Structural Biophysics Laboratory
Chief Scientist
Masashi MIYANO (D.Sci.)
The atomic structures of proteins are the basis for rationale design and manipulation to modulate of the functions by site-direct mutagenesis and synthetic small molecule ligands in specific and selective manner. We first determine the protein structures with medicinal utilities like lipid mediator-related proteins, just because of not readily to determine but their practical needs as a fronteier of life science, like human integral membrane proteins including MAPEGs and GPCRs. Our motto is "must solve the unknown protein structure because of its needs". Our final goal is a whole view of such important protein structure with its function in their playing field of living system together with other interacting ligands/proteins, waters with solutes and embedded membrane lipids.
Protein crystals, for example, contain usually about a half volume of water. But most of them have been "invisible or ignored" other than bound water and/or ligand molecules in determined crystal structure. These water and lipid molecules remain to be visualized as major parts of constituents using advanced SPring-8 facilities, and they play crucial roles not only to fill the space but also major players to form life shape. We are also exploring enabling technologies including XFEL as well as snchrotron radiartion beam lines in the collaborative efforts at SPring-8 campus.
- Structural and functional studies of lipid-related proteins including integral membrane proteins as the foundation for basic and applied medicinal sciences.
- Accurate protein crystallography together with waters, lipids and ligands.
- Non-bonding science in biological system together with waters and lipids.
- July 28, 2006
- Two arginine residues in synthetic enzymes play important role in generation of agent that causes asthma and pollinosis
- Kumasaka T, Aritake K, Ago H, Irikura D, Tsurumura T, Yamamoto M. Miyano M. Urade Y Hayaishi O.:
"Structural basis of the catalytic mechanism operating in open-closed conformers of lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase"
J Biol Chem 284, 22344-22352 (2009) - Nitanai Y, Shimamura T, Uchiyama T, Ishii Y, Takehira M, Yutani K, Matsuzawa H Miyano M.:
"The Catalytic Efficiency (kcat/Km) of the Class A β-Lactamase Toho-1 Correlates with the Thermal Stability of its Catalytic Intermediate Analog"
Biochim Biophys Acta 1804, 684-691 (2009) - Hori T, Sato Y, Takahashi N, Takio K, Yokomizo Y, Nakamura M, Shimizu T, Miyano M.:
"Expression, purification and characterization of leukotriene B4 receptor, BLT1 in Pichia pastoris"
Protein Expression and Purification online pubished (2010) - Kawakami Y, Yamashita C, Kashiwase Y, Morinaka T, Suzuki-Yamamoto T, Yamashita H, Kimoto M, Tsuji H, Kurahashi Y, Daiyasu H, Toh H, Sugahara M, Miyano M, Yamamoto S, Takahashi Y.:
"Functional expression of single-chain antibody to leukotriene C4"
Biochem Biophys Res Commun 392, 421-425 (2010) - Shimamura T, Hiraki K, Takahashi N, Hori T, Ago H, Masuda K, Takio K, Ishiguro M, Miyano M.:
"Crystal structure of squid rhodopsin with intracellularly extended cytoplasmic region"
J Biol Chem 283:17753-17756 (2008). - Nishibori E, Nakamura T, Arimoto M, Aoyagi S, Ago H, Miyano M, Ebisuzaki T,Sakata M.:
"Application of maximum-entropy maps in the accurate refinement of a putative acylphosphatase using 1.3 Å X-ray diffraction data."
Acta Crystallogr D 64:237-247 (2008). - Ago H, Kanaoka Y, Irikura D, Lam BK, Shimamura T, Austen KF, Miyano M.:
"Crystal structure of a human membrane protein involved in cysteinyl leukotriene biosynthesis."
Nature. 448:609-612 (2007). - Hori T, Ishijima J, Yokomizo T, Ago H, Shimizu T, Miyano M.:
"Crystal structure of anti-configuration of indomethacin and leukotriene B4 12-hydroxydehydrogenase/15-oxo-prostaglandin 13-reductase complex reveals the structural basis of broad spectrum indomethacin efficacy."
J Biochem (Tokyo). (2006) 140, 457-466. - Hisanaga Y, Ago H, Nakagawa N, Hamada K, Ida K, Yamamoto M, Hori T, Arii Y, Sugahara M, Kuramitsu S, Yokoyama S, Miyano M.:
"Structural basis of the substrate-specific two-step catalysis of long chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetase dimer."
J Biol Chem. (2004) 279, 31717-31726. - Palczewski K, Kumasaka T, Hori T, Behnke CA, Motoshima H, Fox BA, Le Trong I, Teller DC, Okada T, Stenkamp RE, Yamamoto M, Miyano M.:
"Crystal structure of rhodopsin: A G protein-coupled receptor"
Science. (2000) 289:739-745
Principal Investigator
- Masashi MIYANO
- Chief Scientist
Staff Scientist
- Hideo AGO
- Senior Research Scientist
- Tetsuya HORI
- Senior Research Scientist
Technical Assistant
- Yoko UKITA
- Research Assistant