Vascular Cell Induction Culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves (VISUAL) Reveals the Sequential Differentiation of Sieve Element-Like Cells

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Yuki Kondo

Highlighted Paper: Kondo et al et al. (2016). Vascular Cell Induction Culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves (VISUAL) Reveals the Sequential Differentiation of Sieve Element-like Cells. Plant Cell. Advance Publication May 18, 2016; doi:10.1105/tpc.16.00027.

Current Position: Assistant Professor at The University of Tokyo.

Education: PhD: Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo.

Non-scientific Interests: Fishing, cooking.

I began my research on peptide hormone signaling pathways at The University of Tokyo. At that time, my studies focused on vascular xylem development. Based on this knowledge, I recently succeeded in establishing a tissue culture system for ectopic xylem differentiation using Arabidopsis leaves. Unexpectedly, I found that this culture system (named VISUAL) can induce not only xylem tracheary elements but also phloem sieve elements. Many unsolved mysteries about phloem differentiation still remain. Also, vascular stem cells can give rise to both xylem and phloem cells via unidentified mechanisms. Thus, my research interests are gradually shifting to phloem and multi-potent vascular stem cell differentiation. I believe that VISUAL will help me answer many interesting questions about these processes.