Overview and objectives

   Examinations to determine agricultural crop variety are essential for food safety. In recent years, high-quality Japanese varieties have been taken overseas without authorization and have experienced rights violations due to false labeling. We are developing technology to accurately and easily identify agricultural crop varieties in order to regulate these rights violations. We focus on retrotransposons, a “moving gene” in the genome of a living being, and perform analysis using a next-generation sequencer to establish technology to efficiently develop a large number of DNA markers.  We are also developing simple and swift technology for on-site exams.
   Meanwhile, we are also researching developing crop varieties adapted to climate change. Our research aims to generate results that can contribute to breeding improvements by identifying genes related to essential agricultural qualities such as pest resistance and yield for crops that are genetically complex.