Seibutsu Butsuri
Online ISSN : 1347-4219
Print ISSN : 0582-4052
ISSN-L : 0582-4052
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Volume 50, Issue 2
Issue 288
Displaying 1-20 of 20 articles from this issue
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Perspective
Feature Articles Japanese Biophysics
Overview
  • Structure Basis for an Subunit Interaction of Influenza Virus RNA Polymerase for Drug Design
    Sam-Yong PARK
    2010 Volume 50 Issue 2 Pages 074-079
    Published: 2010
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2142/biophys.50.074
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Influenza A virus is a major human and animal pathogen with the potential to cause catastrophic loss of life. Influenza virus reproduces rapidly, mutates frequently, and occasionally crosses species barriers. The recent emergence of swine-origin influenza H1N1 and avian influenza related to highly pathogenic forms of the human virus has highlighted the urgent need for new effective treatments. I describe two crystal structures of complexes made by fragments of PA and PB1, and PB1 and PB2. These novel interfaces are surprisingly small, yet they play a crucial role in regulating the 250 kDa polymerase complex, and are completely conserved among swine, avian and human influenza viruses. Given their importance to viral replication and strict conservation, the PA/PB1 and PB1/PB2 interfaces appear to be promising targets for novel anti-influenza drugs of use against all strains of influenza A virus. It is hoped that the structures presented here will assist the search for such compounds.
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Review
  • Imaging Mass Spectrometry Unravels the Mystery of Life
    Kenji OHATA, Yoshiyuki KONISHI, Mitsutoshi SETOU
    2010 Volume 50 Issue 2 Pages 080-083
    Published: 2010
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2142/biophys.50.080
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) visualizes the distribution of a wide range of biomolecules in cells and tissue sections. IMS can analyze a variety of biomolecules including unexpected metabolites, without labels in a non-targeted way. We developed AP-MALDI (atmospheric pressure matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization) which is equipped with an atmospheric pressure ion-source chamber. It allows us to analyze flesh samples with minimal loss of intrinsic water or volatile compounds.
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  • Cell Assembly Underlying Information Coding in the Brain
    Yoshio SAKURAI
    2010 Volume 50 Issue 2 Pages 084-087
    Published: 2010
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2010
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2142/biophys.50.084
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    We introduce the original and present concepts of cell assembly in the working brain and discuss the problem of dynamic size of it. A local cell assembly consisting of closely neighboring neurons was especially difficult to be detected because of spike overlapping of neighboring neurons. We developed a unique technique of spike-sorting that employed independent component analysis and showed that most of closely neighboring neurons in the monkey prefrontal cortex had dynamic and sharp synchrony of firing reflecting local cell assemblies. We propose that real features of cell assemblies could contribute to development of brain-machine interfaces and neuro-rehabilitation.
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Topics
Topics (Young Scientist Series)
Salon
Activity of Regional Branch
Young Voice
Letters from Abroad
Promenade along Protein 3D Structures
Technical term
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