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Plant Molecular Biology (Gene Function and Expression) Lab
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The lab uses the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to explore how plants sense light and seasons and how they determine sex and reproduction.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring the fundamentals of how plants live, through Marchantia polymorpha
The Plant Molecular Biology lab studies, at the molecular level, the growth mechanisms unique to plants, in which cells proliferate and differentiate flexibly in response to the environment.
Using the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a bryophyte that holds a key to the evolution of land plants, as its main model plant, the lab centers on molecular genetics and aims to conduct research spanning levels from genes to whole organisms to ecosystems.
In graduate school, the lab is the Gene Function and Expression field (Kohchi Lab) of the Graduate School of Biostudies.
Undergraduates carry out their graduation research in their fourth year in the Division of Applied Life Sciences, and from graduate school they belong to the Department of Integrated Life Sciences in the Graduate School of Biostudies.
Key terms
- Marchantia polymorpha
- A type of liverwort. A model plant that is easy to use in research because of its simple body plan and low genetic redundancy
- Phytochrome
- A plant photoreceptor that senses red and far-red light
- Gibberellin
- A plant hormone that regulates processes such as plant growth
ResearchResearch themes
The basics of how plants live are living by photosynthesis and continuing to grow while maintaining undifferentiated cells. The lab studies the mechanisms that sense and transmit environmental cues such as light and temperature, the onset of sexual reproduction and sex differentiation, and the regulation of the whole plant by plant hormones.
*Illustrative imageHow plants sense red light
In Marchantia polymorpha, the lab investigates how phytochrome, a receptor for red and far-red light, senses light and transmits the signal. Master's thesis work also analyzes how phytochrome transmits the far-red light signal.
*Illustrative imageHow light and day length trigger reproduction
The lab studies how light quality and day length trigger sexual reproduction, and how the activity of the master transcription factor for reproduction is regulated. It is also working to clarify how a gene that determines germ cell differentiation is controlled by day length.
*Illustrative imageGibberellin-related compounds in Marchantia polymorpha
The lab aims to identify the compounds in Marchantia polymorpha that resemble the plant hormone gibberellin and to determine how they are produced, and to explore how signal transduction has changed over the course of evolution.
*Illustrative imageGenes that determine sex
Marchantia polymorpha is a dioecious, haploid plant, with separate male and female individuals. The lab studies the function of sex-determining genes on the sex chromosomes, aiming to clarify at the molecular level how sex is determined.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty, researchers, administrative assistants, technical assistants, graduate students, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakayuki Kohchi
- Program-Specific Associate ProfessorTakashi Yamano
- Assistant ProfessorYoshihiro Yoshitake
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).
- Top image: “Marchantia polymorpha HC1” Holger Casselmann / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How plants sense red light: “Phytochrome str” Audriusa / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How light and day length trigger reproduction: “Marchantia young embryo” Jon Houseman / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Gibberellin-related compounds in Marchantia polymorpha: “Gibberellic-acid-from-xtal-3D-bs-17” Ben Mills / Public domain (cropped)
- Genes that determine sex: “Marchantia male and female” Salamander724 / Public domain (cropped)
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- Related lab (Plant Nutrition Lab): “Листочок моху під мікроскопом” Andrei Savitsky / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biomacromolecular Chemistry Lab): “Ribbon view of the Orange Carotenoid Protein Structure 1M98” . The original uploader was Melnicki at English Wikipedia. / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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