Plants differ in various ways from animals and have inherent capabilities that animals do not have, such as plant-hormone-mediated regulation, responses to various environmental stresses, light regulation, and high-efficient totipotency. Studies on plant gene function contribute a lot on the development of plant biotechnology for the production of crops and biomass, the protection of environmental conditions and horticulture.This research group is studying functions of plant genes using various mutants (T-DNA/transposon insertional mutants and enhancer-tagged mutants) of Arabidopsis thaliana. This group is interested in plant genes involved in environmental stress responses and tolerance, and plant hormone responses. This group aims to understand complex systems that are involved in the regulation of gene expression and cellular signal transduction in response to environmental stimuli in higher plants. It also contributes to collection of useful resources for basic biology and biotechnology through these research and development.