Molecular Science on the Specific Roles of Metal Ions in Biological Functions.

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The project members consisted of four teams focused on investigations of energy conversion, material transformation, signal transduction, and gene expression. Members were encouraged to participate in various kinds of collaborative networks of researchers having different expertise in physical chemistry, coordination chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Eleven major topics were extensively studied by the four teams including energy conversion in photosynthesis and respiration, activation mechanisms of small molecules by biometals, signal initiation, transduction and reception by metalloproteins, and regulation of gene expression by biometallic compounds. Each of the four teams consisted of the several core members, who were selected by the committee of leaders of the four teams, and the recruited members, who were selected from general applicants by a committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture. The total numbers of members were 67, 57, 58, and 50 for the 1^<st>, 2^<nd>, 3^<rd>, and 4^<th> years. The number and composition of members were changed every year. All members were requested to present new results as posters in a two-day open workshop once a year, to which a few distinguished foreign bioinorganic chemists were invited to evaluate the results and to deliver a lecture. The activity has been summarized as SBIC News in J.Biol.Inorg.Chem. 5, 410-415 (2000). The rich accomplishments of individual members are published as focused reviews and original papers in a special issue of J.Inorg.Biochem. 82, #1-4 (2000).