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Plant Physiology Lab
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A lab exploring how plants sense and respond to changes in their environment.
AboutAbout the lab
How plants sense and respond to their environment
The Plant Physiology Lab studies how plants sense and respond to changes in their surroundings in order to live, using stomatal guard cells as its main research material.
Stomata are pores in the epidermis of land plants. They open and close in response to light and drought, regulating gas exchange between the plant and the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide uptake and transpiration.
The lab studies the signal transduction that opens and closes stomata in response to blue light, the plant hormone abscisic acid, and carbon dioxide, using physiological, biochemical, and molecular genetic methods.
The lab is also affiliated with the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) and pursues research from the perspective of chemical biology.
Key terms
- Stoma (plural: stomata)
- A pore in the epidermis of land plants. It opens and closes to regulate gas exchange with the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide uptake and transpiration
- Guard cell
- One of a pair of cells surrounding a stoma. Its volume changes in response to external signals, opening and closing the stoma
- Plasma membrane H+-ATPase
- A pump in the plasma membrane. It is activated by blue light and generates the driving force for stomatal opening
- Abscisic acid
- A plant hormone. Under drought stress, it causes stomata to close and prevents water loss from the plant
NewsLab news
A paper by lab members published in Journal of Plant Research
A paper by lab members published in Plant & Cell Physiology
Project Associate Professor Yohei Takahashi receives the 2026 Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists Encouragement Award
ResearchResearch themes
Plants cannot move, so they live by responding to a changing environment. Using stomata as a model, the lab aims to reveal the molecular mechanisms of the signal transduction that underlies responses to light, drought, carbon dioxide, and more.
*Illustrative imageAnalysis of the molecular mechanisms of stomatal opening and closing
Using guard cells isolated from Arabidopsis and broad bean (Vicia faba), the lab analyzes the plasma membrane H+-ATPase complex, protein phosphorylation in response to blue light and abscisic acid, and the functions of genes that act in guard cells.
*Illustrative imageIsolation of stomatal aperture mutants
Measuring how widely stomata open takes time. The lab therefore screens with a method that allows efficient selection, has found new stomatal aperture mutants in Arabidopsis, and is investigating the functions of the causal genes.
*Illustrative imageRegulation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity
The plasma membrane H+-ATPase is activated by phosphorylation of its C-terminus and binding of 14-3-3 proteins. To identify the enzymes involved in this phosphorylation, the lab is conducting biochemical analyses and isolating new mutants with abnormal regulation of activity.
*Illustrative imageResponses to water stress and CO2
The lab focuses on how plants sense CO2 concentration and on signal transduction of abscisic acid, a stress hormone. Using biochemistry, molecular genetics, cell biology, and chemical biology, it studies the molecular mechanisms of adaptation to the environment, mainly through stomatal opening and closing.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Plant Physiology Lab include faculty, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, technicians and technical assistants, a coordinator, and a secretary.As of 2026
- ProfessorToshinori Kinoshita
- Project Associate ProfessorYohei Takahashi
- Assistant ProfessorYuki Hayashi
- Assistant ProfessorEigo Ando
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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: “Cuticle of leaf under microscope” Tyanna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Analysis of the molecular mechanisms of stomatal opening and closing: “Leaf epithelium, stomata and guard cells” Emilio Ermini / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Isolation of stomatal aperture mutants: “Arabidopsis plant growth in vitro” Alena Kravchenko / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Regulation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity: “Cell membrane in Rheo leaf cell” Krishna satya 333 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Responses to water stress and CO2: “Degraded plant condition, overgrazing and drought, South Dakota” USDA NRCS South Dakota / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Molecular Signaling Lab): “Leaf epidermis” Louisa Howard (Dartmouth electron microscope facility) / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Biomolecular Dynamics Lab): “Arabidopsis root hairs” G Lens Microscopist, Megan Gerber / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Modification and Regulation Lab): “VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette” Labrat879 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Cell-to-Cell Signaling Lab): “Plant micropropagation in laboratory” Viktor Husak / CC0 (cropped)
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