膜タンパク質を組み込んだ人工細胞膜センサ

抄録

Cell membrane consists of membrane proteins reconstituted in a lipid bilayer membrane. Recently, membrane proteins, such as ion channels and receptors, have attracted increasing attention as a sensor element because of their high sensitivity and selectivity. In this report, we introduce recent development of the sensor devices utilizing membrane proteins embedded in artificially produced lipid bilayers, i.e., artificial cell membrane sensors. First, we describe a method suitable for formation of a lipid bilayer in a microdevice. Then, the fundamental mechanism and applications of the sensors with nanopore proteins are presented, together with their technical advancement. Finally, we report on an odorant sensor system utilizing an insect olfactory receptor, and present a demonstration of the sensor responding to an odorant by combining with a robot.