Introduction

Nothing, it seems, exists except as part of a network of interactions. (Gilbert & Epel, 2008)

Every creature on Earth exists among a network of various biological interactions, and symbiosis plays critical roles in the global ecosystem and the evolution of life. For example, many multicellular organisms, including humans, harbor symbiotic bacteria in their bodies. Some of them provide their hosts with essential nutrients deficient in the host’s diet and others digest foods that are indigestible by the host alone. Amino acid synthesis, oxygen respiration, nitrogen fixation, and luminescence – we can see numerous examples that species have acquired novel traits through symbiosis. Despite the importance of symbioses, until recently, symbiotic biology has been a research area where empirical approaches at the molecular and genetic level have been difficult. However, two innovative technologies, genomics and genome editing, have brought a breakthrough to this situation. The goal of our group is to establish a new interdisciplinary science known as “Symbiogenomics”, where we aim to understand the network of biological interactions at the molecular and genetic level, taking advantage of state-of-the-art genomics, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.

We have a philosophy in doing science in an integrative approach with no border between “wet” (= experimental biology) and “dry” (= bioinformatics). For example, analyses of large-scale NGS data would generate a new hypothesis. Then, we can test the hypothesis by empirical studies including molecular biology, biochemistry, bio-imaging, and functional assay by genome editing. Through such a cycle of hypothesis-generating research and hypothesis-driven research, we pursue “symbiosis” in depth. With this philosophy, we train graduate students to master computers and Pipetman.

We are mainly studying symbiosis between insects and microbes. Particularly, aphid-Buchnera endosymbiosis is our main target. We are also developing collaborations with researchers of other academic institutions worldwide through the provision of our expertise that includes NGS, insect genomics and genome editing.