Curriculum Vitae

2020.1.1

Masahiro Okada, Ph.D., Professor
Affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Natural Products Chemistry
Department of Material and Life Chemistry, Kanagawa UniversityAddress
Office: 23-727-1, Laboratory: 23-726, Kanagawa University
3-27-1 Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, 221-8686, Japan
Tel: +81-45-481-5661, ext. 3853
Fax: +81-45-413-9770
E-mail: okada＠kanagawa-u.ac.jp
Career1974.4
1993.4-2000.3
2000.4-2006.3
2006.4-2011.3
2011.4-2015.3
2015.4-2017.5
2017.5-2018.3
2018.4-present

Born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Bachelor's degree and Master's degree
Laboratory of Natural Products Chemistry (P.I. Prof. Shosuke Yamamura),
Department of Chemistry/Graduate School of Sciences, Keio University
Doctor's degree and Research AssistantLaboratory of Bioactive Natural Product Chemistry (P.I. Prof. Youji Sakagami),
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University
Assistant Professor
Laboratory of Organic Chemistry (P.I. Prof. Minoru Ueda),
Graduate School of Sciences, Tohoku University
Lecturer and Associate Professor (P.I.)
College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University
Associate Professor
Laboratory of Natural Products Chemistry (P.I. Prof. Ikuro Abe),
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Environmental Science Center, The University of Tokyo
Professor (P.I.)
Laboratory of Bioactive Natural Products Chemistry,
Department of Material and Life Chemistry, Kanagawa UniversityAwards
2005.10 Young Scientist's Award in Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products(Oral presentation at the 47th Symposium)
2007.9 Young Scientist's Research Award in Natural Product Chemistry
2009.10 Young Scientist's Award in Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products(Poster presentation at the 51st Symposium)
2009.10 Tohoku branch, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry Awardfor Young Scientists
2010.3 Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry Award
for Young Scientists

ResearchStudies on "bioactive" natural products
1) Search, purification and structure determination
2) Chemical synthesis and structure-activity-relationship3) Biosynthesis machinery
4) Mode of action (Chemical biology)
Research Highlights:

Studies of peptides post-translationally isoprenylated at the tryptophan residue.
Proteins and peptides are biosynthesized through RNA translation, and RNA is produced throughDNA transcription. The plain proteins and peptides are generally inactive and frequently chemicallymodified via post-translational modification. I have identified a new post-translation modification ina peptide pheromone, namely post-translational isoprenylation of the tryptophan residue. We areinvestigating the activation mechanism, biological events, and universality of the modification.
Post-translational Isoprenylated Peptides at the Trp Residue

H 2NHN

O

H
N

H
N
H

O

O

H
N

N

O

N
H

O

HN

CONH2CO2H

CO2H
ComXRO-E-2 pheromone

HOH
HN

NH2HO
CO2H
HN
H

H 2NO

N

NO

H
N

NOO

ComXnatto pheromone

ON
H

NOOO
NH

HN

NO

CONH2ON
HOHN

HO2C
H2NOCOOHNNNHHONH CONH2O
NHO

CO2H
Kawaguchipeptin A

Publications list (selected)
1) K. Hirooka, S. Shioda, and M. Okada. Identification of critical residues for the catalytic activityof ComQ, a Bacillus prenylation enzyme for quorum sensing, by using a simple bioassay system.
Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 2020, 84, 347–357.
2) M. Okada, Y. Matsuda, T. Mitsuhashi, S. Hoshino, T. Mori, K. Nakagawa, Z. Quan, B. Qin, H.
Zhang, F. Hayashi, H. Kawaide, and I. Abe. Genome-Based Discovery of an UnprecedentedCyclization Mode in Fungal Sesterterpenoids Biosynthesis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 10011–10018.
3) S. Hayashi, S. Usami, Y. Nakamura, K. Ozaki, and M. Okada. Identification of a quorum sensing
pheromone posttranslationally farnesylated at the internal tryptophan residue from Bacillus subtilis
subsp. natto. Biosci Biotechnol. Biochem. 2015, 79, 1413–1417.
4) M. Okada. Post-translational isoprenylation of tryptophan. Biosci Biotechnol. Biochem. 2011, 75,1413–1417. [Award review]5) M. Okada, S. Ito, A. Matsubara, I. Iwakura, S. Egoshi, and M. Ueda. Total syntheses of coronatines
by exo-selective Diels-Alder reaction and their biological activities on stomatal opening. Org.
Biomol. Chem. 2009, 7, 3065–3073. [selected as inside front cover]6) M. Okada, I. Sato, S.J. Cho, H. Iwata, T. Nishio, D. Dubnau, and Y. Sakagami. Structure of theBacillus subtilis quorum-sensing peptide pheromone ComX. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2005, 1, 23–24.
[published as the 1st paper of the 1st issue]