JAMSTEC > Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star) > Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program > Members > Masaru K. Nobu

D-SUGAR

Masaru K. Nobu Ph.D.

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

RESEARCH INTEREST

  • Co-evolution of life and Earth
  • Evolution of metabolism and cell structure
  • Uncultured microorganisms ("microbial dark matter")
  • Novel marine and subsurface ecological processes

Contact

Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research Program,
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan

EDUCATION

2013 - 2017
University of Illinois, PhD (Environmental Engineering)
2011 - 2013
University of Illinois, MSc (Environmental Engineering)
2007 - 2011
Carleton College, BA (Biology + Geology)

EMPLOYMENT

2023 - present
JAMSTEC, Senior Scientist
2020 - 2023
AIST, Senior Researcher
2017 - 2020
AIST, Researcher

FOR MORE DETAILS

Individual web pages Google Scholar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  1. Huang Y, Igarashi K, Liu L, Mayumi D, Ujiie T, Fu L et al (2025). Methanol transfer supports metabolic syntrophy between bacteria and archaea. Nature 639: 190-195.
  2. Nobu MK (2024). Engineering history with Asgard archaea of the kingdom Promethearchaeati. Nat Microbiol 9: 3086-3087.
  3. Nishihara A, Tsukatani Y, Azai C, Nobu MK (2024). Illuminating the coevolution of photosynthesis and Bacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 121: e2322120121.
  4. Katayama T, Nobu MK, Imachi H, Hosogi N, Meng XY, Morinaga K et al (2024). A Marine Group A isolate relies on other growing bacteria for cell wall formation. Nat Microbiol 9: 1954-1963.
  5. Imachi H, Nobu MK, Kato S, Takaki Y, Miyazaki M, Miyata M et al (2024). Promethearchaeum syntrophicum gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic, obligately syntrophic archaeon, the first isolate of the lineage ‘Asgard’ archaea, and proposal of the new archaeal phylum Promethearchaeota phyl. nov. and kingdom Promethearchaeati regn. nov. Int J Syst Evol Micr 74.
  6. Nobu MK, Nakai R, Tamazawa S, Mori H, Toyoda A, Ijiri A et al (2023). Unique H(2)-utilizing lithotrophy in serpentinite-hosted systems. ISME J 17: 95-104.
  7. Mei R, Kaneko M, Imachi H, Nobu MK (2023). The origin and evolution of methanogenesis and Archaea are intertwined. PNAS Nexus 2: pgad023.
  8. Hirakata Y, Mei R, Morinaga K, Katayama T, Tamaki H, Meng XY et al (2023). Identification and cultivation of anaerobic bacterial scavengers of dead cells. ISME J 17: 2279-2289.
  9. Katayama T, Nobu MK, Kusada H, Meng XY, Hosogi N, Uematsu K et al (2020). Isolation of a member of the candidate phylum 'Atribacteria' reveals a unique cell membrane structure. Nat Commun 11: 6381.
  10. Imachi H, Nobu MK, Nakahara N, Morono Y, Ogawara M, Takaki Y et al (2020). Isolation of an archaeon at the prokaryote-eukaryote interface. Nature 577: 519-525.