Plant organelles (chloroplasts and mitochondria) are important intracellular components for respiration, photosynthesis, photorespiration, and essential metabolism. These organelles also divide and are maintained during cell division, and mitochondria maintain uniformity/complementation by fusion. We are studying cell biology, especially the dynamic aspects of plant organelles. In addition, our recent research aims to continue to lead the world in genome editing, especially of the unique genomes (chloroplast genome and mitochondrial genome) contained in plant organelles.

Sorghum is one of the world’s five major cereal crops, yet it remains relatively underdeveloped and has considerable potential for further improvement. Our laboratory focuses on this untapped potential. We aim to identify and characterize genes responsible for traits important for the use of sorghum as a biomass crop and to apply these findings to crop breeding.