2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Systematic analyses of biological functions of helicase-like proteins in eukaryote
| Project/Area Number |
11672202
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Biological pharmacy
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| Research Institution | RIKEN |
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Principal Investigator |
EKI Toshihiko RIKEN, Cellular Physiology Laboratory, Senior Research Scientist, 細胞生理学研究室, 先任研究員 (40192512)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
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| Keywords | helicase family / genome functional study / budding yeast / nematode / protein-protein interaction / RNAi / gene disruption / expression profile |
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| Research Abstract |
This research has aimed to identify all members of helicase-like proteins in eukaryote and clarify their biological functions. I have focused on two scientific subjects described below.
1. Functional study of novel helicase-like proteins that were found by bioinformatics.
2. Functional study of nematode helicase-like proteins by characterizing RNAi mutants.
I have newly obtained the following observations throughout this research.
1. Six out of 20 novel ORFs that were found in budding yeast, were identified to be essential by gene disruptions.
2. Several genes that were highly expressed under specific conditions were identified by Northern analyses of 43 helicase-like ORFs. It also clarified that the levels of transcripts from more than 70% of examined helicase-like genes significantly increased upon heat-shock.
3. Ydl084wp has been newly found to be RNA-dependent ATPase.
4. Interactions of gene products such as Yhl218wp and YklO 17cp with several cellular proteins were detected by yeast two-hybrid assays using 10 novel nonessenfial proteins. Some genetic evidences suggested that Ynl218wp might act in DNA recombination.
5. It has been clarified that three novel gene products (i.e., Ydr332wp, Ygl064cp, and Yol095cp) play important roles in mitochondria functions.
6. Systematic characterization of nematode RNAi mutants of helicase-like genes revealed the evolutional conservation of the genes and their functions in eukaryote. Since more than 40% of examined RNAi mutants exhibited various kinds of abnormalities in cell. proliferation and development, suggesting biological importance of helicase-like proteins in higher eukaryote.
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