Reconstitution of Motor Proteins through Molecular Assembly
Authors: Jia Yi , Xuan Mingjun , Feng Xiyun , Duan Li , Li Jieling , Li Junbai 
Published: November 2019

What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group?

The most favorite and original chemistry developed in my research group is about the reconstitution of motor proteins in artificially designed and assembled units. It is based on the molecular assembly technique, but the method is different from the conventional approach. We have developed a Schiff base layer‐by‐layer assembly, which has been demonstrated to be particularly useful to assemble systems from biological molecules. With this strategy, we are able to artificially construct different types of large biological units with structures and functions of chloroplasts and mitochondria. Thus we can mimick biological activities similar to those of living system. We have spent nearly two decades to develop this method, which is now well accepted worldwide.

How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers?

I get into this specific field starting at the 200th Xiangshan conference on biomembrane in 2003. The topic of this meeting was about biological membranes. On this meeting, Prof. Fuyu Yang mentioned and introduced for the first time about the FoF1‐ATPase as a rotated motor protein. For their recognition of the hydrolysis mechanism on FoF1‐ATPas, three scientists, Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker, Jens C. Skou had received the Nobel Price on Chemistry in 1997. When I attended the 2003 Xiangshan meeting, I heard for the first time about the structure and the function of this biological motor. I was fascinated and thought that this protein could be used to artificially assemble a more complicated system, in essence a simplified arrangement of the natural protein complex.

In 2004, I started to have one Ph.D student working on this topic. It cost us quite some time and effort to extract and purify this protein from plants. This biotechnology effort was hard work for us chemists. In the end，it took us almost three years to work this out and to finally produce sufficiently motor proteins including the linear motors, kinesins in adequate amount. Based on the proper characterization of FoF1‐ATPas, we finally managed to successfully reconstitute it into a biological membrane in a larger size as the first biomimetic system.

How do you supervise your students?

First of all, I give the students a lot of autonomy to select a certain topic within a general work frame. For them this is quite motivating, because they work on what they selected based on their own interests. Normally this approach works well. Only occasionally the direction of of his/her study has to be corrected directly by myself.

What is the most important personality for scientific research?

The most important personality for scientific research to me is the “persistence” and “patience” in face of the long duration and often frustrating challenges typically for scientific work.

What's your hobbies? What's your favorite book(s)?

I am particularly interested in Architecture and Painting. I also enjoy photography, films and classical music. My favorite books are Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) and Les Miséables.

How do you keep balance between research and family?

I do take care of my family very much, especially the education of my two daughters. But I never put too much pressure on their studies. They study well and they also like sports, music, and films. They can play several different musical instruments. During the summer holidays, I often travel around with my family. I consider it as quite important to experience and recognize the world with social activities.

Who influences you mostly in your life?

My father and my brother. From my father I have learned the ability to solve various problems in daily life. My brother triggered my interest in science.

What is your favorite journal(s)?

No particular journals! But I do like those journals, which focus more on publishing original work.

Could you please give us some advices on improving Chinese Journal of Chemistry?

I am very pleased to accept CJC's interview. I do have the impression that this journal is getting better and better. It improves rapidly and is well recognized by our co‐workers. I personally also value it as an international journal in our research area. I am convinced that publishing on some featured topic or some featured articles will no doubt increase the influence of the journal.

Activities in the living organisms are propelled by protein‐style machines named molecular motors (or motor proteins). Molecular motors, such as myosin, kinesin, dynein, and ATPase, are abundant in living cells, and play crucial roles in the intracellular transportation and energy conversion. The vital functions and high‐efficient energy conversion of these molecular motors enable substantial researches on their reconstitution in vitro. In this review, we will summarize the recent progresses on the biomimetic assembly of biomolecular motors (FoF1‐ATPase and kinesin) and introduce the strategies used for the manipulation of their functions.