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Microbial Environment Control Lab
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The lab studies the molds and microbes that cause plant diseases and explores ways to protect plants.
AboutAbout the lab
Controlling microbes to protect plants.
The Microbial Environment Control Lab studies the properties of microbes that cause plant diseases and microbes that live in symbiosis with plants, and how they interact with other organisms.
The lab aims to skillfully control microbes in farmland and forests, and to use this to protect useful plants and improve the productivity of agriculture and forestry.
The lab is jointly run by two fields, one from the Graduate School of Agriculture and one from the School of Global Environmental Studies, and graduate students of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies also belong to it.
Undergraduates are assigned to the Advanced Bioscience Course in their third year, and to this lab within the course in their fourth year (graduate students belong to the Division of Environmental Science and Technology, Graduate School of Agriculture).
Key terms
- filamentous fungi
- Fungi that form hyphae, in which cells are connected like threads. They include molds and mushrooms
- symbiotic microbes
- Microbes that live together with plants and other organisms, and benefit each other
- pine wilt
- A forest epidemic in which pine trees die one after another. Nematodes are a cause
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
Farmland and forests contain both microbes that cause disease in plants and microbes that live in symbiosis with them. The lab clarifies their properties and their interactions with other organisms from a biological perspective, aiming to use this to protect plants and improve agricultural and forestry production.
*Illustrative imageHow Pathogens and Symbionts Adapt to Their Environment
Plant pathogenic microbes and symbiotic microbes adapt to changes in temperature, moisture, host plants, other microbes, and more. The lab investigates these mechanisms using molecular biology methods, aiming to apply them to disease control and new uses.
*Illustrative imageHow Molds Penetrate Hard Materials
Fungi penetrate hard substrates with hyphae and take up nutrients efficiently. Using koji mold, plant pathogens, wood-decay fungi, and others, the lab investigates how filamentous fungi attach to, recognize, and invade solid surfaces.
*Illustrative imagePine Wilt and Oak Wilt
Two serious forest epidemics, pine wilt and Japanese oak wilt, are spreading in Japan. The lab aims to untangle the complex relationships involved in these diseases and develop control methods with a low environmental burden.
MembersFaculty
The Microbial Environment Control Lab consists of faculty members, administrative assistants, laboratory assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorChihiro Tanaka
- Associate ProfessorAkira Yoshimi
- Assistant ProfessorYuko Takeuchi
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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: “Fungal mycelium” Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- How Pathogens and Symbionts Adapt to Their Environment: “Fusarium poae” William M. Brown Jr., Bugwood.org / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- How Molds Penetrate Hard Materials: “Houbové hyfy a jejich prorůstání ke kořenům rostliny” Topi Pigula / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Pine Wilt and Oak Wilt: “Bursaphelenchus xylophilus male (01)” L.D. Dwinell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org / CC BY 3.0 us (cropped)
- Related lab (Marine Environmental Microbiology Lab): “CSIRO ScienceImage 2971 Collection of microalgae cultures” division, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Marine Biological Propagation Lab): “Flounder that came to eat the feed in the fish farm (Ibaraki Prefecture Aquaculture Center)” 小石川人晃 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ecological Information Lab): “Colony of Red spider mites (Tetranychus urticae)” Aleksey Gnilenkov from Moscow, Russia / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Pomology Lab): “Persimmon tree with many fruits - 1” KKPCW（Kyu3） / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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