【Labs spotlight】 Ohta and Shimojima Laboratory

Stress response and oil production in plants

November 10, 2016

The Department has a variety of laboratories for Life Science and Technology, in which cutting-edge innovative research is being undertaken not only in basic science and engineering but also in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, and multidisciplinary sciences.

This "Spotlight" series features a laboratory from the Department and introduces you to the laboratory's research projects and outcomes. This time we focus on Ohta and Shimojima Laboratory.

※Professor Ohta was retired on March 31, 2023, as he reached the mandatory retirement age.

Professor Hiroyuki Ohta and Associate Professor Mie Shimojima

Life Science and Technology
Professor Hiroyuki Ohta and Associate professor Mie Shimojima

Degree	Professor Hiroyuki Ohta : PhD 1988, Kyoto University Associate Professor Mie Shimojima : PhD 1998, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Keywords	Plant and algal lipids, Evolution of photosynthetic organism , Bioenergy production, Plant hormone and stress response.
Website	Ohta and Shimojima Laboratory (Japanese)

Research interest

Research findings

Selected publications

Professor Hiroyuki Ohta

[1] Primitive Extracellular Lipid Components on the Surface of the Charophytic Alga Klebsormidium flaccidum and Their Possible Biosynthetic Pathways as Deduced from the Genome Sequence. (2016) Kondo S, Hori K, Sasaki-Sekimoto Y, Kobayashi A, Kato T, Yuno-Ohta N, Nobusawa T, Ohtaka K, Shimojima M, Ohta H. Front Plant Sci. 7,952.
[2] Tangled evolutionary processes with commonality and diversity in plastidial glycolipid synthesis in photosynthetic organisms. Hori K, Nobusawa T, Watanabe T, Madoka Y, Suzuki H, Shibata D, Shimojima M, Ohta H. (2016) Biochim Biophys Acta. Sep;1861(9 Pt B):1294-308. doi: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.04.015. Epub 2016 Apr 21.
[3] Manipulation of oil synthesis in Nannochloropsis strain NIES-2145 with a phosphorus starvation-inducible promoter from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. (2015) Iwai M, Hori K, Sasaki-Sekimoto Y, Shimojima M, Ohta H. Front Microbiol. 6,912.
[4] The jasmonate-responsive GTR1 transporter is required for gibberellin-mediated stamen development in Arabidopsis. (2015) Saito H, Oikawa T, Hamamoto S, Ishimaru Y, Kanamori-Sato M, Sasaki-Sekimoto Y, Utsumi T, Chen J, Kanno Y, Masuda S, Kamiya Y, Seo M, Uozumi N, Ueda M, Ohta H. Nature Communications 6, 6095.
[5] Klebsormidium flaccidum genome reveals primary factors for plant terrestrial adaptation. (2014) Hori K., et al. Nature Communications 53,978.
[6] Arabidopsis lipins mediate eukaryotic pathway of lipid metabolism and cope critically with phosphate starvation. (2009) Nakamura, Y, Koizumi, R, Shui, G, Shimojima, M, Wenk MR, Ito T, Ohta H Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 20978-20983.
[7] Type B monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthases are involved in phosphate starvation induced lipid remodeling and are crucial for low-phosphate adaptation. (2009) Kobayashi K, Awai K, Nakamura M, Nagatani A, Masuda T, Ohta H. Plant J. 57(2), 322-31.
[8] Galactolipid synthesis in chloroplast inner envelope is essential for proper thylakoid biogenesis, photosynthesis, and embryogenesis. (2007) Kobayashi K, Kondo M, Fukuda H, Nishimura M, Ohta H Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA104, 17216-17221.
[9] Two types of MGDG synthase genes, found widely in both "16:3" and "18:3" plants, differentially mediate galactolipid syntheses in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues in Arabidopsis thaliana (2001) Awai K, Marechal E, Block M.A, Brun D, Masuda T, Shimada H, Takamiya K, Ohta H, Joyard J Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 10960-10965
[10] Cloning of the gene for monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase and its evolutionary origin (1997) Shimojima M, Ohta H, Iwamatsu A, Masuda T, Shioi Y, Takamiya K Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 333-337.
[11] ATTED-II: a database of co-expressed genes and cis elements for identifying co-regulated gene groups in Arabidopsis (2007) Obayashi T, Kinoshita K, Nakai K, Shibaoka M, Hayashi S, Saeki M, Shibata D, Saito K, Ohta HNucl. Acids Res. Database Issue, 863-869.
[12] Coordinated activation of metabolic pathways for antioxidants and defense compounds by jasmonates and their roles in stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana (2005) Sasaki-Sekimoto Y, Taki N, Obayashi T, Aono M, Matsumoto F, Sakurai N, Suzuki H, Y-Hirai M, Noji M, Saito K, Masuda T, Takamiya K, Shibata D, Ohta HPlant J. 44, 653-668.
[13] 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid triggers expression of a distinct set of genes and plays a role in wound-induced gene expression in Arabidopsis (2005) Taki N, Sasaki-Sekimoto Y, Obayashi T, Kikuta A, Kobayashi K, Ainai T, Yagi K, Sakurai N, Suzuki H, Masuda T, Takamiya K, Shibata D, Kobayashi Y, Ohta H Plant Physiol.139,1268-1283.

