Kosuke Kuwabara: Plant Physiology First Author

Kosuke Kuwabara, first author of “orf137 triggers cytoplasmic male sterility in tomato”

Current Position:

PhD student in the laboratory of Olericulture and Floriculture at the University of Tsukuba, Japan

Education:

M.Sc. in Agricultural science, and B.Sc. in Bioresource science at the University of Tsukuba, Japan

Non-scientific Interests:

Reading, walking, watching anime

Brief bio:

Because I was interested in plant biotechnology and plant breeding, I decided to study in the laboratory of Dr. Ariizumi at University of Tsukuba who is working on these research fields using tomato. Since joined his laboratory in 2018, I have been studying for tomato cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) which is an important breeding trait for establishing efficient F1 hybrid seed production. I have been awarded for a young research fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2021 under the project of elucidation of the male sterility mechanism, and will be working on this subject during PhD course. To my surprise, one day, I found myself unconsciously jumped into the research world doing experiments with losing track of time. After our effort, we could identify the mitochondrial causative gene which induces the male sterility in tomato; this discovery is the first report for the identification of tomato CMS causative gene. My future research focuses on why the causative gene induces male sterility in tomato. I hope that this research provides the improvement of tomato breeding. I am also planning to expand my research such as targeting not only tomato, but also the other Solanaceae species.