Development of technical basis for direct observations of membrane protein complex in dynamic equilibrium under a physiological condition

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15035
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General physiology
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: SOHMA Yoshiro 慶應義塾大学, 医学部(信濃町), 准教授 (60268183)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): UCHIHASHI Takayuki 金沢大学, 数物科学系, 准教授 (30326300) ; NISHIZAKA Takayuki 学習院大学, 理学部, 教授 (40359112) ; SAKURAI Minoru 東京工業大学, バイオ研究基盤支援総合センター, 教授 (50162342) ; SATO Chikara 独立行政法人産業技術総合研究所, バイオメディカル研究部門, 研究グループ長 (00357146)
• Research Collaborator: YU Ying-Chun ; HWANG Tzyh-Chang ; KATO Takanobu ; FUJIMURA Shoko
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 分子間相互作用 / 高速原子間力顕微鏡 / １分子直接観察 / 膜蛋白複合体 / 脂質２重膜 / ラフト / 抗原ー抗体反応 / アクアポリン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Membrane proteins functions with forming a complex in the plasma membrane. The mechanism of the membrane protein complexes is one of the most important in the physiology and medicine. We attempted to develop the technical basis for the direct observation of membrane protein complexes working in non-equilibrium dynamics under a physiological condition using the high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM).
We found that the ‘Nanodisc’ should be the most likely candidate for the central parts of the ‘physiological AFM platform’ allowing us the successful direct observation for ‘in vivo’-like dynamics of membrane protein complexes. We also attempted to establish a fundamental theory for interpreting the HS-AFM movie data of the intermolecular interaction. Several issues appeared in the theoretical study suggested the existence of an unknown important process for the intermolecular interaction in a mesoscopic level between the single-molecular and the macroscopic levels

Free Research Field

分子生理学・薬理学