| 多分野交流委員会 企画講演 |
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| 2021/9/30 16:00～17:00 ZOOM A会場
ML-1
クライオ電顕が神経化学分野に役立つ時代に
Cryo-EM is now useful in the field of Neurochemistry
○藤吉 好則
東京医科歯科大学 高等研究院卓越研究部門 細胞構造生理学
○Yoshinori Fujiyoshi
Cellular and Structural Physiology Laboratory, Advanced Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University JST PRESTO
Gaining sufficient insight into brain functions and other biological functions will require molecular-level structural analyses of research targets as well as structures in different functional states. Structural analyses based on crystallography naturally require the crystallization of proteins and/or their functional complexes, but crystallization is generally difficult or requires a rather long time-years in the case of membrane proteins. For a detailed understanding of the dynamic functions of proteins, at least a few structures must be analyzed in different states. Conformational changes of proteins will destroy the crystals or deteriorate their crystallinity. These obstacles might deter researchers from attempting structural studies of their targets of interest. In late years, the field of structural biology, nevertheless, underwent dramatic changes due to advancements in single particle analysis based on cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). For example, Cheng’s group analyzed the structure of TRP channel by single particle analysis [M. Liao et al., Nature. 504, 107 (2013)]. Although many crystallographers had attempted to analyze TRP channels, no one had previously succeeded in analyzing their structures. Therefore, successful structural analysis of TRP channels has had a strong impact in the field. Remarkably, the number of analyzed structures is dramatically increasing in recent years. By this method and our cryo-EM system, we could analyze structure of innexin gap junction channel in short period, two months, while we could not grow good quality crystals of the channel giving high resolution structure [A. Oshima et al., Nature Comms 7, 13681 (2016)]. Therefore, single particle analyses utilizing cryo-EM could serve researchers in Neurochemistry. | | | |
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