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Plant Gene Function Lab
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A lab that clarifies, at the gene level, how stems elongate in rice and other plants.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding how stems elongate, starting from genes.
The Plant Gene Function Lab studies the mechanisms of plant growth at the gene level.
Using rice, a model monocot, and Arabidopsis thaliana, a model dicot, the lab focuses in particular on the molecular mechanisms of "stem elongation."
The lab combines knowledge and techniques from many fields, including genetics, developmental biology, molecular biology, physiology, and biochemistry.
The lab also works on the WISH Project, which uses the results of basic research to breed improved rice varieties and make them widely available.
Key terms
- Floating rice
- Rice native to Southeast Asia. These varieties are adapted to flooded environments, and their stems elongate rapidly when submerged.
- Gibberellin
- A type of plant hormone. When it is deficient, stems become shorter; when it is in excess, stems elongate more.
- Marker-assisted selection breeding
- A method of improving varieties that combines backcrossing with selection using DNA markers (molecular markers).
NewsLab news
A master's student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the Rice Genetics and Molecular Biology Workshop 2026
Research results on flowering stem elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana were published in Plant and Cell Physiology
An undergraduate student won the Best Presentation Award at the Study Group on Wild Relatives of the Genus Oryza
A PhD student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the 1st Early-Career Researchers' Meeting of the Transformative Research Areas (A) "Plant Symplast"
An undergraduate student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the Rice Genetics and Molecular Biology Workshop 2025
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to clarify at the molecular level how plant organs differentiate and grow. It focuses especially on "stem elongation," using rice and Arabidopsis thaliana to investigate the mechanisms by which stems begin to elongate.
*Illustrative imageMolecular switches that determine stem elongation
Through research on floating rice, the lab discovered ACE1 and DEC1, genes that determine the start of stem elongation. When cells in the internodes respond to the plant hormone gibberellin and elongate, ACE1 is thought to promote this elongation and DEC1 to suppress it.
*Illustrative imageRice domestication and stem elongation genes
The wild species Oryza rufipogon has a functional ACE1, whereas all the japonica cultivated rice lines examined had a non-functional ACE1. This is presumed to be the result of selecting rice that is resistant to lodging, and the findings suggest that regulation of DEC1 expression may also have been a target of selection.
*Illustrative imageThe whole picture of stem elongation and verification in other plants
The lab is working to clarify the whole network: when and where genes act, and which groups of genes they regulate to make stems elongate. It examines the functions of genes similar to ACE1 and DEC1 in Arabidopsis thaliana and bryophytes, and also studies how flower bud differentiation is coordinated with stem elongation.
*Illustrative imageWISH Project
This project uses the results of basic research to breed improved rice varieties and make them widely available. In Kenyan field trials, a line in which genes that increase the number of seeds and panicle branches were introduced into the African variety NERICA 1 by marker-assisted selection breeding had a higher yield than the original variety.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Plant Gene Function Lab are faculty members, researchers, PhD, master's, and undergraduate students, and technical staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorMotoyuki Ashikari
- Associate ProfessorKeisuke Nagai
- YLC Specially Appointed Assistant ProfessorHiroshi Takagi
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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: “Water reflection of mountains, hut, green rice sheaves scattered in a paddy field and clouds with blue sky in Vang Vieng, Laos” Basile Morin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Molecular switches that determine stem elongation: “Rice plants” Gill Prabhnoor / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Rice domestication and stem elongation genes: “Oryza rufipogon - National Taiwan University - DSC01108” Daderot / CC0 (cropped)
- The whole picture of stem elongation and verification in other plants: “Arabidopsis thaliana kz07” Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- WISH Project: “Rice paddies in Madagascar” Luc Legay / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
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