Development of novel labeling technique for macro molecule structure analysis

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24651151
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nanomaterials/Nanobioscience
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: MAYANAGI Kouta 九州大学, 生体防御医学研究所, 助教 (50418571)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ISHINO Yoshizumi 九州大学, （連合）農学研究科（研究院）, 教授 (30346837)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 電子顕微鏡 / ナノバイオ / 可視化 / 生物物理 / 蛋白質 / DNA / 分子標識 / 画像解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Molecular labeling is a key technique for mapping individual components in the 3D map of supermolecules, obtained by single particle analysis. We developed novel methods of labeling DNA in the DNA-protein complexes, which are biologically very important. We used streptavidin in our previous work, which was too large (about 60k for tetramer) for more detailed analysis.
In this project we tried mainly two methods. The first uses the nano structures of DNA for labeling. Using the pinpoint shape of the nano-structure, we could develop a label, which could point the DNA terminal more precisely.
Another label is a small bulky structure, the size of which is comparable to the resolution of the single particle analysis. As the second method seemed to be more promising, we applied the later method to the protein-DNA complexes labeling experiment, and could successfully visualize the label in the total map of the complex.

Free Research Field

複合新領域