| Project/Area Number |
01304029
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Co-operative Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
General medical chemistry
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokushima |
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Principal Investigator |
ICHIHARA Akira Institute for Enzyme Research University of Tokushima, Professor, 酵素科学研究センター, 教授 (40035374)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YOKOSAWA Hideyoshi School of Pharmacy, Hokkaido University, Professor, 薬学部, 教授 (90012765)
SASAKI Makoto School of Medicine, Nagoya City University, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (10080003)
ISHIURA Shoichi Division of Neuromuscular Research National Institute of Neuroscience Division h, 室長 (10158743)
IKAI Atsushi Faculty of Science, Tokyo Inst. of Technology, professor, 理学部, 教授 (50011713)
TANAKA Keiji Institute for Enzyme Research University of Tokushima, Research assistant, 酵素科学研究センター, 助手 (10108871)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1989 – 1990
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| Keywords | Proteasomes / Multicatalytic protease / Structural analysis / Multisubunit complex / High molecular weight protease / 分子遺伝学 |
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| Research Abstract |
Multicatalytic proteinase complex (Proteasomes) is a large assembly of many protein components with various protease activities. In 1990 we carried out a co-operative research to investigate structure and functions of proteasomes.
1. Structural analysis --- cDNAs of 15 components of the proteasomes from yeast, rat and human were cloned and sequenced. These sequences showed no homology with any known proteins indicating that the proteasomes consist of subunits which are new protein family. This consideration is supported by the facts that homology among subunits from different animals was very high. Assembly of subunits to form a ring-shape particle can be observed by electron microscopy and similarity of shape among proteasomes of different animals suggests that structure of complex is important for the function.
2. Functions of proteasomes --- It was shown that proteasomes play important role in embryogenesis, particularly maturation and fertilization of egg. The expression of proteasome mRNA was very high in cancerous tissues of liver, kidney and blood cells. It was also found that proteasomes translocate etween cytosol and nucleus during cell growth. These results indicate that proteasomes relate closely with cell growth and differentiation. This notion was supported by experiments of gene disruption of yeast subunits. Yeast received disrupted genes became lethal.
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