LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Plant Evolutionary Ecology Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab unravels the evolution of the diverse forms and mechanisms of plants at the molecular level.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding the ingenious evolution of plants
The Plant Evolutionary Ecology Lab studies how the diverse forms and mechanisms of plants have evolved.
Plants have produced a variety of adaptive mechanisms and unusual forms in response to environmental factors such as drought and ultraviolet light, and through their interactions with microbes, insects, and other plants.
By unraveling this diversity at the molecular level and retracing the paths of evolution, the lab aims for a universal understanding of biological evolution.
The lab has two groups, the Tsuchimatsu Group and the Katayama Group, which share laboratory space and seminars while each pursuing its own research themes.
Key terms
- Self-incompatibility
- A plant mechanism that recognizes and rejects its own pollen, preventing self-fertilization
- Genome
- The complete set of genetic information of an organism. It is the blueprint for building the body and also carries traces of evolution
- Mutation rate
- The speed at which changes occur in DNA sequences. The higher it is, the more easily new genetic differences arise
NewsLab news
A paper from the lab was published in mSystems and selected as an Editor's Pick
A master's student received an Outstanding Poster Award at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan
A paper by master's students and others was featured on the cover of Journal of Plant Research
A doctoral student received a Poster Award at the Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference
A paper was published in Genome Biology and Evolution
ResearchResearch themes
The lab seeks to clarify how the ingenious mechanisms and forms of plants have evolved. The Tsuchimatsu Group uses genome data to study the evolution of plant reproductive mechanisms, while the Katayama Group studies the dramatic evolution of plants whose ecology and form are far removed from those of other plants.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of Self-Incompatibility
Using wild plants of the Brassicaceae and Solanaceae families as study material, the lab investigates how the types of self-incompatibility, the ability to recognize and reject one's own pollen, have diversified and how they arose.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of Sex and Mating in Closterium
In the alga Closterium peracerosum-strigosum-littorale complex, which has mating types akin to male and female, the lab investigates which genetic changes gave rise to strains capable of self-fertilization, along with the characteristics of their genomes.
*Illustrative imageEvolution of Self-Fertilizing Plants
Through crossing experiments and genome analysis, the lab aims to uncover which genetic changes produced the floral traits of self-fertilizing plants, such as small petals and low pollen production.
*Illustrative imageMutation Rate and Evolvability
The lab tests whether the elevated mutation rates seen in some aquatic plants are linked to dramatic evolution and diversification, through comparisons across angiosperms and experiments using duckweeds.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Plant Evolutionary Ecology Lab consist of faculty members, researchers, academic specialists, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakashi TsuchimatsuPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorNatsu KatayamaPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorSayuri TsukaharaPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorYuki TsuchikanePublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Plant Evolutionary Ecology Lab
Kawakita LabFaculty of Science, Department of Biological SciencesElucidating the diversity of plant pollination systems and t…
Taneda LabFaculty of Science, Department of Biological SciencesUnderstanding the evolution and adaptation of diverse traits…
Human Genome Diversity LabFaculty of Science, Department of Biological SciencesElucidating human evolutionary history from human genome div…
Evolutionary Phylogenetics Lab (Ueshima Lab)Faculty of Science, Department of Biological SciencesSystematics and taxonomy of invertebrates, molecular evoluti…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “P1000491 Petunia axillaris (Solanaceae) Flower” Magnus Manske / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of Self-Incompatibility: “Arabidopsis halleri flower (01)” Andrea Moro / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of Sex and Mating in Closterium: “Closterium acerosum” Лаборатория "Микрокосмос" / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Evolution of Self-Fertilizing Plants: “Capsella rubella flower (05)” Andrea Moro / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Mutation Rate and Evolvability: “Lemna minor.006 - Ruta do Perdouro (Burela)” Fernando Losada Rodríguez / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kawakita Lab): “Bunkyou Koishikawa Botanical Greenhouse 1” 京浜にけ / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Taneda Lab): “Nikko” Ka23 13 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Human Genome Diversity Lab): “Japan (MODIS )” Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Evolutionary Phylogenetics Lab (Ueshima Lab)): “Euhadra peliomphala” Takahashi / Public domain (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.