Video imaging of proteins in action with epoch-making microscopy
Prof. Noriyuki Kodera
Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)
Specialty: Biophysics
Biophysics Lab
High-speed AFM to visualize proteins under the physiological conditions
The high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) developed by Prof. Toshio Ando, Nano-Life Science Institute, Kanazawa University, makes possible the real-time observation of the detailed surface features of a sample by rapidly tracing the sample surface with a nanometer-sized sharp probe. Furthermore, the HS-AFM can be operated in an aqueous solution, allowing us to directly observe the structure and dynamic behavior of proteins at work under the physiological conditions. This unique feature of HS-AFM opens the door of nano-life science.
HS-AFM to watch at the dynamic behaviors of proteins
The powerfulness of HS-AFM was well demonstrated in the observation of myosin V. Myosin V with two actin-binding heads is one of motor proteins that transport intracellular cargos such as membrane vesicles and mRNA by moving along actin filaments in cells. We succeeded in the real time observation of myosin V walking along an actin filament (Kodera et al., Nature (2010).
In addition, in a collaboration with foreign scientists, we succeeded in understanding the characteristic energy landscape of the supercoiled dsDNA (Brouns et al., ACS Nano (2018)). In another collaboration, we revealed that an antibody, a protein molecule playing a primary role in the immune response, adjusts the lifetime of binding to an antigen by detecting intramolecular strain accumulated in the antibody molecule depending on the antigen concentrations (Preiner, Kodera et al., Nature Communications (2014)).
HS-AFM for deeper understanding of life phenomena
We have been promoting not only development and improvement on the HS-AFM but also its application studies to the life sciences. There are still a large number of life phenomena not fully understood. By further improvement of HS-AFM performance, we will take up the challenge of elucidating the functional mechanism of biomolecules.
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