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Faculty Takanori Otomo Education Research Focus Research in the Otomo laboratory is focused on elucidation of the structural and functional basis of proteins involved in the autophagic pathway. The long-term objective is to understand how the coordinated assembly of the proteins leads to formation of the key organelle called autophagosome. We employ structural and biochemical methods to study the physical basis, and supplement the resulting understanding with functional studies based on biochemistry, cell biology and genetics. Autophagy is a rising field in the current biology. It is the cellular bulk degradation-recycling mechanism that is conserved among the eukaryotes, and is highly related to human health and diseases. In the pathway, autophagosomes, which are made of double lipid bilayers and contain cargos, appear in cytoplasm and fuse with lysosome/vacuole for degradation. Innovative ideas and experiments are essential for a description of the mechanisms of the double-membrane vesicle formation, which would bring new concepts in membrane biology, and is also critical for understanding the biogenesis of autophagosomes, cargo selection rules, relationships with other organelles, and regulation of the pathway. For structural determination, we use two complementary high-resolution methods: X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. NMR is also used as a powerful tool to investigate molecular interactions and dynamics. Selected References |
