Structural biology of ion transporters

在活的有机体中，离子的浓度在膜上有很大的不同，这是神经兴奋和肌肉收缩等生物活动的基础。这种离子浓度的差异是由存在于生物膜中的离子泵蛋白维持的。本课题以钙离子泵和钠离子泵为研究重点，对反应中间体进行晶体结构分析，建立哺乳动物膜蛋白高产表达体系，研究晶体中生物膜的可视化方法，以期全面了解离子泵的作用机制和药物的开发。

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.