Dr. OMAE Kimiho, a Project Researcher in the Department of Integrated Biosciences, the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo, won the 2^nd Place of Excellent Poster Award in the "Early-Career Researchers" Category at The Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology (JSME) 35th Annual Meeting in Sapporo which was held from October 31 to November 3, 2022.

The List of JSME Poster Awards Winner 2022

Awarded Presentation：
Alternative-Choice Evolution: Procaryote's Adaption to Environment
(OMAE Kimiho, NISHIMURA Yuki, TOMINAGA Kento, and IWASAKI Wataru)

Dr. Omae and his team tried to clarify the purpose and conditions of Alternative-Choice Evolution (anticorrelated evolution) on the prokaryotic genomes. From approximately 27,000 genomes, they comprehensively sampled pairs of genes that anti-correlatedly evolved, analyzed them, and elucidated that Alternative-Choice Evolution tends to occur between genes with similar functions and for enzymes that catalyze essential metabolic reactions. Furthermore, utilizing metagenome information, they clarified that Alternative-Choice Evolution occurs during adaption to the environment.

Comments from Dr. Omae：
I am deeply honored to have the research on Alternative-Choice Evolution recognized by the Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology and greatly encouraged by comments of the audience that my presentation was fascinating. I will do my best to get academically intriguing results continuously.

Photo: Dr. Omae receiving the award certificate from Professor OKABE Satoshi, Hokkaido University at the Chair of the JSME 35th Annual Meeting