Research

Group of Plant Environmental Microbiology

Faculty staff

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akio TANI
E-mail:ataniATokayama-u.ac.jp
Link to plant / symbiotic microorganism team HP
(please change AT to @ before sending)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shoko UEKI
E-mail:shokouekiATokayama-u.ac.jp
Link to phytoplankton team HP
(please change AT to @ before sending)

Lecture: Plant-Microbe/Insect Interactions, Advanced Molecular Virology, Applied Plant Virology, Applied Plant-Environmental Microbiology
Keywords: Virus; Biological control; Fungal pathogens; Methylobacterium; Virus evolution and systematics


Summary of main research topics

Plant Environmental Microbiology Group engage in two research topics.
One team is interested in interaction between land plant and methylotrophs bacteria. Various microorganisms associating to plants are playing important roles for plant growth. Methylobacterium species that can utilize methanol emitted from plants are mutualistic symbiont that not only utilize methanol but also produce plant hormones. We are conducting functional analysis on their methylotrophy and plant-growth promoting ability. Especially we focus on their lanthanide-dependent methylotrophy.
The other team studies about interaction between aquatic microbes and bloom-forming phytoplankton. Study to date demonstrated that marine viruses are known to terminate bloom by infecting phytoplankton, and marine bacteria may be involved in bloom formation by facilitating growth of phytoplankton. The team is trying to characterize such interstices interaction from cellular and molecular level.
pii pii

Latest publications

(1) Gajardo, G., Morón-López, J., Vergara, K., Ueki, S., Guzmán, L., Espinoza-González, O., Sandoval, A., Fuenzalida, G., Murillo, A. A., Riquelme, C., Camerón, H., Nagai, S., Maruyama, F., Fujiyoshi, S., Yarimizu, K., Perera, I., Kawai, M., Ávila, A., Larama, G., Gonzalez, M. A., Jorquera, M. A. The holobiome of marine harmful algal blooms (HABs): A
novel ecosystem-based approach for implementing predictive capabilities and managing decisions. Env. Sci. Pol. 43: 44-54. doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.02.012 (2023. 5.)
(2) Sato, M., Seki, M., Suzuki, Y., Ueki, S. The dataset of de novo assembly and inferred functional annotation of the transcriptome of Heterosigma akashiwo, a bloom-forming, cosmopolitan raphidophyte. Data in Brief 48: 109071. doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2023.109071 (2023. 6.)
(3) Tani, A., Masuda, S., Fujitani, Y., Iga, T., Haruna, Y., Kikuchi, S., Shuaile, W., Lv, H., Katayama, S., Yurimoto, H., Sakai, Y., Kato, J. Metabolism-linked methylotaxis sensors responsible for plant colonization in Methylobacterium aquaticum strain 22A. Front. Microbiol. 14: 1258452. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1258452 (2023. 10.)


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