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Koda, S.-i.

Publications and source records attributed to Koda, S.-i..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

An alternative interpretation of the slow KaiB-KaiC binding of the cyanobacterial clock proteins

The biological clock of cyanobacteria is composed of three proteins, KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC. The KaiB-KaiC binding brings the slowness into the system, which is essential for the long period of the circadian rhythm. However, there is no consensus as to the origin of the slowness due to the pre-binding conformational transition of either KaiB or KaiC. In this study, we propose a simple KaiB-KaiC binding scheme in a hexameric form with an attractive interaction between adjacent bound KaiB monomers, which is independent of KaiBs conformational change. We then show that the present scheme can explain several important experimental results on the binding, including that used as evidence for the slow conformational transition of KaiB. The present result thus indicates that the slowness arises from KaiC rather than KaiB.

biophysics

Sufficiency of unidirectional allostery in KaiC in generating the cyanobacterial circadian rhythm

The clock protein of cyanobacteria KaiC forms a homohexamer with two ring-shaped domains, C1 and C2. These domains undergo several domain-specific conformational transitions and allosterically communicate to generate a circadian rhythm. Interestingly, experiments show a possibility that C2 is independent of C1. However, detailed interplay among them remains elusive. Here we propose a mathematical model, which explicitly considers the interplay. The allostery in KaiC is here modeled to be unidirectional from C2 to C1. We demonstrate that the unidirectional allostery is sufficient for the circadian rhythm by showing the quantitative reproducibility of various experimental data, including temperature dependence of both phosphorylation oscillation and ATPase activity. Based on the present model, we further discuss possible functional roles of the unidirectional allostery particularly in the period robustness against both protein concentration and temperature.

biophysics