Under the leadership of TANAKA Hirokazu, Assistant Professor, KITAKURA Saeko, Researcher at the Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, and Dr. Jiri Friml at Ghent  University, Belgium, a group of researchers clarified that a plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) used two endosomal components BEN1 and BEN2 in order to transport auxin, a plant hormone playing an important role in plant body development. This group has also demonstrated that this mechanism was used in controlling a variety of courses of development such as root formation and pattern formation of leaf veins. The discovery of this group is considered an important understanding regarding the regulation of directional auxin transport.

(Link) http://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/research/2013/20130531_1