Research interests

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 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.

News

Links

Hokkaido University

Graduate School of Environmental Science/ Faculty of Environmental and Earth Science

Course in Molecular Biology, Division of Biosphere Science, Graduate School of Environmental Science

JSPS scholarship for pre/post doctor

CAZy database

JGI fungal genome portal

JGI Plant genome portal