Keiji Nakajima　（Professor, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology）

Applied research of the "plant iPS gene" for efficient utilization of plant-derived products

　Utilization of plant-derived products as a source of renewable energy relies on novel techniques to create plants and cell lines with improved biomass production and photosynthetic activity, as well as to propagate useful plants and cell lines to a productive scale. This study aims to develop such techniques by utilizing the RKD4 and related genes that have a capacity to reprogram somatic plant cells to an early embryonic status.

Homepage： http://bsw3.naist.jp/nakajima/English/

Publication

Shunsuke Miyashima, Minami Honda, Kayo Hashimoto, Kiyoshi Tatematsu, Takashi Hashimoto, Kumi Sato-Nara, Kiyotaka Okada, Keiji Nakajima, A Comprehensive Expression Analysis of the Arabidopsis MICRORNA165/6 Gene Family during Embryogenesis Reveals a Conserved Role in Meristem Specification and a Non-cell-autonomous Function, Plant Cell Physiol., vol. 54, 375-384 （2013)

Takamitsu Waki, Shunsuke Miyashima, Miyako Nakanishi, Yoichi Ikeda, Takashi Hashimoto, Keiji Nakajima, A GAL4-based targeted activation tagging system in Arabidopsis thaliana, Plant J., vol. 73, 357-367 (2013)