Yuta Horiuchi (graduate student in SOKENDAI [The Graduate University for Advanced Studies]) and Asoc. Prof. Takashi Murata
in collaboration with Assist. Rumiko Kofuji in Kanazawa Univ.
Graduate students are welcome to join.

Since plant cells are covered with cell wall and do not vigorously move, direction of division planes affects the later development and is strictly regulated for proper development. In the moss Physcomitrella patens, gametes and spores in gametangia and sporangia, respectively are separated from surrounding cells by periclinal cell divisions. Leaf veins are formed by periclinal cell divisions during leaf development. Evolution of the embedded gametes and spores as well as water conducting tissue is key innovations in green plants to survive on lands. Dr. Rumiko Kofuji found a gene to regulate these periclinal cell divisions and Mr. Yuta Horiuchi, a graduate student is working to reveal the molecular mechanisms to regulate the cell division plane with advices from Assist. Prof. Kofuji and Asoc. Prof. Takashi Murata.