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Okano Lab
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The lab uncovers, at the molecular level, how animals sense light and the geomagnetic field.
AboutAbout the lab
Sensing light and the geomagnetic field with molecules.
Okano Lab conducts research using molecules, genes, cells, and whole animals, with the molecular mechanisms of how the animal nervous system receives and transmits external information as its main theme.
Centering on cryptochrome, a molecule believed to receive blue light, the lab has investigated the mechanisms by which organisms respond to the geomagnetic field and to very weak light.
It uses a variety of animals as research materials, including chickens, western clawed frogs, zebrafish, and deep-sea fish.
The lab invites anyone with questions to feel free to drop by.
Key terms
- Cryptochrome
- A group of proteins believed to receive blue light. They belong to the same gene family as photolyases, the enzymes that repair UV-induced DNA damage
- Circadian clock
- A mechanism that keeps time inside the body on a cycle of about one day. It is synchronized with the external light-dark cycle by light
- Synchronous spawning
- A phenomenon in which many individuals gather at a set time and spawn all at once. It serves to increase fertilization efficiency
NewsLab news
A master's student was selected for a Best Poster Presentation Award at the 8th Annual Meeting of the Quantum Life Science Society
A paper on the light preferences of nocturnal loaches was published in Scientific Reports
A lab member received the Quantum Innovation 2023 Poster Award
ResearchResearch themes
The lab presents its latest results at conferences and other venues as they become available, and most have already been published as English-language papers. It investigates the intracellular signaling mechanisms involved in photoreception, magnetoreception, and the generation of circadian oscillations, at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels.
*Illustrative imageResearch on cryptochromes
Cryptochromes have several subfamilies and are involved in light-dependent plant morphogenesis and in light entrainment of the circadian clock. The lab focuses on CRY4, examining the structural changes that occur when it receives light and the possibility that it works as a sensor that uses the energy of blue light to detect the geomagnetic field.
*Illustrative imageBehavioral studies of magnetoreception
Behavioral experiments have shown that migratory birds and sea turtles sense the geomagnetic field, but these animals are not suited to genetic experiments. The lab investigated a behavioral assay system in zebrafish, for which genetic modification technology is well established, and confirmed that the fish swim in a fixed direction in a circular tank.
*Illustrative imageResearch on lunar phase recognition
Synchronous spawning is a phenomenon in which many individuals lay eggs all at once in time with the phases of the moon. Using the goldlined spinefoot, which spawns around the first quarter moon, the lab investigates whether the fish perceive moonlight or whether an internal clock with a one-month cycle is involved.
*Illustrative imageResearch on light responsiveness of cultured cells
It is known that isolated cultured cells retain circadian clock function. Using human skin cells and cells derived from the eyeball of the tiger pufferfish, the lab investigates how external light is received and how this relates to light-responsive genes and circadian clock genes.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorToshiyuki Okano
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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: “Plastic-compass” Evan-Amos / Public domain (cropped)
- Research on cryptochromes: “Gallus gallus domesticus - Vogelpark Steinen 03” H. Zell / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Behavioral studies of magnetoreception: “Danio rerio port” Soulkeeper / Public domain (cropped)
- Research on lunar phase recognition: “FullMoon2010” Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Research on light responsiveness of cultured cells: “HaCaT Cells Phase Contrast” Accuratelibrarian / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kiga Lab): “Block tower on narrow base” Reseletti / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Iwasaki Lab): “Cyanobacteria 029” Lamiot / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Bannai Lab): “Synapsin and CamK2 positive neurons” ManuelSchottdorf / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Mizuuchi Lab): “Mammoth Terraces” Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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