セミナー情報

Mg2+ is the most abundant divalent cation in living organisms and an essential element for numerous physiological activities, such as catalysis by hundreds of enzymes, cell membrane stabilization, and ATP utilization. Accordingly, abnormalities in Mg2+ homeostasis are associated with various diseases, including diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, Mg2+ homeostasis is a crucial mechanism for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic species, and Mg2+ channels and transporters play a central role in Mg2+ homeostasis. Among Mg2+ channel proteins, MgtE is a widely distributed Mg2+ channel in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The bacterial MgtE channels are highly selective for Mg2+, and are involved in the maintenance of the intracellular Mg2+ concentration. Likewise, the eukaryotic homologs of MgtE, the SLC41 family proteins also permeate Mg2+ ions and are implicated in Mg2+ homeostasis. Several mutations in the SLC41 genes are related to Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and nephronophthisis. In this seminar, I will talk about the progress of the structural biology of the MgtE Mg2+ channel for the past ten years【1-4】, together with our recent results on other ion channels.

 【1】Hattori et al., Nature, 448(7157):1072-5. (2007)
 【2】Hattori et al., EMBO J, 28(22):3602-12. (2009)
 【3】Takeda et al., Nat Commun., 5:5374 (2014)
 【4】Tomita et al., Nat Commun., 8(1):148. (2017)