Research Director: Keiji NUMATA
(Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University / Team Leader, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science)
Research Term: Oct 2016 - Mar 2023
Grant Number: JPMJER1602

Plants have unique metabolic reactions such as photosynthesis using plant-specific organelles. We expect to utilize plant bioproduction in a broad range of fields, including agriculture, pharmaceutical application, energy production, and chemical industry. However, the current plant-mediated bioproduction is not sufficient for practical. One of the potential issues is that the effect of subcellular localization and interactions of organelles on metabolic reaction is not clarified quantitatively/qualitatively. In addition, we don’t have techniques enough to modify multiple organelles as well as to create inter-organellar reactions.

In this project, we aim to develop a method to simultaneously modify multiple organelles by using fusion peptides that can deliver nucleic acids and proteins to target organelles. Furthermore, with real-time 3D imaging techniques, we intend to reveal organellar functions and to analyze quantitatively the interaction among various organelles. The findings in this project will contribute to construction of systematic knowledge of plant organelles and provide innovative insights to produce various molecules in plants, leading to plant bioindustry in Japan.

Research Groups

･ Fusion Peptide Design Group
･ Organellar Modification Group
･ Organellar Interaction Group
･ Fusion Peptide Utilization Group

Project Headquarters

2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan

TEL: +81 (0) 48 467 9629
FAX: +81 (0) 48 462 4664