Associate professor Mie Shimojima

[1] An engineered lipid remodeling system using a galactolipid synthase promoter during phosphate starvation enhances oil accumulation in plants. (2015) Shimojima M, Madoka Y, Fujiwara R, Murakawa M, Yoshitake Y, Ikeda K, Koizumi R, Endo K, Ozaki K, Ohta H. Front Plant Sci. 6:664.
[2] Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthesis in the outer envelope membrane of chloroplasts is required for enhanced growth under sucrose supplementation. (2014) Murakawa M, Shimojima M, Shimomura Y, Kobayashi K, Awai K, Ohta H. Front Plant Sci. 5:280.
[3] Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthesis in the outer envelope membrane of chloroplasts is required for enhanced growth under sucrose supplementation. (Murakawa M, Shimojima M, Shimomura Y, Kobayashi K, Awai K and *Ohta H.) (2014) Front. Plant Sci. 23: 280.
[4] Enhancement of extraplastidic oil synthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using a type-2 diacylglycerol acyltransferase with a phosphorus starvation-inducible promoter. (Iwai M, Ikeda K, Shimojima M and *Ohta H.) (2014) Plant Biotechnol. J.
[5] Cyanobacterial monogalactosyldiacylglycerol-synthesis pathway is involved in normal unsaturation of galactolipids and low-temperature adaptation of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. (Yuzawa Y, *Shimojima M, Sato R, Mizusawa N, Ikeda K, Suzuki M, Iwai M, Hori K, Wada H, Masuda S and Ohta H.) (2014) Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1841: 475-83.
[6] Differential regulation of two types of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase in membrane lipid remodeling under phosphate-limited conditions in sesame plants. (Shimojima M, Watanabe T, Madoka Y, Koizumi R, Yamamoto MP, Masuda K, Yamada K, Masuda S and *Ohta H.) (2013)Front. Plant Sci. 4: 469.
[7] Temperature-dependent hyper-activation of monoglucosyldiacylglycerol synthase is post-translationally regulated in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. (Shimojima M, Tsuchiya M and *Ohta H.) (2009) FEBS Lett. 583: 2372-6.
[8] A chloroplastic UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase from Arabidopsis is the committed enzyme for the first step of sulfolipid biosynthesis. (Okazaki Y, Shimojima M, Sawada Y, Toyooka K, Narisawa T, Mochida K, Tanaka H, Matsuda F, Hirai A, Hirai M Y, Ohta H and *Saito K.) (2009) Plant Cell 21: 892-909. Highly Cited Paper 2014
[9] Ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase moonlights in plant sulfolipid biosynthesis by forming a complex with SQD1. (Shimojima M, Hoffmann-Benning S, Garavito RM and *Benning C.) (2005) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 436: 206-214.
[10] Native uridine 5(')-diphosphate-sulfoquinovose synthase, SQD1, from spinach purifies as a 250-kDa complex. (Shimojima M and *Benning C.) (2003) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 413: 123-130.
[11] Cloning of the gene for monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase and its evolutionary origin. (Shimojima M, Ohta H, Iwamatsu A, Masuda T, Shioi Y and *Takamiya K.) (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 94: 333-337.