대학원생명과학과

Research Interests

• Regulatory circuits of the dual-specificity LAMMER kinase for eukaryotic cell differentiation

  We have found that abolition of a dual-specificity LAMMER kinase exerts profound effects on differentiation of fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe including oxidative stress response, cell division cycle, mating, and so on. Our recent study also revealed that the LAMMER kinase modulates various cellular events by regulating gene-expression and activity of key regulatory proteins in eukaryotic microorganisms. Recently, we found that the LAMMER kinase regulates G1- to S-phase cell cycle progression at transcriptional as well as post-translational level in the fission yeast. At present, we are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms for G1- to S-phase progression and DNA-damage response mediated by LAMMER kinase in fission yeast.

• Functional analysis of developmental genes in Aspergillus species

  With the aids of various screening technologies such as proteome, DEG (differentially expressed gene) and real-time PCR analysis, we have identified developmental stage-specific genes possibly modulated by the regulatory factors, VeA, NsdD, and etc. in the model filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. At present we are attempting several approaches such as forced mass mating and phospho-proteome analyses to identify novel factors for sexual development in opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. We are performing the gene disruption with CRISPR/Cas9, suppression test, protein-protein interaction, and morphogenetic analyses in order to characterize function of the genes and regulation mode of gene-expressions in Aspergillus spp.