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Hirai Lab
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A lab that uncovers the mechanisms of plant metabolism at the molecular level.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding the whole picture of metabolism
The lab of Visiting Professor Yumi Hirai conducts research with the goal of understanding the whole picture of metabolism, which lies at the foundation of life.
The lab develops metabolomics technologies for comprehensively analyzing metabolites, predicts metabolism through mathematical modeling, and searches for the functions of metabolic genes.
Based on the findings, the lab also aims to enhance the ability of plants and microorganisms to produce useful substances.
Students can join this lab from the graduate school level.
The research is carried out at the Metabolic Systems Research Team of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (Yokohama).
Key terms
- Metabolomics
- The comprehensive analysis of the metabolites found in an organism. The full set of metabolites is called the metabolome
- Secondary metabolite
- A substance produced by metabolism other than primary metabolism, which is essential for sustaining life. In plants, many of them help with defense against pests and adaptation to the environment
- Alkaloid
- A type of metabolite. Those produced by Madagascar periwinkle are widely used in anticancer drugs and other medicines
ResearchResearch themes
Metabolism, which lies at the foundation of life, is regulated in living organisms in a complex and sophisticated way. With the goal of understanding the whole picture of metabolism, the lab combines metabolomics, mathematical modeling, and the search for the functions of metabolic genes.
Capturing the whole picture of metabolism
The lab develops metabolomics technologies for comprehensively analyzing metabolites, predicts metabolism through mathematical modeling using omics data, and searches for the functions of metabolic genes using molecular biology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics. Based on the findings, it also aims to enhance the ability of plants and microorganisms to produce useful substances.
How cells that carry out metabolism are formed
Researchers on the team study Madagascar periwinkle, which produces alkaloids used in anticancer drugs, to investigate when and how cells acquire the ability to carry out metabolism (metabolic differentiation). They showed that alkaloid biosynthesis becomes active in stages in seed embryos after germination.
A pathway in which secondary metabolites are reused
Secondary metabolites have long been regarded as metabolic dead ends, but the lab discovered a pathway in which glucosinolates, produced by plants in the Brassicaceae family, are broken down and reused in primary metabolism, and published it in May 2021.
MembersFaculty
- Visiting ProfessorYumi Hirai
VoicesStudent voices
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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).
- Related lab (Tropical Bioresources Lab): “Young rice seedlings in muddy rice field, Indonesia” Undeka 11 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biological Genetic Information Lab): “Blond and green rice fields” Basile Morin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Practical African Development Lab): “Rice field DRC” Abdoulma / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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