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Pomology Lab
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A lab that works out the mechanisms of flowers and fruit in fruit trees such as persimmon and Japanese apricot and applies them to breeding.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how fruit trees work and linking it to breeding.
The Pomology Lab studies the mechanisms behind the various traits involved in how fruit trees bear fruit and how that fruit comes to be used.
Founded in 1926, the lab carries out its research while growing persimmons, Japanese apricots, peaches, and other fruit trees in the orchard of the Kyoto Farm, located on the grounds of the Faculty of Agriculture.
The lab's persimmon orchard is known as one of the largest persimmon cultivar collections in Japan and abroad.
The knowledge gained is applied to developing new varieties with useful traits and new breeding technologies.
Key terms
- molecular marker
- A tool that uses differences in DNA as a landmark to identify a plant's traits before it has grown
- self-incompatibility
- A trait in which fertilization fails even when pollen from the same individual lands on the pistil. It is a mechanism for avoiding mating between close relatives
- dormancy
- A state in which buds stop their activity to get through winter. They wake up after being exposed to a certain amount of cold
NewsLab news
Assistant Professor Fujiwara and a doctoral student received the IHC2026 Young Minds Award
In a joint study with Kyoto Prefectural University, the three-dimensional growth of fruit was visualized and a common pattern of growth was discovered
A doctoral student received the Outstanding Presentation Award (oral category) at the Autumn Meeting of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science
A study on decoding the genome of the Japanese apricot 'Nanko' was published in DNA Research
ResearchResearch themes
Using fruit trees as research subjects, the lab uses a variety of methods to clarify the mechanisms of traits involved in fruit production and use. It applies the findings to horticulture and breeding, and recently has also put effort into developing new varieties and new breeding technologies.
*Illustrative imageTelling sweet and astringent persimmons apart
The lab developed molecular markers that can tell whether a persimmon is astringent or non-astringent right after seeds are sown, before flowers or fruit appear, and made ones that can be used in breeding non-astringent persimmons. It also studies non-astringent persimmons from China, which lose their astringency by a mechanism different from that in Japan.
*Illustrative imageHow self-incompatibility works
Fruit trees of the genus Prunus, such as cherry and Japanese apricot, show self-incompatibility, meaning they cannot be fertilized by their own pollen. The lab identified S-RNase on the pistil side and SFB on the pollen side, and is studying the molecular mechanism that distinguishes self from non-self.
*Illustrative imageHow fruit trees go dormant
Temperate fruit trees go dormant in winter, and flowering requires a certain amount of cold. Because climate change is causing uneven flowering and frost damage, the lab aims to clarify the mechanisms that control dormancy and to develop ways to control it artificially.
*Illustrative imageHow male and female persimmons are determined
How sex is determined in plants with clearly separate sexes had long been unknown in any plant. Using persimmons and related plants collected since the lab's founding, the lab is working to clarify the mechanism of sex determination.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Pomology Lab are faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and administrative staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorRyutaro Tao
- ProfessorHisayo Yamane
- Assistant ProfessorSoichiro Nishiyama
- Assistant ProfessorYosuke Fujiwara
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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: “Persimmon tree with many fruits - 1” KKPCW（Kyu3） / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Telling sweet and astringent persimmons apart: “Fuyu persimmon fruits, one cut open” Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How self-incompatibility works: “Flowers of Prunus mume (Armeniaca mume) at Nagai Park, January )” Laitche / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How fruit trees go dormant: “Winter Silence in an Apple Orchard, Himachal Pradesh” Rajani Gairshail / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How male and female persimmons are determined: “Diospyros kaki male 8944” Schurdl / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (栽培植物起原学分野): “Field of buckwheat in Brazil” Jose.brenner / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (生態情報開発学分
野): “Colony of Red spider mites (Tetranychus urticae)” Aleksey Gnilenkov from Moscow, Russia / CC BY 2.0 (cropped) - Related lab (微生物環境制御学分野): “Fungal mycelium” Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (植物生産管理学分野): “Orchard near Fields Farm - geograph.org.uk - 246169” Simon Carey / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
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