Metabolomics Research Group
- Main Research Fields :
- Biological Sciences
- Related Research Fields :
- Chemistry / Biology / Agricultural Sciences / Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmacy
- Keywords :
- metabolomics / functional genomics / plant biochemistry / specialized (secondary) metabolism / mass spectrometry
- Project :
- Metabolic Genome Engineering / Advanced Research and Technology Platforms
M
TP
Developing integrated metabolomics to explore mechanisms and regulation of plant metabolite production
Group Director
Kazuki Saito Ph.D.
- 1981
- Research Associate, Medical School, Keio University
- 1982
- Ph.D., Biochemistry/Bioorganic Chemistry, University of Tokyo
- 1985
- Research Associate, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
- 1987
- Post-doctoral Fellow, Ghent University, Belgium
- 1990
- Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
- 1993
- Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
- 1995
- Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences/Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University (-Current)
- 2005
- Group Director, Metabolomic Function Research Group, RIKEN Plant Science Center
- 2010
- Deputy Director, RIKEN Plant Science Center
- 2013
- Deputy Director, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)
- 2013
- Group Director, Metabolomic Research Group, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)
- 2020
- Director, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (-Current)
CONTACT
RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Metabolomics Research Group
kazuki.saito
YokohamaAccess
1-7-22 Suehiro, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045 Japan
Central Research Building
FAX: +81-(0)45-503-9489
Related Links
Laboratory Website
Metabolomics Research Group
Laboratory on RIKEN Website
Metabolomics Research Group | RIKEN
Outline
Metabolomics involves the identification and quantification of all metabolites in a cell and correlating these to genomic functions. The plant kingdom metabolome is extremely diverse chemically, with estimates indicating as many as 200,000 different types of chemical substances. The various compounds produced by plants are important for the existence of the plant itself, and also play a vital role in our lives as food, industrial materials, energy and medicines. Our group performs cutting-edge metabolomics analyses by high-performance mass spectrometry. These non-targeted metabolomic analyses are applied to the identification of unknown gene functions and elucidation of metabolic networks. We are investigating the basic principles behind the wide variety of plant production functions, using Arabidopsis as a model. In the field of Phytochemical Genomics, we are also elucidating the production systems for specialized plant products in crops, medicinal plants and other useful plants at the genome level. Another important aspect of our research is an application of basic findings from these results to metabolic genome engineering for the development of sustainable resources.Subjects
- Improving metabolite peak annotation in metabolomics by empirical and bioinformatics strategies
- Application of the metabolomics platform to functional genomics and biotechnology
- Identification of plant genes and networks involved in biosynthesis of useful specialized (secondary) metabolites
- Metabolic genome engineering and synthetic biology for production of useful compounds