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Mukaiyama, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Mukaiyama, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Adenylate kinase 1 overexpression increases locomotor activity in medaka fish

Maintenance of the energy balance is indispensable for cell survival and function. Adenylate kinase (Ak) is a ubiquitous enzyme highly conserved among many organisms. Ak plays an essential role in energy regulation by maintaining adenine nucleotide homeostasis in cells. However, its role at the whole organism level, especially in animal behavior, remains unclear. Here, we established a model using medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) to examine the function of Ak in environmental adaptation. Medaka overexpressing the major Ak isoform Ak1 exhibited increased locomotor activity compared to that of the wild type. Interestingly, this increase was temperature dependent. Our findings suggest that cellular energy balance can modulate locomotor activity.

physiology

Elucidation of Master Allostery Essential for Circadian Clock Oscillation in Cyanobacteria

Spatio-temporal allostery is the source of complex but ordered biological phenomena. To identify the structural basis for allostery that drives the cyanobacterial circadian clock, we crystallized the clock protein KaiC in four distinct states, which cover a whole cycle of phosphor-transfer events at Ser431 and Thr432. The minimal set of allosteric events required for oscillatory nature is a bidirectional coupling between the coil-to-helix transition of the Ser431-dependent phospho-switch in the C-terminal domain of KaiC and ADP release from its N-terminal domain during ATPase cycle. An engineered KaiC-protein oscillator consisting of a minimal set of the identified master allosteric events exhibited mono-phosphorylation cycle of Ser431 with a temperature-compensated circadian period, providing design principles for simple post-translational biochemical circadian oscillators. One Sentence SummaryCoupling between a phospho-switch and KaiC ATPase-dependent nucleotide exchange drives the cyanobacterial circadian clock.

biophysics

Cross-scale Analysis of Temperature Compensation in the Cyanobacterial Circadian Clock System

Clock proteins maintain constant enzymatic activity regardless of temperature, even though thermal fluctuation is accelerated as temperature increases. We investigated temperature influences on the dynamics of KaiC, a temperature-compensated ATPase in the cyanobacterial circadian clock system, using quasielastic neutron scattering. The frequency of picosecond to sub-nanosecond incoherent local motions in KaiC was accelerated very slightly in a temperature-dependent manner. Our mutation studies revealed that internal motions of KaiC include several contributions of opposing temperature sensitivities. To take advantage of this balancing effect, the motional frequency of local dynamics in KaiC needs to exceed [~]0.3 ps-1. Some of the mutation sites may be in a pathway through which the motional frequency in the C-terminal domain of KaiC is fed back to the active site of ATPase in its N-terminal domain. The temperature-compensating ability at the dynamics level is likely crucial for circadian clock systems, into which the clock proteins are incorporated, to achieve reaction- or even system-level temperature compensation of the oscillation frequency.

biophysics