Development of optogenetic tools for controlling kinase activities in insulin signaling pathways and their practical applications

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26620128
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Bio-related chemistry
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ozawa Takeaki 東京大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (40302806)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 光制御 / インスリン / キナーゼ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed an optogenetic tools for controlling kinase activities of Akt and c-Raf, which are crucial proteins for insulin signaling. Akt was connected with a photo-receptor (CRY2). Upon irradiation with blue light, we observed movement of Foxo1 from nucleus to the cytosol. Moreover, we demonstrated quantitative control of Atrogin-1 gene expression by blue light. Using the same approach, an optogenetic technique to control c-Raf activity in living cells. We demonstrated that red light irradiation enabled to quantitative regulate c-Raf activity. The developed techniques will be useful tools for quantitative analysis of intracellular insulin signaling in living cells.

Free Research Field

分析化学