Exploring the mechanism behind environmental adaptation of circadian clock in cyanobacteria

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K06171
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 43040:Biophysics-related
• Research Institution: Institute for Molecular Science
• Principal Investigator: Mukaiyama Atsushi 分子科学研究所, 協奏分子システム研究センター, 助教 (80647446)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 生物時計 / シアノバクテリア / KaiC / ATPase

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aims to clarify the mechanism underlying the evolutionary diversity of cyanobacterial circadian clock.
The cyanobacterial circadian clock is composed of the three kinds of proteins (KaiA, KaiB and KaiC), and the periodicity is encoded in KaiC solely. Biochemical analysis of diverse KaiC homologues suggests that KaiC has acquired its clock function through a stepwise evolutionary process.

Free Research Field

タンパク質科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果から、現在のシアノバクテリア生物時計が段階的な進化を経て形作られたことが示唆された。今後、その詳細を解析することで生物時計の起源を知る手がかりが得られると予想される。