次田皓の足跡～分子生物学からプロテオミクスへ～

抄録

Prof. Akira Tsugita deceased in May 2007. He made a number of invaluable contributions to bioscience. We would like to recall his footsteps from the dawn of molecular biology to the contemporary genomics and proteomics. No sooner he earned doctorate in 1958 under Prof. S. Akabori, Osaka Univ., than Tsugita (title omitted hereafter) visited Prof. H. Fraenkel-Conrat, Univ. of Calif., Barkeley, and made complete amino acid sequencing of TMV coat protein, the world second achievement next to Sanger's insulin. From amino acid changes in protein sequence of mutant TMV and later T4 phage, he shed light on genetic informtion transfer and coding. In 1961, upon returning to Osaka, Tsugita developed his academic career on the background of protein chemistry, beginning as Researchfellow for Prof. Akabori, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka Univ., and promoted to full Prof., Osaka Univ. Med. School and spent productive period of time as Dir., Research Institute for Molecular Genetics of the same campus. Between 1972 and '78, while visiting Biozentrum, Univ. of Basel, Switzerland, he discovered a proteinase specific to HIV, which led to a remedy for AIDS, blocking viral maturation by inhibiting the enzyme. In 1978, he was appointed to Member and Prof., EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany and made very important contribution, that is, rapid amino acid analysis. In 1985, he returned back to Japan to take a position of Prof., Science University of Tokyo, meanwhile he organized international meeting of rice genome in Okayama, helped by Drs. Y. Nozu, K. Higo and myself. This triggered international collaboration of rice science research with Asian and Oceanian countries. He also contributed to establish a highly sensitive determination method for N-terminal amino acid of protein. Another important contribution is C-terminal amino acid determination, which is under way for practical use. A. Tsugita organized the 15th International Meeting in Tsukuba serving as Vice President of CODATA as a representative of Japan from 1998 to 2002. Together with Prof. K. Nakamura, he joined Human Proteomics Organization (HUPO) as organizing member of the Committee and participated in the start of Japanese HUPO (JHUPO).
The great footsteps Akira Tsugita left behind will definitely serve as strong impacts for the following generation in the 21st Century, and contribute to ever-growing science, for the welfare of humankind.