Japanese Page

PI Tohru Dairi　Professor

PI message

People has used various fermentation processes to make fermented alcohol/foods and industrial products. My research focuses on discovery of novel primary metabolic pathways and novel enzyme for secondary metabolic pathways. We are also conducting applied research such as searching for new pathway-specific inhibitors to develop anti-Helicobacter pylori agents and biosynthetic engineering for bioproduction of useful and high-value natural products.

Research

Our group is currently working on several research areas including characterization of novel enzymatic reactions and biosynthetic engineering. Using chemical and biological approaches, we study “enzyme chemistry” by uncovering unprecedented enzymes involved in diverse biological processes including the formation of bacterial cell wall, biosynthesis of natural products. We also focus on bioproduction of useful and high-value natural products by “biosynthetic engineering”. In addition, we search for new antibiotics that specifically kill pathogenic bacteria by making use of differences in metabolic pathways between useful bacteria and pathogenic bacteria.

Member

• Tohru Dairi

  Professor

  Research Field

  Natural product chemistry, biosynthetic engineering, biochemistry
• Yasushi Ogasawara

  Associate Professor

  Research Field

  Natural product chemistry, biochemistry
• Yasuharu Satoh

  Assistant Professor

  Research Field

  Biochemical engineering, synthetic biology
• Takeshi Tsunoda

  Specially Appointed Assistant Professor

  Research Field

  Natural product biosynthesis, applied microbiology

Main Research Achievements

• W. Xiao, Y. Satoh, Y. Ogasawara, T. Dairi. ChemBioChem 23, e202100705 (2022).
• X. Li, R. Shimaya, T. Dairi, W-c. Chang, Y. Ogasawara. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61, e202113189 (2022).
• Z. Feng, Y. Ogasawara, T. Dairi. Chem. Sci. 12, 2567-2574 (2021).
• T. Kamide, S. Takusagawa, N. Tanaka, Y. Ogasawara, Y. Kawano, I. Ohtsu, Y. Satoh, T. Dairi. J. Agric. Food Chem. 68, 6390-6394 (2020).
• Y. Ogasawara, M. Shigematsu, S. Sato, H. Kato, T. Dairi. Org. Lett. 21, 3972-3975 (2019).
• S. Hayashi, M. Naka, K. Ikeuchi, M. Otsuka, K. Kobayashi, Y. Satoh, Y. Ogasawara, C. Maruyama, Y. Hamano, T. Ujihara, T. Dairi. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 6605-6610 (2019).
• S. Hayashi, Y. Satoh, Y. Ogasawara, C. Maruyama, Y. Hamano, T. Ujihara, T. Dairi. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 2326-2330 (2019).
• R. Feng, Y. Satoh, Y. Ogasawara, T. Yoshimura, T. Dairi. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 4243-4245 (2017).
• J. Kawata, T. Naoe, Y. Ogasawara, T. Dairi. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 2026-2029 (2017).
• M. Noike, T. Matsui, K. Ooya, I. Sasaki, S. Ohtaki, Y. Hamano, C. Maruyama, J. Ishikawa, Y. Satoh, H. Ito, H. Morita, T. Dairi. Nat. Chem. Biol., 11, 71-76 (2015).
• T. Hiratsuka, K. Furihata, J. Ishikawa, H. Yamashita, N. Itoh, H. Seto, T. Dairi. Science, 321, 1670-1673 (2008).

Contact

dairi(at)eng.hokudai.ac.jp