Degree: Ph.D.
Title: Professor
Graduation School: Hokkaido Univerisity, Japan
Office: 316, South Building
(1) Plant grafting compatibility
Plant grafting is an agricultural approach strategically employed in many species to improve crop traits. Two or more segments of plant tissue derived from different species are surgically joined and connected by tissue regeneration to grow as a single plant. This grafting allows, for example, the creation of “super plants” that combine roots (rootstock) with high tolerance to environmental stresses and shoots (scion) that produce desirable fruits and vegetables. However, the widespread agricultural use of this grafting technology is often restricted by incompatibility in interspecific grafting. For example, grafting is most successful between plants of the same family, but the compatibility frequency is greatly reduced in cross-family grafting. How this interspecific grafting compatibility/incompatibility is determined remains a mystery.
The definition of graft compatibility is the connection of non-vascular (cortex/medulla, epidermis) and vascular connections between the rootstock and scion. The success of this connection probably depends on whether the rootstock and scion view the graft partner as self (or close species) or non-self (distant species). This recognition should be established by communication between rootstock and scion cells at the grafting interface. This study will address how cells of the rootstock and scion communicate, recognize self and non-self, and decide the compatibility/incompatibility of grafting. Our lab aims to identify factors in the self-recognition system through forward and reverse genetic approaches.
(2) Cell-to-cell transport of mRNAs
Plants have meristems that contain stem cells, which divide continuously to produce organs such as stems, roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Therefore, the stem cells control plant biomass and crop yield, and their activity and function are precisely regulated by cell-to-cell communication in the meristem. So, understanding how stem cells are regulated non-cell-autonomously is essential for improving crop productivity. Plasmodesmata are one of the pathways for cell-to-cell signaling in plants, penetrating the cell wall and connecting the cytoplasm of neighboring cells. They passively or actively transport signaling molecules between cells, including proteins and RNAs. In particular, some specific transcription factors can be selectively transported via plasmodesmata to determine the cell fate of the destination cells. The active transport of these transcription factors plays an essential role in plant development, but the mechanism is still largely unknown.
My latest work focused on the KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX ) transcription factors that selectively transported cell-to-cell, regulate stem cells, and address their transport mechanism. I found that arabidopsis Ribosomal RNA-Processing Protein 44A (AtRRP44A) promotes the selective transport of KNOX mRNA via plasmodesmata, which is essential for stem cell maintenance in meristems. Cell-to-cell transport of mRNA is an emerging field that raises many questions. In this study, our lab addresses what mRNAs are transported cell-to-cell to regulate stem cells, what RNA features (sequence, structure, and modification) promote their transport, what proteins regulate their transport, and what the physiological functions of their transport are.
[1] 2009.4-2013.3 Hokkaido University, Japan > PhD Life Science
[2] 2007.4-2009.3 Hokkaido University, Japan > MS Life Science
[3] 2003.4-2007.3 Kanazawa University, Japan > BS Biology
[1] 2022.11-present > Huazhong Agricultural University > Professor
[2] 2016.1-2022.9 > Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA > PostDoc
[3] 2014.4-2015.12 > RIKEN, Japan > PostDoc
[4] 2013.4-2014.3 > Hokkaido University, Japan > PostDoc
(Original papers)
1) Kitagawa, M., Xu, X., and Jackson, D. (2022) Trafficking and localization of KNOTTED1 related mRNAs in shoot meristems. Communicative & Integrative Biology 15 (1), 158-163.
2) Kitagawa, M., Wu, P., Balkunde, R., Cunniff, P., Jackson, D., (2022) An RNA exosome subunit mediates cell-to-cell trafficking of a homeobox mRNA via plasmodesmata. Science. 375:177-182.
3) Tran, T., Demesa-Arevalo, E., Kitagawa, M., Garcia-Aguilar, M., Grimanelli, D., Jackson, D., (2021) An optimized whole-mount immunofluorescence method for shoot apices. Current Protocols. 1 (4): e101.
4) Tomoi, T., Kawade, K., Kitagawa, M., Sakata, Y., Tsukaya, H., and Fujita, T., (2020) Quantitative Imaging Reveals Distinct Contributions of SnRK2 and ABI3 in Plasmodesmatal Permeability in Physcomitrella patens. Plant and Cell Physiology. 61 (5): 942-956.
5) Kitagawa, M., Balkunde, R., Bui, H., and Jackson, D., (2019) An Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase, OKI1, Is Required for Proper Shoot Meristem Size in Arabidopsis. Plant and Cell Physiology. 60 (11): 2597–2608.
6) Kitagawa, M., Tomoi, T., Fukushima, T., Sakata, Y., Sato, M., Toyooka, K., Fujita, T., Sakakibara, H., (2019) Abscisic Acid Acts as a Regulator of Molecular Trafficking through Plasmodesmata in the Moss Physcomitrella patens. Plant and Cell Physiology. 60 (4): 738-751
* I am a co-corresponding author of this paper. This paper was selected as a research highlight in April 2019 in Plant and Cell Physiology.
https://academic.oup.com/pcp/pages/research_highlights_2019_04
7) Balkunde, R., Kitagawa, M., Xu, X.M., Wang, J., Jackson, D. (2017) SHOOT MERISTEMLESS trafficking controls axillary meristem formation, meristem size and organ boundaries in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal. 90 (3): 435-446.
8) Hachiya, T., Ueda, N., Kitagawa, M., Hanke, G., Suzuki, A., Hase, T., Sakakibara, H., (2016) Arabidopsis root-type ferredoxin: NADP (H) oxidoreductase 2 is involved in detoxification of nitrite in roots. Plant and Cell Physiology. 57 (11): 2440-2450.
9) Kitagawa, M. and Fujita, T. (2013) Quantitative imaging of directional transport through plasmodesmata in moss protonemata via single-cell photoconversion of Dendra2. Journal of Plant Research. 126 (4): 577-585.
*This paper awarded the Journal of Plant Research best paper award (September 2014),
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10265-014-0656-9
(Review papers)
1) Kitagawa, M., Jackson, D., (2019) Control of Meristem Size. Annual Review of Plant Biology. 70: 269-291.
2) Kitagawa, M., Jackson, D., (2017) Plasmodesmata-mediated cell-to-cell communication in the shoot apical meristem: how stem cells talk. Plants. 6 (1): 12.
3) Kitagawa, M., Paultre, D., and Rademaker, H. (2015) Intercellular communication via
plasmodesmata. New Phytologist. 205 (3): 970-972.
4) Kitagawa, M. and Fujita, T. (2015) A model system for analyzing intercellular communication through plasmodesmata using moss protonemata and leaves. Journal of Plant Research. 128 (1): 63-72.
(Book chapter)
1) Kitagawa, M. and Jackson, D. (2022) A forward genetic approach to identify plasmodesmal trafficking regulators based on trichome rescue. In Plasmodesmata: Methods and Protocols (Benitez-Alfonso, Y. and Heinlein, M. eds), pp. 393-407, Springer US.
(Preprint)
1) Lindsay, P., Ackerman, A., Jian, Y., Artz, O., Rosado, D., Skopelitis, T., Kitagawa, M., Pedmale, U., Jackson, D., (2020) Rapid expression of COVID-19 proteins by transient expression in tobacco. bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.29.424712
