Structural biology of ion transporters

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In living organisms, concentrations of ions differ substantially across the membranes and form the basis for biological activity such as nerve excitation and muscle contraction. Such differences in ion concentrations are maintained by ion pump proteins, which reside in biological membrane. In this research project, we focused on the calcium and the sodium pumps, and carried out the crystal structure analyses of the reaction intermediates, development of a high yield expression system of mammalian membrane proteins, and that of methods for visualizing biological membranes in the crystals, aiming at the complete understanding of the mechanism and development of drugs for the ion pumps.