Team Leader

Takanori Kigawa (D. Sci.)

In actual biological cellular environments, 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 preparation, stable-isotope labeling, NMR measurements, and data analyses. In collaboration with laboratories in the Computational Biology Research Core, QBiC, we will contribute to the modeling of the cell from the viewpoint of structural dynamics of biomolecules.

Research Topics

• NMR analysis of structural dynamics of biomolecules in cellular environments
• Development of technologies for NMR measurements and data analyses
• Development of technologies for stable-isotope labeling of proteins using cell-free synthesis

Selected Publications

• Kigawa, T.
  "Advances in stable isotope assisted labeling strategies with information science"
  Arch. Biochem. Biophys., to be appeared, (2017)
• Kasai, T., Nagata, K., Okada, M. & Kigawa, T.
  "NMR Spectral Analysis Using Prior Knowledge"
  J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 699, 012003, (2016)
• 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)
• Kasai, T., Koshiba, S., Yokoyama, J. & Kigawa, T.
  "Stable isotope labeling strategy based on coding theory"
  J. Biomol. NMR 63, 213-221 (2015) doi:10.1007/s10858-015-9978-8
• 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) doi:10.1021/bi1501560h
• 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) doi:10.1021/ja3126992
• Matsuda, T., Watanabe, S. & Kigawa, T.
  "Cell-free synthesis system suitable for disulfide-containing proteins"
  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 431, 296-301 (2013) doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2012.12.107
• Matsuda, T., Furumoto, S., Higuchi, K., Yokoyama, J., Zhang, M., Yanai, K., 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) doi:10.1016/j.bmc.2012.09.038
• 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) doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2011.12.014
• 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) doi:10.1016/j.ab.2011.01.017