学生のRuchikaさん（博士後期課程3年、生命機能工学領域、塚原研究室）が国際会議5th World Plant Genomics and Plant Science Congress（Plant Genomics 2021）においてYoung Scientist Awardを受賞しました。

　Plant Genomics 2021は、「植物ゲノミクスと植物科学のビジョンを超える」をテーマとした国際会議で、令和3年9月27日から28日にかけてフランスのパリで開催されました。
　Plant Genomics Congressは、世界中の学界と産業界の専門家、研究者、意思決定者のユニークで国際的な組み合わせが集まり、知識、専門知識、研究革新を交換して、世界クラスの植物ゲノミクスを構築する最高のイベントとなっています。

■受賞年月日
　令和3年9月27日

■研究題目、論文タイトル等
RNA-Seq-based identification and analysis of uridine-to-cytidine RNA editing related genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

■研究者、著者
Ruchika, Toshifumi Tsukahara

■受賞対象となった研究の内容
Cytosine-to-Uridine (C-to-U) and adenine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing involves the deamination phenomenon, which is common in animals and plants; however, the amination of U-to-C is confined to the plants. In this study, the high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of 12-days-old Arabidopsis seedlings was performed, which enables transcriptome-wide identification of RNA editing sites to analyses differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and nucleotide base conversions. The results showed that DEGs were expressed to higher levels in 12-days-old seedlings than in 20-days-old seedlings. This was confirmed by higher higher. Fragment Per Kilobase of transcript per Million mapped reads (FPKM) values, read counts, and more up-regulated genes, in 12-days-old seedlings. Additionally, pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) genes were also expressed at higher levels as indicated by the log2FC values. The U-to-C RNA editing are predominantly found in the untranslated region (UTR) region of the mature mRNA and affect its secondary structure. Our results suggest that U-to-C RNA editing in mature transcripts impacts plant physiology. Furthermore, we investigated the physiological role of U-to-C RNA editing in Arabidopsis by using the transcription inhibitor, Actinomycin D (ActD). Addition of ActD to the cell suspension culture of transgenic Arabidopsis generated by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation revealed that single nucleotide conversion adversely affects the secondary structure and mRNA half-life of PPR protein.

■受賞にあたって一言
It is my great honour to receive the Young Scientist Award at Plant Genomics 2021. First of all I would like to make a special mention of my supervisor Professor Toshifumi Tsukahara, for his constant support and believe on me throughout my doctoral study in Japan. I would like to thank him, who saw the capabilities in me and nurtured my passion for doing a quality research. His discussions have always added the value to my research. Special cheers to all the Tsukahara lab members, this award is definitely an effort by all of us together and will be shared equally among all of us. At the same, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the judging committee at the conference who selected me as the candidate for this award. Finally, I would like to thanks my parents and family members for always encouraging me to continue the hard work and morally supporting throughout my good and bad times.

令和3年10月25日