RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research Laboratory for Cellular Structural Biology

Team Leader: Takanori Kigawa (Ph.D.)

Japanese Page

Research Summary

In actual biological cellular environment, biomolecules such as proteins are generally surrounded by high concentrations of macromolecules, so-called ‘macromolecular crowding’ and these molecules are dynamically and co-operatively working. We will elucidate cellular events at atomic resolution by analyzing structural dynamics of biomolecules in the cellular environment mainly by using NMR spectroscopy. We will also develop and improve the technologies for sample preparations, stable-isotope labeling, NMR measurements, and data analyses. In collaboration with laboratories in Computational Biology Research Core. QBiC, we will contribute to the modeling of the cell from the viewpoint of structural dynamics of biomolecules.

Main Research Fields

Biological Sciences

Related Research Fields

Chemistry

Keywords

In situ structure biology
Stable isotope-aided NMR spectroscopy
Sparse modeling
Cell-free protein synthesis
Protein engineering

Selected Publications

1.Kigawa, T.:
"Advances in Stable Isotope Assisted Labeling Strategies with Information Science",
Arch. Biochem. Biophys., to be appeared, (2017).
2.Kasai, T., Nagata, K., Okada, M., and Kigawa, T.:
"NMR Spectral Analysis Using Prior Knowledge",
J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 699, 012003, (2016).
3.Okamura, H., Nishimura, H., Nagata, T., Kigawa, T., Watanabe, T. & Katahira, M.:
"Accurate and molecular-size-tolerant NMR quantitation of diverse components in solution"
Sci. Rep. 6, 21742 (2016)
4.Kasai, T., Koshiba, S., Yokoyama, J. & Kigawa, T.:
"Stable isotope labeling strategy based on coding theory"
J. Biomol. NMR 63, 213-221 (2015)
5.Numata, K., Motoda, Y., Watanabe, S., Osanai, T. & Kigawa, T.:
"Co-expression of Two Polyhydroxyalkanoate Synthase Subunits from Synechocystis sp PCC 6803 by Cell-Free Synthesis and Their Specific Activity for Polymerization of 3-Hydroxybutyryl-Coenzyme A"
Biochemistry 54, 1401-1407 (2015)
6.Harada, R., Tochio, N., Kigawa, T., Sugita, Y. & Feig, M.:
"Reduced Native State Stability in Crowded Cellular Environment Due to Protein-Protein Interactions"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 3696-3701 (2013)
7.Matsuda, T., Watanabe, S. & Kigawa, T.:
"Cell-free synthesis system suitable for disulfide-containing proteins"
Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 431, 296-301 (2013)
8.Matsuda, T., Furumoto, S., Higuchi, K., Yokoyama, J., Zhang, M., et al.:
"Rapid biochemical synthesis of C-11-labeled single chain variable fragment antibody for immuno-PET by cell-free protein synthesis"
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 20, 6579-6582 (2012)
9.Akama, S., Yamamura, M. & Kigawa, T.:
"A Multiphysics Model of In Vitro Transcription Coupling Enzymatic Reaction and Precipitation Formation"
Biophys. J. 102, 221-230 (2012)
10.Yokoyama, J., Matsuda, T., Koshiba, S., Tochio, N. & Kigawa, T.:
"A practical method for cell-free protein synthesis to avoid stable isotope scrambling and dilution"
Anal. Biochem. 411, 223-229 (2011)

Lab Members

Principal investigator

Takanori Kigawa: Team Leader

Core members

Tsutomu Mikawa: Senior Research Scientist
Takuma Kasai: Research Scientist
Naoya Tochio: Research Scientist
Hiromasa Yagi: Research Scientist
Masaomi Ikari: Technical Scientist
Satoko Yasuda: Technical Staff I
Tomoto Ura: Student Trainee
Nanako Sakakibara: Student Trainee

Contact Information

1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)45-503-9203
Fax: +81-(0)45-503-9643
Email: kigawa [at] riken.jp