Selected Publications

•  Mais Maree, Yuri Ushijima, Pedro B Fernandes, Masato Higashide, Kazuya Morkawa. SCCmec transformation requires living donor cells in mixed biofilms. Biofilm 7, 100184. 2024. open access
•  Hugo Maruyama, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, Yuri Ushijima, Kazuya Morikawa, Kunio Takeyasu. Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging and Analysis of Prokaryotic Genome Organization. Methods Mol biol 2819:263-277. 2024. Pubmed
•  Kouhei Mizuno, Mais Maree, Toshihiko Nagamura, Akihiro Koga, Satoru Hirayama, Soichi Furukawa, Kenji Tanaka, Kazuya Morikawa. Novel multicellular prokaryote discovered next to an underground stream. eLife 11:e71920. 2022. open access
•  Mizuho Fukushige, Ling-Shang Syue, Kazuya Morikawa, Wen-Liang Lin, Nan-Yao Lee, Po-Lin Chen, Wen-Chien Ko. Trend in healthcare-associated infections due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus at a hospital in the era of COVID-19: more than hand hygiene is needed. J Microbiol Immunol Infect 2022 doi.org/10.1016/j.jmii.2022.08.003 open access
•  Mais Maree, Le Thuy Thi Nguyen, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, Masato Higashide, Tarek Msadek, Kazuya Morikawa. Natural transformation allows transfer of SCCmec-mediated methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. Nat Commun 13,2477. 2022. open access
• Vishal Gor, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, and Kazuya Morikawa*. No Change, No Life? What We Know about Phase Variation in Staphylococcus aureus. Microorganisms 9, 244. 2021. open access
  
• Le Thuy Thi Nguyen*, Khanh Ngau Thi Nguyen, Phuc Nhi Thi Anh Le, Fabio Cafini, Ben Pascoe, Samuel K Sheppard, Thanh Bao Nguyen, Thien Phuc Nguyen Hoang, Thuy Vy Nguyen, Tram T. K. Pham, Kazuya Morikawa*, Dang Quan Nguyen, Hoa Xo Duong. The emergence of plasmid-borne cfr-mediated linezolid resistant-staphylococci in Vietnam. J Glob Antimicrob Resist22, 462-465. 2020. Pubmed
  
• Kazuya Morikawa*, Yuri Ushijima, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, Masatoshi Miyakoshi and Kunio Takeyasu*. What happens in the staphylococcal nucleoid under oxidative stress? Microorganisms 7, 631. 2019. open access
  
• Vishal Gor, Aya J. Takemura, Masami Nishitani, Masato Higashide, Veronica Medrano Romero, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, and Kazuya Morikawa*. Finding of Agr phase variants in Staphylococcus aureus. mBio 10, e00796-19. 2019. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00796-19 Pubmed
  
• Lisa Maudsdotter, Yuri Ushijima, Kazuya Morikawa*. Fitness of Spontaneous Rifampicin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in a Biofilm Environment. Front Microbiol 10, Article 968, 1-10. 2019. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00988 Pubmed
  
