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Plant Cell Fate Regulation Lab
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A lab that explores how plant cells determine their fate, using vascular tissue as its model.
AboutAbout the lab
Recreating vascular development in a petri dish
The Plant Cell Fate Regulation Lab studies how plant cells determine their own fate, using vascular tissue, which transports water, sugars, and other substances, as its subject.
When leaves are soaked in a culture medium containing hormones, vascular cells can be produced with high efficiency within a few days.
The lab developed this differentiation induction system, called VISUAL, itself and uses it in its research.
The lab is also developing imaging that uses the mechanisms of bioluminescent organisms such as fireflies to capture changes in cell fate over time.
The plants used as materials include Arabidopsis, tomato, tobacco, ginkgo, the moss Physcomitrium patens, and the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.
Key terms
- Vascular tissue
- A conducting tissue system running throughout the plant body. It includes xylem vessels, which carry water and other substances, and phloem sieve tubes, which carry sugars and other substances.
- VISUAL
- A differentiation induction system developed by the lab, in which leaves are soaked in a hormone-containing medium to produce vascular cells with high efficiency in a short period.
- Sieve tube
- Cells that form the conduit for transporting sugars and other substances within vascular tissue. They lose their nuclei during differentiation but remain alive.
NewsLab news
Associate Professor Furuya receives the Young Scientists' Prize, the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
A master's student wins a poster award at a joint symposium with NSYSU
Associate Professor Furuya receives the Botanical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists
Research on vascular stem cells is published in Nature Plants
A review on the regulation of vascular differentiation in roots is published in Current Opinion in Plant Biology
ResearchResearch themes
Vascular tissue extends throughout the plant body, transporting water, sugars, and other substances, and is essential for plant growth. Using VISUAL, the lab investigates how diverse vascular cells are formed and how they function, from the perspectives of synthetic biology and systems biology.
*Illustrative imageReprogramming the fate of plant cells
Plant cells can form callus, a mass of undifferentiated cells, which allows their fate to be reprogrammed easily. In VISUAL, mesophyll cells convert directly into vascular stem cells, and the lab investigates the underlying mechanism from genetic and epigenetic perspectives.
*Illustrative imageHow stem cells give rise to diverse cell types
In VISUAL, both xylem vessel cells and phloem sieve element cells are produced from common vascular stem cells. Using single-cell gene expression analysis and luminescence imaging, the lab investigates the molecular basis that allows stem cells to become multiple cell types.
*Illustrative imageIntracellular changes as sieve element cells form
During differentiation, sieve element cells lose their nuclei, and their vacuoles fragment and shrink to form a conduit. Some organelles still have unknown functions, and the lab observes these changes using a motorized time-lapse microscope.
*Illustrative imageStudying vascular tissue with a new differentiation induction system
To understand the fate determination of companion cells, which are involved in keeping sieve element cells alive, the lab created a companion cell differentiation induction system (VISUAL-CC) by modifying the composition of the VISUAL medium. Using this system, the lab investigates the formation mechanism and functions of companion cells.
MembersFaculty
The Plant Cell Fate Regulation Lab consists of faculty members, researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, honors students, secretaries, and technical assistants.As of 2026
- ProfessorYuki Kondo
- Associate ProfessorTomoyuki Furuya
- LecturerMiho Kitazawa
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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: “A thaliana seedlings (cropped)” Safflle / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Reprogramming the fate of plant cells: “Tobacco callus induce” Slience Suzuka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How stem cells give rise to diverse cell types: “Gymnosperm Leaves Phloem Two Needle Pinus ( )” Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library / CC0 (cropped)
- Intracellular changes as sieve element cells form: “Herbaceous Dicot Stem Cambium and Phloem in Cucurbita ( )” Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library / CC0 (cropped)
- Studying vascular tissue with a new differentiation induction system: “Plant tissue culture” Angphotorion / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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- Related lab (細胞生命科学研究室): “Mitochondria in living HeLa cells” 8x57is / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (細胞構築学研究室): “Cryo-EM image of C. thermophilum lysate” Pkastrit / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (植物生理学研究室): “Photosynthesis System analysing a maize leaf” Viséan / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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