A research team led by Lecturer Hiroshi Ueno and Professor Hiroyuki Noji from the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, in collaboration with Professor Takeshi Murata from the Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, and Professor Toshiya Senda and Associate Professor Naruhiko Adachi (currently Associate Professor at the Life Science Center for Survival Dynamics, Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance (TARA), University of Tsukuba) from the Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), has successfully engineered an ATP synthase—an enzyme responsible for producing ATP, a universal energy carrier essential for all living organisms—with an energy transduction capability surpassing that of any naturally occurring counterpart reported to date. The redesigned ATP synthase was shown to synthesize ATP even under extremely low proton motive force—a condition in which natural enzymes typically fail to function. This breakthrough was achieved by introducing a novel molecular design: increasing the number of proton channels in the enzyme from one to as many as three. This is the first report worldwide to realize such a design. The study provides a new perspective on the mechanisms of bioenergetic conversion and lays a foundation for future applications in cellular engineering and bio-manufacturing.
Papers
Journal: Nature Communications
Title: Engineering of ATP synthase for enhancement of proton-to-ATP ratio
Authors: Hiroshi Ueno*, Kiyoto Yasuda, Norie Hamaguchi-Suzuki, Riku Marui, Naruhiko Adachi, Toshiya Senda, Takeshi Murata, and Hiroyuki Noji