Our major research interests are structure and function of the bacterial flagellar motor and information analysis of DNA and protein sequences. Assembly of the bacterial flagellum starts from an annular structure of the FliF ring and continues to a helical cylinder of the flagellar filament that is the flagellin polymer. The mechanism that connects the structures of ring and helix is unknown. Interactions between the flagellar proteins play important roles for construction of the stable structure and for functions of the flagellar rotation. For analysis of these interactions, isolation of suppressor mutations from mutants in flagellar proteins is a powerful tool.
     For information analysis of DNA and protein sequences, we developed a novel method using 2D-pattern formation with color-coding. In this method, one-dimensional sequence of DNA or protein is aligned by combination of fixed widths of column and the resulting two-dimensional alignment is color-coded to visualize certain patterns. By this method, we found many tandem repeats in the Escherichia coli genome. Also, there are some periodical patterns derived from alpha-helix and collagen-helix of protein sequences. You can find some of interesting patterns at 2D patterns .