Teachers

How can fungi degrade the recalcitrant plant cell wall, and how might they have evolved over millions of years in the forest ecosystem? In our laboratory, we aim to understand the co-evolution of wood decay fungi and trees, both of which are important players in the terrestrial carbon cycling in the forest ecosystem, by elucidating the unique abilities of those wood decay fungi, such as Basidiomycetes (also known as mushrooms), to degrade plant cell wall components (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and others). We also aim to utilize the newly discovered wood decay potentials (plant cell wall-degrading enzyme systems) of fungi for biomass utilization for various chemicals and fuels productions.

References

• “植物の多様性に合わせたキノコの進化” 堀千明, 岩田茉奈. 生物工学誌 バイオミディア 96(12) 78 2018年　https://www.sbj.or.jp/sbj/sbj_biomedia_2018.html
• “木材腐朽担子菌のゲノム・ポストゲノム解析から植物細胞壁と分解酵素の共進化を考える” 堀千明, 五十嵐圭日子, 鮫島正浩. 化学と生物 53(6) 381-388, 2015年　https://katosei.jsbba.or.jp/index.php?aid=393
• “Omics analyses and biochemical study of Phlebiopsis gigantea elucidate its degradation strategy of wood extractives.” Mana Iwata, Ana Gutiérrez, Gisela Marques, Grzegorz Sabat, Philip J Kersten, Daniel Cullen, Jennifer M Bhatnagar, Jagjit Yadav, Anna Lipzen, Yuko Yoshinaga, Aditi Sharma, Catherine Adam, Christopher Daum, Vivian Ng, Igor V Grigoriev, Chiaki Hori* Scientific reports 11(1) 12528-12528 *Corresponding author
• “Identifying transcription factors that reduce wood recalcitrance and improve enzymatic degradation of xylem cell wall in Populus” Chiaki Hori*, Naoki Takata, Pui Ying Lam, Yuki Tobimatsu, Soichiro Nagano, Jenny C. Mortimer, Dan Cullen. Scientific Reports 10(1) 22043-22043 *Corresponding author