Study on the coordinated roles of intracellular pH and second messenger

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25840062
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biophysics
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: MORIMOTO Yusuke 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 生命システム研究センター, 基礎科学特別研究員 (50631777)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 生物物理 / シグナル伝達 / 細胞性粘菌 / 細胞内pH / セカンドメッセンジャー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intracellular pH plays important roles in the signal transduction via second messengers such as cAMP, calcium ion and phosphatidylinositol. However it remains unknown how intracellular pH change works in the cellular signal transduction. To investigate the role of intracellular pH, we constructed Dictyostelium discoideum strain expressing pH-sensitive fluorescent protein and observed cytoplasmic pH changes and second messengers simultaneously by fluorescence microscopy. And we developed new FRET based pH-sensitive fluorescent protein, which works as a highly sensitive pH probe. We could observe periodical changes of intracellular ion concentrations following spontaneous cAMP oscillations.

Free Research Field

生物物理