Masatsugu Toyota　（Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University）

Elucidation of a long-distance rapid calcium signal underlying systemic crosstalk in plants and its application to yield biomass.

To increase biomass, it is important to elucidate the mechanisms of crosstalk among distant organs and create plants resistant to severe environments. This project therefore investigates a systemic long-distance rapid calcium signal and a systemic acquired resistance against pathogen/insect attack by using highly sensitive calcium biosensors. The project will also create a high-throughput chemical screening system based on these biosensors to isolate new compounds that enhance the resistance of plants and so yield new agricultural chemicals for pest control and increased biomass production.

Publication

Hitoshi Tatsumi, Masatsugu Toyota, Takuya Furuichi, Masahiro Sokabe, Calcium mobilizations in response to changes in the gravity vector in Arabidopsis seedlings: Possible cellular mechanisms, Plant Signaling & Behavior 2014; 9:e29099; PMID: 24831727 Published Online on 15 May 2014

Won-Gyu Choi, Masatsugu Toyota, Su-Hwa Kim, Richard Hilleary, Simon Gilroy, Salt stress-induced Ca2+ waves are associated with rapid, long-distance root-to-shoot signaling in plants, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., published online before print March 24, 2014, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1319955111