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Energy Structural Life Science Lab
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The lab uses NMR to uncover the workings of biomolecules and woody biomass.
AboutAbout the lab
Revealing function from molecular shape.
The Energy Structural Life Science Lab (Katahira Lab) elucidates how proteins and functional RNAs involved in disease and in the pluripotency of neural cells work, based on the three-dimensional structures of the molecules.
The lab also analyzes the structure and dynamics of inedible woody biomass and is developing new methods to extract useful substances that can serve as raw materials for bioenergy and products.
Three-dimensional structures are determined using three nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers.
Key terms
- NMR
- A method that uses the properties of atomic nuclei in a strong magnetic field to examine the structure and motion of molecules
- RNA aptamer
- A short RNA selected to bind strongly to a specific molecule
- in-cell NMR
- A method of measuring molecules inside living cells directly by NMR
NewsLab news
A paper on the opening and closing of DNA triplex base pairs in a molecularly crowded environment was published in FEBS J.
A paper on high ethanol production by yeast under conditions containing acetic acid was published.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the three-dimensional structures of disease-related proteins and functional RNAs, as well as the conversion of woody biomass.
*Illustrative imageEnzymatic conversion of woody biomass
The lab analyzes cellulose- and lignin-degrading enzymes produced by wood-decay fungi using structural life science, and develops techniques to follow the degradation of woody biomass by solution NMR, aiming for next-generation biorefineries.
*Illustrative imageRNA that captures prions
The lab determined by NMR the three-dimensional structure of an RNA aptamer that binds strongly to the prion protein, revealed its unique quadruplex structure and the mechanism of its high binding affinity, and also demonstrated anti-prion-disease activity in living cells.
*Illustrative imageAPOBEC3G, an anti-HIV protein
The lab determined by NMR the three-dimensional structure of APOBEC3G, a human protein that damages the HIV genome, and its interaction with target DNA, and succeeded for the first time in the world in following that reaction in real time.
*Illustrative imageNucleic acids inside living cells
Using in-cell NMR, the lab showed that special nucleic acid structures form inside living human cells, and also found that structures such as guanine quadruplexes open more frequently than in a test tube.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorMasato Katahira
- Associate ProfessorTakashi Nagata
- Assistant ProfessorYudai Yamaoki
- Associate ProfessorKeiko Kondo
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Wood decay mushrooms” Sindugab / CC0 (cropped)
- Enzymatic conversion of woody biomass: “Fig 1 lignin dissembly” Walongorn / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- RNA that captures prions: “Major prion protein” PoopAcidMaker / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- APOBEC3G, an anti-HIV protein: “Protein APOBEC3G PDB 2JYW” Pleiotrope / Public domain (cropped)
- Nucleic acids inside living cells: “G-quadruplex (G4) structure” Harris LM, Merrick CJ / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biomolecular Organization Chemistry Lab): “DNA nanostructures” (Images were kindly provided by Thomas H. LaBean and Hao Yan.) / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Molecular Nanoengineering Lab): “B-doped graphene nanoribons” Shigeki Kawai et al. / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Functional Properties Engineering Lab): “Types of Carbon Nanotubes” User Mstroeck on en.wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Green Catalysis and Chemical Conversion Lab): “Catalyst for hydrogenation ( )” Максим Фомич / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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