Research Director: Takema FUKATSU
(Prime Senior Researcher, Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST))
Research Term: Oct 2019 - Mar 2025
Grant Number: JPMJER1902

Research Director: Shinji FUKUDA
(Project Professor, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University)

Research Director: Chikara FURUSAWA
(Team Leader, Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, RIKEN)

Symbiotic associations with microorganisms play pivotal roles in animals, plants and human. Now "symbiosis" and "microbiome" are important keywords in basic biology, agriculture and medical science. However, highly intimate symbiotic associations are difficult to investigate experimentally, because the symbiotic partners are usually non-model organisms that are integrated into an almost inseparable biological entity. Consequently, such microorganisms cannot survive outside the host and are mostly uncultivable. For a long time, these conditions have severely hindered our understanding of symbiosis. This project aims at bringing about breakthroughs to overcome these difficulties, on the basis of the establishment of novel insect-E. coli and mammal-E. coli experimental symbiotic systems and the development of recent genome engineering technologies, thereby drastically promoting our understanding of symbiosis.

Research Groups

- Experimental Symbiotic Evolution/Genomics Group
- Symbiotic Evolution Analysis/Evaluation/Control Group
- Symbiont Genome Manipulation Group
- Symbiotic Interaction/Communication Group
- Symbiotic System Analysis/Reconstruction Group
- Interspecific Symbiont Transfer/Experimental Evolution Group

Project Headquarters

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba
305-8566, JAPAN