| Career Summary |
1972: Graduated, Faculty of Engineering, Gifu University
1979: Doctor of Engineering from Osaka City University
1979-84: Researcher, Toa Gosei Chemical Co. Ltd.
1984-88: Assistant Professor, Kyushu University
1987-89: Research Associate, Scripps Institute and University of California San Diego
1990: Assistant Professor, Kyushu University
1991-99: Associate Professor, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
1999-2002: Team Leader, RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center
2002-2006: Professor, Kitasato Institute for Life Science, Kitasato University
2006: Professor, The University of Tokyo
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| Educational Activities |
Graduate school: Environmental Genomics, Genome Science
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| Research Activities |
Human microbiome project
All surfaces of the human body are inhabited by complex microbial communities (microbiota). In adults, the combined microbial population exceed 100 trillion cells, about 10 times the total number of cells composing the human body. Most reside in the intestinal tract, particular the distal end. Members of the human intestinal microbiota are classified into more than 50 genera and hundreds of species representing nine bacterial and one archaeal division. The total number of genes encoded by their collective genomes (microbiome) is estimated to exceed that of the human genome by at least one order of magnitude. Our gut microbiota possesses many metabolic capabilities lacking in the human host, and can thus be viewed as indispensable for human life. It contributes to host nutrition by enhancing the efficacy of energy harvest from ingested food and by synthesizing essential vitamins. It also affects a broad range of physiological properties of the human host, controlling, for instance, intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation, energy balance, pH, the development of the immune system, and protection against pathogens. Imbalance of the intestinal microbiota can predispose individuals to a variety of disease states ranging from inflammatory bowel diseases to allergy and obesity. The composition, dynamics, and functions of human intestinal microbiota have been studied mostly using culture-based approaches and analyses of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences. Notwithstanding these efforts, our understanding of this microbial community is still very limited, particularly with regard to the overall gene content, because of its high complexity and our inability to cultivate most of the microbial species residing in the gut. For instance, although it has been established that the microbiota of adults and unweaned infants differ in composition, it is largely unknown how such compositional differences affect the overall gene contents and functional properties. To explore the genomic features of complex microbial communities including uncultivable microbes, a culture-independent, metagenomic approach is practical. Our laboratory is working on the metagenomic analysis of human microbiomes from various individuals, including healthy and disease-afflicted subjects, and the development of computational system for analysis of the genomic data.
Microbial genome sequencing project
Using a current sequencing technology such as a 454 pyro-sequencer, our laboratory is also focusing on the genome analysis of various type of microbes such as pathogens, symbionts of insects, industrially useful bacteria and human commensal bacteria including lactic acid bacteria.
Metagenomics of microbiomes in various environments
Our laboratory has many research collaborations with other groups in Japan as well as overseas to analyze the genomic and functional information of microbiomes in various environments including waste water, paddy fields, soils near volcano and sea.
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Literature
1) Kurokawa K. et al.: Comparative metagenomics revealed commonly
enriched gene sets in human gut microbiomes. DNA Res., 14, 169-181
(2007).
2). Nakabachi A. et al.: The 160-kilobase genome of the bacterial
endosymbiont Carsonella. Science 314, 267 (2006).
3) Itoh T. et al.: Identification of large ancient duplications
associated with human gene deserts. Nature Genet. 37, 1041-1043 (2005).
4) Ikeda H. et al.: Complete genome sequence and comparative analysis
of the industrial microorganism Streptomyces vermitilis. Nature
Biotech., 21, 526-531 (2003).
5) Akman L. et al.: Genome sequence of the endocellular obligate
symbiont of tsetse flies, Wigglesworthia glossinidia. Nature Genet.,
32, 402-407 (2002).
6) Shigenobu S. et al.: Genome sequence of the endocellular bacterial
symbiont of aphids Buchnera sp. APS. Nature, 407, 81-86 (2000).
7) Hattori M. et al.: The DNA sequence of human chromosome 21.
Nature, 405, 311-319 (2000).
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| Other Activities |
The Molecular Biology Society of Japan
Society of Genome Microbiology, Japan
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| Future Plan |
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| Messages to Students |
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