Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Eigo Ando

Eigo Ando, first author of Red light-induced phosphorylation of PM H+-ATPase in stomatal guard cells of Arabidopsis thaliana

Current position: Ph.D. Student, graduating in October 2018

Education: B.S. (2012): Division of Biological Science, School of Science, Nagoya University, Japan; M.S. (2014): Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Japan

Non-scientific interests: Reading, watching videos, computer

Brief bio: I have been studying the mechanism of stomatal movement, especially light-induced stomatal opening, in Prof. Toshinori Kinoshita’s lab in Nagoya University, Japan. My first work focused on indirect regulation of blue light-induced stomatal opening by photoperiodic flowering components. Along with this work, I also tried to establish new immunohistochemical technique for stomatal guard cells using whole leaves instead of isolated epidermis to enable investigation of the phosphorylation of plasma membrane (PM) H⁺-ATPase in stomatal guard cells, regardless of the availability of isolated epidermis. Through trial and error, the experimental conditions were established, leading to unexpected detection of red light-induced phosphorylation of PM H⁺-ATPase in guard cells of whole leaves. Currently, I am focused on elucidating the signaling components mediating light-induced phosphorylation of PM H⁺-ATPase in guard cells.