Technology with glassin, a protein accelerating silica polycondensation, for development of environmentally benign routes to material synthesis

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K06581
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biofunction/Bioprocess
• Research Institution: Tottori University
• Principal Investigator: Shimizu Katsuhiko 鳥取大学, 地域価値創造研究教育機構, 准教授 (90326877)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 有馬 二朗 鳥取大学, 農学部, 准教授 (80393411)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: バイオミネラリゼーション / 海綿動物 / シリカ / 環境調和型 / 生物模倣

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we identified the active region in silica formation accelerating protein glassin isolated from the silica skeleton of the hexactinellid sponge Euplectella. We also established a technique to immobilize useful proteins on silica with maintaining their activity by preparing recombinant proteins using glassin as a tag. This achievement meets the original objective, which open a new route for the industrial use of glassin. In addition, we uncovered a new function of glassin which binds strongly to metal ions.

Free Research Field

海洋生物工学