著者
井上 豪 裏出 良博
出版者
一般社団法人 日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.47, no.1, pp.036-043, 2007 (Released:2007-02-21)
参考文献数
22

The structural based drug-design (SBDD) is one of the useful methods for producing a novel medicine. We recently succeeded in X-ray crystallographic determination of two target molecules. One is human hematopoietic prostaglandin (PG) D synthase (H-PGDS) that produces PGD2 as an allergic mediator in mast cells and Th2 cells. The other is Trypanosoma brucei PGF2α synthase (TbPGFS), a member of the aldo-ketoreductase superfamily, catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of PGH2 to PGF2α, whose overproduction during trypanosomiasis causes miscarriage in infected female subjects. In this report, we introduce the recent progress in the research of the high resolution structures of human H-PGDS and TbPGFS useful for SBDD.
著者
田口 英樹
出版者
一般社団法人 日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.46, no.3, pp.130-136, 2006 (Released:2006-05-25)
参考文献数
27
被引用文献数
1 1

The chaperonin GroEL is an essential molecular chaperone that assists protein folding in the cell. ATP-dependent conformational change of GroEL leads to the stable binding of cochaperonin GroES, forming a cage-shaped complex that accommodates a substrate protein to complete the folding. After the elucidation of the outline of the molecular mechanism over the last decade, now we are ready to answer the important questions; how GroEL encapsulate the substrate protein? How the substrate protein influences the functional cycle of GroEL? What is the role of ATP hydrolysis in the GroEL-assisted folding? Is the folding in the GroEL-ES cavity is same as that in the bulk solution? Here I review the recent progress on the GroEL study and discuss the essential role of chaperonin GroEL.
著者
古瀬 幹夫
出版者
一般社団法人日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.40, no.4, pp.229-233, 2000-07-25

Tight junctions, the most apical component of intercellular junctions, play pivotal roles in epithelial barrier by sealing the intercellular space. Very recently claudins were identified as the major molecular components of tight junction. Claudins not only work as adhesion molecules but also form tight junction strands probably by their polymerizing activity in the plasma membranes. Identification of claudins has enabled us to examine the molecular mechanism of epithelial barrier and permeability.
著者
矢野 雅文 三浦 治己
出版者
一般社団法人 日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.39, no.5, pp.306-311, 1999-09-25 (Released:2000-04-12)
参考文献数
9
被引用文献数
1

It is assumed that positional information within a developing organism is represented by a morphogen gradient. However, it is not yet understood how positional information is organized in a size invariant manner. To achieve such size invariance, it is necessary for an organism to organize the polarity of positional information in advance. We focus on tactic behavior of the Physarum plasmodium and propose a model that describes the organization of size invariant positional information, in which the direction of the phase wave represents the polarity. We would like to point out that self-referential dynamics exist in our model, and their implementation is discussed. Our mode may be applied to other developmental systems.
著者
龍野 正実
出版者
一般社団法人 日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.47, no.6, pp.368-377, 2007 (Released:2007-11-30)
参考文献数
50
被引用文献数
1 1

The replay of behaviorally induced multi-neuronal activity patterns during subsequent sleep or quiet waking is conjectured to play an important role in the consolidation process of certain types of memory. During the early stages of memory consolidation, the hippocampus appears to be critical; however, over time the involvement of the hippocampus decreases as the memories become gradually consolidated in the neocortex. In this article, we review how temporal spike patterns are replayed during sleep and the possible interactions of the hippocampus and neocortex through these patterns.
著者
田中 正太郎 小橋川 敬博 三浦 和紀 西宮 佳志 三浦 愛 津田 栄
出版者
一般社団法人 日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.43, no.3, pp.130-135, 2003 (Released:2003-05-23)
被引用文献数
3 1

In 1969, the first antifreeze protein (AFP) was discovered from the blood plasma of Antarctic Nototheniids. In the past thirty years, different types of AFP have been found in many life forms that exhibit freezing tolerance, such as bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, and vertebrates. These discoveries have evoked us many questions regarding to the antifreeze mechanism and its biological significance for preventing their tissues from freezing damage. At present, ice physicist, biologist, chemist, biochemist, molecular biologist, physiologist, and NMR and X-ray structural biologists are subjecting AFP, which greatly improves our understandings about AFP and accelerates its applicability to various cryo-industries. In the present review we will describe an updated biophysical aspects of AFP to highlight the interests of this research field.
著者
大西 武雄
出版者
The Biophysical Society of Japan General Incorporated Association
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.26, no.1, pp.11-19, 1986
被引用文献数
3

Most of the investigations of ultraviolet(UV)-radiation effects on organisms have been made with 254nm from a germicidal lamp. The specific DNA lesion, pyrimidine dimers, caused by UV irradiation have been shown to be toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic. In contrast, knowledge of the biological effects of far UV(UV-C) radiation may not be relevant to the carcinogenic, mutagenic and lethal effects of UV in sunlight. Recently, since it has been indicated that the DNA lesions caused by mid-UV(280-320nm, UV-B) and nearUV(320-400nm, UV-A) is harmful to a wide variety of organisms, the studies of mid-UV and near-UV effects are considered to be important. The possible DNA damages caused by mid-UV and near-UV are summarized in the present review. In mid-UV range, both the pyrimidine dimers and other photoproducts such as 5-hydroxy-methyl cytosine may be responsible for the observed biological effects and they are repairable by excision repair systems or T4 endonuclease. Several DNA damages of near-UV are indicated to be DNA strand breaks dependent on pol<SUP>+</SUP> and nur<SUP>+</SUP> repair systems, DNA-protein cross-links and a small amount of pyrimidine dimers which are responsible to repair deficint mutants including human patients. In addition, other kinds of photodamages in tRNA carrying cytidine 13 and thiouridine 8 link than DNA damage are indicated to also interact to repair processes.
著者
山田 聡一郎 Scot C. Kuo
出版者
一般社団法人日本生物物理学会
雑誌
生物物理 (ISSN:05824052)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.43, no.4, pp.180-185, 2003-07-25

生細胞の細胞質は細胞の形とその運動性を司っている細胞骨格繊維のネットワークで満たされている.細胞骨格ネットワークのダイナミクスと不均一性は最近可視化されているが,生細胞の細胞質への接近の難しさからその物理的な性質の測定には難しい点がある,そこで,小粒子のブラウン運動の観察からその周囲の力学的環境を調べることができるという簡単な観察をもとに,マイクロレオロジーという新規の方法が考案され,生細胞への応用にも成功している.本稿では,このマイクロレオロジー法の最近の進歩を紹介し,この方法が生物学における細胞より下のレベルでの諸過程の理解にどのように役立つかについて述べる.