【Labs spotlight】 Sakurai Laboratory（until Mar. 2020）

The Department has a variety of laboratories for Human Centered Science and Biomedical Engineering, in which cutting-edge innovative research is being undertaken not only in basic science and engineering but also in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, and multidisciplinary sciences.

This "Spotlight" series features a laboratory from the Department and introduces you to the laboratory's research projects and outcomes. This time we focus on Sakurai Laboratory.

※Professor Sakurai was retired on March 31, 2020.

Research interest

1. 1.Elucidation of the structure-function relationships of various proteins (transporter, photoreceptor, etc.) using the first principle computer simulations including QM, MD and QM/MM calculations.
2. 2.Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of anhydrobiosis (life without water) using various physico-chemical experiments and computer simulations, and application of its results to energy-free long-term biopreservation.

Selected publications

2016

• [1] Tadaomi Furuta, Yukiko Sato, Minoru Sakurai, Structural Dynamics of the Heterodimeric ABC Transporter TM287/288 Induced by ATP and Substrate Binding, Biochemistry, 55(48), 6730-6738 (2016) doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.6b00947
• [2] Takao Furuki, Takahiro Watanabe, Tadaomi Furuta, Kiyoshi Takano, Ryo Shirakashi, Minoru Sakurai, The dry preservation of giant vesicles using a Group 3 LEA protein model peptide and its molecular mechanism, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 89(12), 1493-1499 (2016) doi: 10.1246/bcsj.20160261
• [3] Wei-Lin Hsu, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, ATP hydrolysis mechanism in a maltose transporter explored by QM/MM metadynamics simulation, J. Phys. Chem. B, 120(43), 11102-11112 (2016) doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b07332
• [4] Takao Furuki, Minoru Sakurai, Group 3 LEA protein model peptides protect enzymes against desiccation stress, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1864(9), 1237-1243 (2016) doi: 10.1016/j.bbapap.2016.04.012
• [5] Hiroshi C. Watanabe, Misa Banno, Minoru Sakurai, An adaptive quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method for infrared spectrum of water: Incorporation of the quantum effect between solute and solvent, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 18(10), 7318-7333 (2016) doi: 10.1039/C5CP07136D
• [6] Honami Sakaizwa, Hiroshi C. Watanabe, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, Thermal fluctuations enable rapid protein-protein associations in aqueous solution by lowering the reaction barrier, Chem. Phys. Lett., 643, 114-118 (2016) doi: 10.1016/j.cplett.2015.11.014
• [7] Takao Furuki, Minoru Sakurai, Protective effect of group3 LEA model peptides on enzymes during desiccation, Cryobiol. Cryotech., 62(1), 47-51 (2016)
• [8] Ryohei Yamaguchi, Takao Furuki, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, Physicochemical properties of non-repeat sequences in a G3LEA protein PvLEA4, Cryobiol. Cryotech., 62(2), 133-137 (2016)
• [9] Makoto Usui, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, Computational study on the molecular mechanism of the desiccation tolerance induced by G3LEA proteins, Cryobiol. Cryotech., 62(2), 127-131 (2016)
• [10] Tadaomi Furuta, Tomohiro Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Kato, Minoru Sakurai, Mechanism for the transport of ABC transporters by experimental and simulation studies, Seibutsu Busturi, 56(1), 005-008 (2016) doi: 10.2142/biophys.56.005

2015

• [1] Wei-Lin Hsu, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, Analysis of the free energy landscapes for the open-closing dynamics of the maltose transporter ATPase MalK2 using enhanced sampling MD simulation, J. Phys. Chem. B, 119(30), 9717-9725 (2015) doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b05432
• [2] Misa Banno, Hiroshi C. Watanabe, Tadaomi Furuta, Minoru Sakurai, Analysis of free energy and structural change of G3LEA peptide in the binding process to a POPC bilayer, Cryobiol. Cryotech., 61(2), 105-109 (2015)
• [3] Tetsuro Yamaguchi, Rie Hatanaka, Takahiro Kikawada, Minoru Sakurai, Study on the anti-aggregation function of Group 3 LEA peptide using an in vivo assay system for intracellular amyloidogenesis, Cryobiol. Cryotech., 61(2), 111-115 (2015)

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