Research theme: Vision, G protein-coupled receptor, photophysiology

Similar proteins with different functions are often expressed in cells, and these proteins may have slightly different properties depending on the function of each cell. This is thought to be the result of protein molecular evolution during the long evolution of living organisms, optimized for each cell. In our laboratory, we try to understand the essence of proteins by developing research that coordinately combines the three pillars of protein molecular evolution, physiological function, and molecular mechanism.

For this purpose, we are focusing on the photoreceptive function of animals as a model system. Many animals have photoreceptor cells in addition to visual cells, and it is thought that many of the photoreceptor proteins in all these cells have evolved from the same ancestry. Focusing on rhodopsin, which is a photoreceptor protein of the animal retina, we analyze the molecular basis of diversity of photoreceptive functions by making full use of spectroscopic, biochemical, molecular biology, and electrophysiology methods.