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Cell Spatiotemporal Control Lab
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A lab exploring, through the cytoskeleton, how plant cells shape themselves.
AboutAbout the lab
Revealing how cells shape themselves
The Cell Spatiotemporal Control group (Oda Lab) conducts research with the goal of revealing how plant cells shape themselves.
A plant body is built from stacked cells covered by cell walls, so how each individual cell takes shape is especially important for the development of the whole plant.
Using xylem vessel cell differentiation and cell division as subjects, the lab studies the movements of the cytoskeleton that control how cell walls are deposited.
The lab has also developed its own experimental method for growing only xylem vessel cells from cultured Arabidopsis cells.
Key terms
- Xylem vessel
- A hollow tube that serves as a water pathway in the plant body. It forms when a cell builds a thick cell wall and then digests its contents
- Microtubule
- A fibrous cytoskeletal element lined up just beneath the plasma membrane. It guides the paths along which cellulose synthase moves and determines the pattern of cell wall deposition
- Cell plate
- A plate that partitions the cell when a plant cell divides. It becomes one side of the cell wall surrounding the daughter cells
NewsLab news
An Assistant Professor in the lab receives the Botanical Society of Japan Encouragement Award
Research showing that the CORD protein controls the orientation of cell division published in Current Biology
Research showing that the transcription factor KNAT7 controls the type of cell wall pattern in xylem vessels published in Nature Communications
Research showing that phase separation of the MIDD1 protein regulates the spacing of xylem vessel cell walls published in Nature Plants
Research showing that the MAP70 protein controls the three-dimensional structure of xylem vessel cell walls published in Nature Communications
ResearchResearch themes
In plant cells, the cell wall determines cell shape, and the cytoskeleton indirectly determines it by controlling how cell wall components are deposited. The lab studies how the position and orientation of microtubules are controlled, through xylem vessel differentiation and cell division.
*Illustrative imageFormation of cell wall patterns in xylem vessels
Xylem vessel cells deposit thick cell walls and digest their contents to become hollow tubes. The walls are deposited in patterns that depend on the tissue, such as annular, spiral, reticulate, and pitted. The lab studies the cytoskeletal movements that guide these patterns.
*Illustrative imageControl of plant cell division
Plant cells divide by partitioning the cell with a cell plate. Because the cell plate is guided by the phragmoplast, a cluster of short microtubules, the lab studies how the cytoskeleton is controlled to determine the position and orientation of the plate.
*Illustrative imageA cell culture system that grows only xylem vessels
Xylem vessels form deep inside tissues and are hard to observe, so the lab developed a method for growing only xylem vessel cells from cultured Arabidopsis cells. This makes it possible to study in detail the function of specific proteins inside xylem vessel cells.
*Illustrative imageHow microtubules are broken down to form pits
In cultured cells that differentiate into xylem vessels, sites where microtubules are prone to breaking down appear, and these become pits in the cell wall. The lab found that this occurs when the ROP small GTPase recruits Kinesin-13A via MIDD1.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Oda Lab include faculty, postdoctoral researchers, technical assistants, graduate students, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorYoshihisa Oda
- Assistant ProfessorTakema Sasaki
- YLC Specially Appointed Assistant ProfessorYuki Sugiyama
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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: “Elodea cells under microscope” ~delta / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Formation of cell wall patterns in xylem vessels: “Gymnosperm Leaves Xylem in Two Needle Pinus ( )” Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library / CC0 (cropped)
- Control of plant cell division: “Mitosis in Onion Root various stages (Metaphase)” Natalierussell77 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- A cell culture system that grows only xylem vessels: “Plant tissue culture” Angphotorion / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How microtubules are broken down to form pits: “Multicolor fluorescence image of living HeLa cells” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (細胞構造学): “Physcomitrella Sporophyt” Manuel Mildner & Annette Hohe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (植物分
子シグナル学): “Leaf epidermis” Louisa Howard (Dartmouth electron microscope facility) / Public domain (cropped) - Related lab (植物パターン形成): “Arabidopsis thaliana seedling” Alena Kravchenko / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (遺伝学): “Culture vials of Drosophila melanogaster in Unifei” Mateus S. Figueiredo / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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