World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Kazuo Shinozaki

Kazuo Shinozaki

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Best Scientists
2025
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Molecular Biology
Japan
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Best Scientists

D-Index
213
Citations
196392
World Ranking
171
National Ranking
5

Plant Science and Agronomy

D-Index
215
Citations
198262
World Ranking
1
National Ranking
1

Molecular Biology

D-Index
215
Citations
199533
World Ranking
12
National Ranking
1

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Molecular Biology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2026 - Research.com Plant Science and Agronomy in Japan Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Molecular Biology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2024 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Genetics in Japan Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Japan Leader Award
  • 2020 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Overview

Kazuo Shinozaki is affiliated with RIKEN in Japan and has a substantial record of research in agricultural and biological sciences, particularly focusing on plant science and molecular biology. Their work primarily explores plant stress responses and tolerance, alongside topics related to plant molecular biology research and photosynthetic processes.

Shinozaki's research addresses various aspects of plant resilience, including responses to drought and cold stress, reflected in several recent papers:

  • Drought Stress Responses and Resistance in Plants: From Cellular Responses to Long-Distance Intercellular Communication, 2020, Frontiers in Plant Science
  • Transcriptional regulatory network of plant cold-stress responses, 2022, Trends in Plant Science
  • Complex plant responses to drought and heat stress under climate change, 2024, The Plant Journal
  • Plant Raf-like kinases regulate the mRNA population upstream of ABA-unresponsive SnRK2 kinases under drought stress, 2020, Nature Communications
  • Regulatory networks in plant responses to drought and cold stress, 2024, PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

Frequent collaborators include Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, Fuminori Takahashi, Takahiko Kawaguchi, Hisao Suzuki, and Naonori Sakamoto, with whom Shinozaki has co-authored numerous works.

Shinozaki's publications are regularly featured in prominent scientific venues, with notable frequencies in:

  • Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan
  • Trends in Plant Science
  • The Plant Journal
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Plant Molecular Biology

The main fields of study covered in Shinozaki's research include Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. Subfields prominently represented are Plant Science, Molecular Biology, Materials Chemistry, Cell Biology, and Ecology.

Major topics of focus within their research incorporate:

  • Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance
  • Plant Molecular Biology Research
  • Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
  • Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism
  • Plant responses to water stress
  • Light effects on plants
  • Plant Gene Expression Analysis

Shinozaki was recognized as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Best Publications

  • Genome sequence of the palaeopolyploid soybean

    Jeremy Schmutz;Steven B. Cannon;Jessica Schlueter;Jessica Schlueter;Jianxin Ma

  • Two transcription factors, DREB1 and DREB2, with an EREBP/AP2 DNA binding domain separate two cellular signal transduction pathways in drought- and low-temperature-responsive gene expression, respectively, in Arabidopsis.

    Qiang Liu;Mie Kasuga;Yoh Sakuma;Hiroshi Abe

  • Transcriptional regulatory networks in cellular responses and tolerance to dehydration and cold stresses.

    Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki;Kazuo Shinozaki

  • Gene networks involved in drought stress response and tolerance

    Kazuo Shinozaki;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

  • Improving plant drought, salt, and freezing tolerance by gene transfer of a single stress-inducible transcription factor

    Mie Kasuga;Qiang Liu;Qiang Liu;Setsuko Miura;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

  • Arabidopsis AtMYC2 (bHLH) and AtMYB2 (MYB) Function as Transcriptional Activators in Abscisic Acid Signaling

    Hiroshi Abe;Takeshi Urao;Takuya Ito;Motoaki Seki

  • The complete nucleotide sequence of the tobacco chloroplast genome: its gene organization and expression.

    K. Shinozaki;M. Ohme;M. Tanaka;T. Wakasugi

  • A novel cis-acting element in an Arabidopsis gene is involved in responsiveness to drought, low-temperature, or high-salt stress.

    Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki;Kazuo Shinozaki

  • Regulatory network of gene expression in the drought and cold stress responses.

    Kazuo Shinozaki;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki;Motoaki Seki

  • Monitoring the expression profiles of 7000 Arabidopsis genes under drought, cold and high-salinity stresses using a full-length cDNA microarray.

    Motoaki Seki;Mari Narusaka;Junko Ishida;Tokihiko Nanjo

  • Molecular responses to dehydration and low temperature: differences and cross-talk between two stress signaling pathways.

    Kazuo Shinozaki;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

  • DNA-binding specificity of the ERF/AP2 domain of Arabidopsis DREBs, transcription factors involved in dehydration- and cold-inducible gene expression

    Yoh Sakuma;Qiang Liu;Joseph G. Dubouzet;Hiroshi Abe

  • Crosstalk between abiotic and biotic stress responses: a current view from the points of convergence in the stress signaling networks

    Miki Fujita;Yasunari Fujita;Yoshiteru Noutoshi;Fuminori Takahashi

  • OsDREB genes in rice, Oryza sativa L., encode transcription activators that function in drought‐, high‐salt‐ and cold‐responsive gene expression

    Joseph G. Dubouzet;Yoh Sakuma;Yusuke Ito;Mie Kasuga

  • Isolation and Functional Analysis of Arabidopsis Stress-Inducible NAC Transcription Factors That Bind to a Drought-Responsive cis-Element in the early responsive to dehydration stress 1 Promoter

    Lam Son Phan Tran;Kazuo Nakashima;Yoh Sakuma;Sean D. Simpson

  • Arabidopsis basic leucine zipper transcription factors involved in an abscisic acid-dependent signal transduction pathway under drought and high-salinity conditions.

    Yuichi Uno;Takashi Furihata;Hiroshi Abe;Riichiro Yoshida

  • Organization of cis-acting regulatory elements in osmotic- and cold-stress-responsive promoters.

    Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki;Kazuo Shinozaki

  • AP2/ERF family transcription factors in plant abiotic stress responses.

    Junya Mizoi;Kazuo Shinozaki;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

  • Response of plants to water stress

    Yuriko Osakabe;Keishi Osakabe;Kazuo Shinozaki;Lam-Son Phan Tran

  • The complete sequence of the rice (Oryza sativa) chloroplast genome: Intermolecular recombination between distinct tRNA genes accounts for a major plastid DNA inversion during the evolution of the cereals

    Junzou Hiratsuka;Hiroaki Shimada;Robert Whittier;Takashi Ishibashi

  • Gene networks involved in drought stress response and

    Kazuo Shinozaki;Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

Frequent Co-Authors

Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki
Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki University of Tokyo
Tetsuya Sakurai
Tetsuya Sakurai Kōchi University
Masatomo Kobayashi
Masatomo Kobayashi RIKEN BioResource Research Center
Kyonoshin Maruyama
Kyonoshin Maruyama Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Takashi Kuromori
Takashi Kuromori Okayama University
Kazuo Nakashima
Kazuo Nakashima Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Takashi Hirayama
Takashi Hirayama Okayama University
Taishi Umezawa
Taishi Umezawa Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Miki Fujita
Miki Fujita University of British Columbia

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