Lab
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A lab that uses the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to explore the mechanisms of growth and development in land plants.
AboutAbout the lab
Toward the fundamental principles underlying land plant growth.
The Nishihama Lab studies the mechanisms of growth and development shared by land plants.
Because plants use the products of photosynthesis for their own growth, they have evolved ways of regulating growth that make good use of photosynthesis.
Land plants evolved from a single common ancestor, so they share a set of genes and the mechanisms that regulate their functions.
Mainly using the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a bryophyte and a model organism, the lab uses genetic modification techniques and omics analysis to uncover how growth is regulated in coordination with photosynthesis.
Key terms
- Model organism
- An organism that is easy to grow and whose genes are easy to study, so that many researchers use it in common for their research.
- Omics analysis
- A method of measuring genes, proteins, metabolites, and other molecules comprehensively and all together, rather than one at a time.
- Stem cell
- A cell that divides to leave a cell identical to itself while also giving rise to various other cell types. In plants, stem cells support apical growth.
- Epigenetics
- A mechanism that switches gene activity on and off, through chemical marks and other means, without changing the DNA sequence itself.
NewsLab news
A collaborative study reporting a mechanism that directly activates the plasma membrane H+-ATPase was published in Science
A collaborative study with Wageningen University reporting the diversification of degradation of auxin response factors was published in Nature Communications
Assistant Professor Yamauchi and colleagues reported in Nature Communications the mechanism of stomatal opening through blue light-induced starch degradation
A collaborative study elucidating the "stem cell organizer function" that supports the perpetual growth of Marchantia polymorpha was published in Current Biology
A student won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the workshop of the Fluctuations in Life Research Division
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to understand the principles of growth and development that underlie land plants. Mainly using Marchantia polymorpha, it studies how plants regulate growth and development in coordination with photosynthesis.
*Illustrative imageGrowth coordinated with photosynthesis
Plants constantly monitor the state of photosynthesis and match cellular activity and metabolism to it. By investigating how plants process information about photosynthesis and light to regulate growth and metabolism, the lab seeks to understand principles of growth regulation common to land plants.
*Illustrative imageStem cells driving apical growth
Apical growth, which is the basis of growth and development in land plants, is carried out by stem cells that are specified during development. This mechanism is also linked to the high regenerative capacity of plants, and the lab seeks to elucidate the gene networks that specify stem cells, from the standpoint of transcriptional and epigenetic regulation.
MembersFaculty
The Nishihama Lab consists of faculty members, secretaries, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorRyuichi Nishihama
- Assistant ProfessorShota Yamauchi
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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: “Marchantia polymorpha - Common Liverwort 01” Jasper Shide / CC0 (cropped)
- Growth coordinated with photosynthesis: “Marchantia polymorpha kz01” Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Stem cells driving apical growth: “Marchantia polymorpha kz04” Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (植物分子生理学
（朽津 研究室） ): “Tomato Leaf Mold” Elizabeth Bush, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University / CC BY 3.0 (cropped) - Related lab (がん細胞生物学
（定家 研究室） ): “Telomeres” AJC1 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (応用微生物学
（荒添研究室） ): “Fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe)” Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS) / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
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