Dr. Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa (Professor of the College of Science) was awarded the Botanical Society Grand Prize at the 72nd annual meeting of The Botanical Society of Japan（founded 1882）held at Kochi University last month. He delivered a winning lecture entitled, “Solving multiplication of mitochondria and chromatophores, and the mechanism of inheritance based on mass genome science.”
Dr. Kuroiwa specializes in cell science; a field which studies fundamental principles of the birth, construction, and multiplication of (eukaryotic) cells, and also pursues applications of its basic research results. His works concentrate on finding the segmentation apparatus of “mitochondria (sometimes called “cellular power plants”)” and “chloroplasts/chromatophores (functional center of plants),” which are physically necessary for the existence of most creatures, and solving the mechanism of their segmentation and (maternal) inheritance.
He has also discovered Cyanidioschyzon merola which inhabit extreme environments similar to the primeval earth where cells were first formed. This discovery is based upon his idea that advancement of such research requires appropriate selection of data sources (that is, simpler creatures) and development of new research technology. 　Using Cyanidioschyzon merola, he has succeeded in the complete deciphering of the genome, which becomes the basis for further research. This is the first case in which the complete architecture of Eukarya was deciphered. Its genome information was made available widely, and utilized in various fields, such as food, medicine, environment, and biosciences.