Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Yasuko Ito-Inaba

Yasuko Ito-Inaba, first author of Alternative oxidase capacity of mitochondria in microsporophylls may function in cycad thermogenesis

Current Position: Associate Professor in University of Miyazaki, Japan

Education: Ph.D. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Non-scientific Interests: Cooking, reading, and playing the music

Brief bio: My long lasting interest is to understand the molecular mechanism of floral or cone thermogenesis in plants. After getting my PhD, I started to work on floral thermogenesis in thermogenic skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus renifolius). After getting a tenure-track position on 2012 at University of Miyazaki, Japan, I started the current project: cycad cone thermogenesis. The current study investigated the thermogenic cycad species Cycas revoluta and the results demonstrated that enlarged mitochondria with increased rates of alternative respiration may account for the striking heat-producing ability of male cones in this species. I am very happy that our paper was accepted by Plant Physiology.