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   As sessile organism, plants cannot move. Therefore, plants must sense and adapt to environmental changes. They are presumed to have unique mechanisms that are used for environmental stress responses. Our group has been studying the mechanisms of responses to abiotic stresses such as drought stress and to phytohormones involved in these processes using molecular genetics, molecular biology, and cell physiology. Our goal is to understand the stress-sensing mechanisms and interactions between various hormonal responses.
   A phytohormone, abscisic acid (ABA), is deeply involved in abiotic stress responses of plants. Several plants with abnormal responses to abscisic acid (ABA) have been isolated from the model plant Arabidopsis and then analyzed. Through molecular genetic analysis of these mutants and biochemical characterization of the gene products, we established a major ABA signaling pathway comprising PYR1 type ABA receptor, PP2C, and SnRK2. We are also studying interactions between ABA and other plant hormones.