Research continuum
The Laboratory of Crop Evolution
The Laboratory of Crop Evolution in the Plant Germ-Plasm Institute of Graduate School of Agriculture is a historic facility located in Mozume, Kyoto. The Laboratory originated as the Kihara Institute for Biological Research, founded in 1942 by Dr. Hitoshi Kihara, an internationally recognized wheat expert (See Res. Act. 4, no.3 [2014]: 6-9). Dr. Kihara was engaged in research on various plants, including wheat and seedless watermelons. In 1959, Kyoto University purchased the land and premises. Since then, the university has utilized the facility as an agricultural experiment laboratory affiliated with the Graduate School of Agriculture.
- Dr. Hitoshi Kihara(1893–1986)
- was a geneticist who served as a professor in Kyoto University’s Faculty of Agriculture from 1927 to 1956. He noticed that in wheat, seven chromosomes form the basic unit of inheritance and function, and named it a genome. The concept of the genome has been vital to the development of biology and genetic engineering.
