Visualization of comformational changes of a chromoprotein.

• Project/Area Number: 25560069
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Science education
• Research Institution: Saitama University
• Principal Investigator: TOMIOKA Hiroaki 埼玉大学, 教育学研究科, 教授 (50212072)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
• Keywords: 蛋白質 / 構造変化 / 色素蛋白質 / 可視化 / 遅延化 / 教材化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Proteins change their structures when they function.　 The rate of the structural changes are too fast to see. A cylcle of conformational changes of a purple-colored chromoprotein, bacteriorhodopsin(bR) occurs rapidly in 10 ms. This structural transition accompanys a series of intermediates with distinctive colors. A mutation on bR with single amino acid substitution made the cyclic changes slower enough to see by our eyes.