Laboratory of Biomolecular Machine Design
Advanced ICT Research Institute
Guest Associate Professor

Ken’ya FURUTA

furutak

URL:http://www.nict.go.jp/frontier/seitai/
Biomolecular motors aremolecular machines that produce
various "movements" of livingorganisms. The most importantfunction of these machines is toreliably "move in one direction" in
the nanoscale world that isgoverned by thermal fluctuation.
However, the basic mechanism of
this function is still unclear.
Focusing on biomolecular motors,
kinesin and dynein, we areinterested in the mechanism ofenergy conversion―themechanism by which thesemachines produce unidirectionalmotion, and the mechanism ofdetermining the force anddirection of motion. We are alsointerested in the properties of
their collective dynamics and theproperties in the intracellularenvironment. For applicationoriented research, we are working
on the design and creation of newmolecular machines that areredesigned with reference tonaturally occurring molecularmachines. We are now developing
autonomous micro-robots that
implement computational functions
and memory by combining thesemachines.
Design principles of biomolecularmotorsDesign and control of collectivedynamics
Individual molecular motors cannot explain
many biological phenomena. It is known that
there is a complex chain of events that occurs
between the layers, for example, molecules,teams of molecules, organelles, cells, andindividuals. This chain organizes the disparate
movements into orchestrated ones which arethen fed back to each layer of the hierarchy.
However, the question of how these layers
are linked remains unclear. We believe this is
the key to understanding how organisms aredesigned. We are creating experimentally
accessible model systems using DNAnanostructures and other biological materials
to explore such collective dynamics (Fig. 2).

Figure 1. Protein engineering to create reversible
molecular motors (Furuta et al., Nat Nanotech 2017).

Design of autonomous micro-robots
The three key elements of a robot are
sensors, processors, and actuators. Cells areequipped with these elements and can beviewed as micro-robots that moveautonomously. We would like to understandthe mechanisms by which cells remember
information, make decisions based on theinformation, through a synthetic biology
approach―the creation of such micro-robots
by assembling structures using biologicalmaterials and self-assembling techniques(Figure 3). To accomplish this, we use DNA
nanostructures with excellent controllability.
We have also built our own instruments
such as microscopes and optical tweezers,
control and analysis software, and basic
experimental apparatuses, using machine
tools and 3D printers. We also built a highthroughput research environment with theaid of pipetting robots and automatedmicroscopes.

In an environment governed by thermal
fluctuations, it seems difficult for a proteinto move unidirectionally. In addition toanalyzing existing biomolecular motors, weare trying to establish a constructive
approach by combining simple domains
into a new biomolecular motor prototype
and by observing how it behaves (Fig. 1).

Figure 3. Example of an autonomous micro-robot with ahierarchical structure, which is our goal (Furuta et al., Curr
Opin Biotechnol 2017).

The aims of our research will not berealized by methods in one particularfield alone but requires thecombination of methods of diverse
fields. When we combine different
materials or ideas into one, naturesometimes presents us with hints forsolving mysteries that could not be
solved within the conventionalframework. The moment when werealize these hints is the most
exciting part of such a research.

Advanced ICT Research Institute, National
Institute of Information and Communications
Technology, 588-2, Iwaoka, Nishi-ku, Kobe,Hyogo, 651-2492, Japan
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of two types ofnanomachines sorting two different cargos on a Yshaped DNA nanotube (Ibusuki et al, Science 2022).

TEL: +81-78-969-2214
FAX : +81-78-969-2239
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