• Le Thuy Thi Nguyen, Federico Roman, Kazuya Morikawa, Pilar Trinicado, Carmen Marcos, Maria Dolores, Rojo-Martin, and Fabio Cafini. Prevalence of pSCFS7-like vectors among cfr positive Staphylococcal population in Spain. Int J Antimicrob Agents 52, 305-306. 2018. Pubmed
• Takafumi Sakai, Yasuhiro Moteki, Takuya Takahashi, Kan Shida, Mayumi Kiwaki, Yasuhisa Shimakawa, Akihisa Matsui, Osamu Chonan, Kazuya Morikawa, Toshiko Ohta, Hiroshi Ohshima, Satoshi Furukawa. Probiotics into outer space: feasibility assessments of encapsulated freeze-dried probiotics during 1 month’s storage on the International Space Station. Sci Rep 8, 10687. 2018. Pubmed
• Nguyen LTT, Takemura AJ, Ohniwa RL, Saito S, Morikawa K. Sodium Polyanethol Sulfonate Modulates Natural Transformation of SigH-Expressing Staphylococcus aureus. Curr Microbiol 2017. pubmed
• Ushijima Y, Ohniwa RL, Morikawa K. Identification of Nucleoid Associated Proteins (NAPs) Under Oxidative Stress in Staphylococcus aureus. BMC Microbiol published October 2017. pubmed
• Mizuno K, Mizuno M, Yamauchi M, Takemura AJ, Medrano Romero V, Morikawa K. Adjacent-Possible Ecological Niche: Growth of Lactobacillus Species Co-cultured with Escherichia coli in a Synthetic Minimal Medium. Sci Rep published October 2017. pubmed
• Cafini F, Nguyen LTT, Román F, Prieto F, Dubrac S, Msadek T, and Morikawa K. Methodology for The Study of Horizontal Gene Trabsfer in Staphylococcus aureus. JoVE 121 doi:10.3791/55087. 2017.pubmed
• Ushijima Y, Yoshida O, Villanueva MJ, Ohniwa RL, Morikawa K. Nucleoid cumping dispensable for the Dps-dependent hydrogen peroxide resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Microbiol  doi: 10.1099/mic.0.000353. 2016. pubmed
• Medrano Romero V, Morikawa K. Liseria monocytogenes σH contributes to expression of competence genes and intercellular growth. J Bacteriol 198:1207-1217.  doi: 10.1128/JB.00718-15. 2016. pubmed
• Nguyen LTT, Medrano Romero V, Morikawa K. Cell wall-affecting antibiotics modulate natural transformation in SigH-expressing Staphylococcus aureus. J Antibiot doi: 10. 1038/ja. 132. 2015. pubmed
• Cafinii F, Nguyen LTT, Higashide M, Román F, Prieto J, Morikawa K. Horizontal Gene Transmission of cfr gene to MRSA and Enterococcus: role of S. epidermidis as reservoir and alternative pathway for the spread of linezolid resistance. J Antimicrob Chemother. 71 (3):587-92. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkv391.2015. pubmed
• Maudsdotter L, Imai S, Ohniwa RL, Saito S, Morikawa K. Staphylococcus aureus dry stress survivors have a heritable fitness advantage in subsequent dry exposure. Microb Infec 17(6):456-61. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2015.02.004. 2015. pubmed
• Ushijima Y, Ohniwa RL, Morikawa K. In vitro DNA Protection Assay Using Oxidative Stress. Bio-protocol 5:1538. 2015. link
• Ushijima Y, Ohniwa RL, Maruyama A, Saito S, Tanaka Y, Morikawa K. Nucleoid compaction by MrgAAsp56Ala/Glu60Ala does not contribute to staphylococcal cell survival against oxidative stress and phagocytic killing by macrophage. FEMS Microbiol Lett 360(2):144-51. doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12598. 2014. pubmed
• Vong LB, Yoshitomi T, Morikawa K, Saito S, Matsui H, Nagasaki Y. Oral nanotherapeutics: Effect of redox nanoparticle on microflora in mice with dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis. J Gastroenterol 49(5):806-13. doi: 10.1007/s00535-013-0836-8.  2014. pubmed
• Ohniwa RL, Muchaku H, Saito S, Wada C, Morikawa K. Atomic force microscopy analysis of the role of major DNA-binding proteins in organization of the nucleoid in Escherichia coli. PLoS One 8(8):e72954. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072954. eCollection. 2013. pubmed
• Morikawa K, Takemura AJ, Inose Y, Tsai M, Nguyen Thi le T, Ohta T, Msadek T. Expression of a cryptic secondary sigma factor gene unveils natural competence for DNA transformation in Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS Pathog 8(11):e1003003. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003003. . 2012. pubmed
• Ohniwa RL, Kitabayashi K, Morikawa K. Alternative cardiolipin synthase Cls1 compensates for stalled Cls2 function in Staphylococcus aureus under conditions of acute acid stress. FEMS Microbiol Lett 338(2):141-6. doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12037.  2012. pubmed
• Tsai M, Ohniwa RL, Kato Y, Takeshita SL, Ohta T, Saito S, Hayashi H, Morikawa K. Staphylococcus aureus requires cardiolipin for survival under high salinity conditions. BMC Microbiol 11:13. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-11-13. 2011. pubmed
• Ohniwa RL, Ushijima Y, Saito S,Morikawa K. Proteomic Analyses of Nucleoid-Associated Proteins in Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS ONE 6(4):e19172. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019172. 2011. pubmed
• Morikawa K, Ohniwa RL, Ohta T, Tanaka Y, Takeyasu K, Msadek T. Adaptation beyond the Stress Response: Cell Structure Dynamics and Population Heterogeneity in Staphylococcus aureus. Microbes Environ 25(2):75-82. Review. 2010. pubmed

Book Chapter

• Cafini F, Medrano Romero V, Morikawa K. Mechanisms of Horizontal Gene Transfer inStaphylococcus aureus. InTech, Eds: Shymaa Enany and Laura Elise Crotty Alexander. 2017. Book Chapter