Our vision is to establish “Plant Idioblast Biology” as a new field to advance understanding of plant cell diversity and adaptation. 

Plants have evolved conserved and species-specific specialized cells to adapt to diverse environments. Idioblasts are specialized plant cells with distinct morphology and functions, often associated with unique metabolic or structural features. However, their developmental mechanisms and evolutionary trajectories remain largely unknown. One well-characterized example of a highly specialized cell is the guard cell, which adjusts stomatal aperture to regulate CO₂ uptake. Another example is the myrosin cell, a Brassicales-specific defense cell type, which has been a central focus of our research. 

In previous work, we discovered that the transcriptional network, FAMA-WASABI MAKER (WSB)-Stomatal Carpenter 1 (SCAP1), was required for guard cell differentiation, while only FAMA-WSB was required for the differentiation of myrosin cells. These results suggest that FAMA-WSB were co-opted and neofunctionalized to generate species-specific idioblasts (Shirakawa et al., Nature Plants, 2025). Together, these findings highlight that the co-option and neofunctionalization of transcriptional networks play a pivotal role in the emergence of novel idioblasts during evolution.

我們在先前的研究中發現，轉錄網路 FAMA-WASABI MAKER (WSB)-Stomatal Carpenter 1 (SCAP1) 為保衛細胞分化所必需；相對地，芥子酶細胞的分化則僅需要 FAMA-WSB。這些結果顯示，FAMA-WSB 在演化過程中被借用（co-opted）並發生新功能化（neofunctionalized），進而產生物種特異的異型細胞（Shirakawa et al., Nature Plants, 2025）。綜合上述發現，轉錄網路的借用與新功能化，在演化過程中對新型異型細胞的出現扮演著關鍵角色。 

Our laboratory was launched on September 1st, 2025, at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, with the mission to uncover how plants rewire and evolve transcriptional networks to give rise to novel idioblasts that enable adaptation. Our vision is to establish “Plant Idioblast Biology” as a new field that advances our understanding of plant cell diversity and adaptation. By exploring a wide range of idioblast types, we will reveal the molecular mechanisms—such as gene co-option and neofunctionalization, including exon shuffling—that generate novel specialized cells. In doing so, we aim to illuminate the fundamental principles that create plant diversity and firmly establish Plant Idioblast Biology as a transformative new discipline.

本實驗室於 2025 年 9 月 1 日成立於中央研究院植物暨微生物生物學研究所，核心使命為揭示植物如何重組並演化轉錄網路，以產生具適應性功能的新型異型細胞。我們的願景是將「植物異型細胞生物學」（Plant Idioblast Biology）建立為一門全新領域，深化人類對植物細胞多樣性與適應性的理解。透過探索多元的異型細胞類型，我們將揭示產生新型特化細胞的分子機制——包含基因借用、新功能化及外顯子洗牌（exon shuffling）等。藉此，我們希望闡明創造植物多樣性的基本原理，並奠定植物異型細胞生物學作為變革性新學科的堅實基礎。