教員紹介

SAITO Kazuyuki

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Outline Activities

In conventional agriculture, crop productivity has been improved by applying large amounts of nitrogen. However, nitrogen fertilizers that are not absorbed by crops are causing soil degradation, deterioration of river and groundwater quality, and other environmental impacts. On the other hand, reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied decreases the expression of genes involved in photosynthesis, resulting in lower crop productivity. Therefore, we have studied the mechanism by which the expression of photosynthesis-related genes is suppressed in rice plants in response to a low nitrogen environment, and have clarified that the expression of photosynthesis-related genes is regulated by the acetylation level of histones. Furthermore, they clarified that histone acetylation levels are regulated by the histone acetylase GCN5, and by increasing the expression level of the GCN5 gene, they were able to produce rice plants that can maintain high photosynthetic capacity even under low nitrogen environments.
In addition, the expression of photosynthesis-related genes is regulated by transcription factors. We found that the expression of photosynthesis-related genes in rice under a low-nitrogen environment is repressed by the transcription factor DREB. Therefore, we generated rice plants in which the DREB gene was knocked out by genome editing and showed that the rice plants can maintain high photosynthetic capacity under low nitrogen environments.

Message

We are making super rice to save the world.
We are excited and thrilled every day.

Educational Activities

Undergraduate School

Plant Biology I, II
Plant Production and Physiology

Graduate School

Advanced topics on Plant Production Physiology