Kiyoshi Nagai
Japanese structural biologist (1949–2019)
This article is about the Japanese biologist. For the Japanese manga artist, see
Go Nagai .
Kiyoshi Nagai FRS (June 25, 1949 – September 27, 2019) was a Japanese structural biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, UK. He was known for his work on the mechanism of RNA splicing and structures of the spliceosome .
Education
Nagai studied at Osaka University and earned a Doctor of Philosophy under the supervision of Hideki Morimoto working on the allosteric effect in hemoglobin .[ 1]
Career and research
In 1981 Nagai moved to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology where he worked as a post-doc with Max Perutz on overproduction of eukaryotic proteins in E. coli .[ 1] He produced recombinant hemoglobin and studied its properties and evolution by crystallography and mutagenesis.[ 2] [ 3] In 1987 he became a tenured group leader at the LMB and was joint head of the Division of Structural Studies from 2000 to 2010. He was appointed fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge in 1993.[ 4]
In 1990 his group solved the first structure of an RRM (RNA recognition motif) protein, U1A ,[ 5] and in 1994 showed how it specifically binds RNA.[ 6] Subsequent work involved crystallographic studies of other components of the spliceosome , a large macromolecular machine that catalyses RNA splicing in eukaryotes , including components of the U2 snRNP [ 7] and the Sm proteins[ 8] and culminating in the crystal structures of the full U1 snRNP [ 9] [ 10] and the U5 snRNP components Prp8 [ 11] and Brr2.[ 12]
From 2014, Nagai's group used cryo-electron microscopy to study the spliceosome. Structures of the U5.U4/U6 tri-snRNP gave the first structural insights into the assembly of the spliceosome.[ 13] [ 14] Nagai's subsequent structures of spliceosomes in various stages of assembly and catalysis[ 15] [ 16] combined with structures from the groups of Reinhard Lührmann , Yigong Shi and others have provided crucial insight into the catalytic mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing.
Awards
References
^ a b Galej, Wojciech P.; Toor, Navtej; Newman, Andrew J.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2018-04-25). "Molecular Mechanism and Evolution of Nuclear Pre-mRNA and Group II Intron Splicing: Insights from Cryo-Electron Microscopy Structures". Chemical Reviews . 118 (8): 4156–4176. doi :10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00499 . ISSN 1520-6890 . PMID 29377672 .
^ Nagai, K.; Thøgersen, H. C. (1984). "Generation of beta-globin by sequence-specific proteolysis of a hybrid protein produced in Escherichia coli". Nature . 309 (5971): 810–812. Bibcode :1984Natur.309..810N . doi :10.1038/309810a0 . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 6330564 . S2CID 4307749 .
^ Nagai, K.; Perutz, M. F.; Poyart, C. (1985). "Oxygen binding properties of human mutant hemoglobins synthesized in Escherichia coli" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 82 (21): 7252–7255. Bibcode :1985PNAS...82.7252N . doi :10.1073/pnas.82.21.7252 . ISSN 0027-8424 . PMC 390827 . PMID 3903751 .
^ "Master & fellows | www.darwin.cam.ac.uk" . www.darwin.cam.ac.uk . Retrieved 2018-12-09 .
^ Nagai, K.; Oubridge, C.; Jessen, T. H.; Li, J.; Evans, P. R. (1990-12-06). "Crystal structure of the RNA-binding domain of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein A". Nature . 348 (6301): 515–520. Bibcode :1990Natur.348..515N . doi :10.1038/348515a0 . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 2147232 . S2CID 4336326 .
^ Oubridge, C.; Ito, N.; Evans, P. R.; Teo, C. H.; Nagai, K. (1994-12-01). "Crystal structure at 1.92 A resolution of the RNA-binding domain of the U1A spliceosomal protein complexed with an RNA hairpin". Nature . 372 (6505): 432–438. Bibcode :1994Natur.372..432O . doi :10.1038/372432a0 . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 7984237 . S2CID 9404488 .
^ Price, S. R.; Evans, P. R.; Nagai, K. (1998-08-13). "Crystal structure of the spliceosomal U2B"-U2A' protein complex bound to a fragment of U2 small nuclear RNA". Nature . 394 (6694): 645–650. Bibcode :1998Natur.394..645P . doi :10.1038/29234 . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 9716128 . S2CID 204999419 .
^ Kambach, C.; Walke, S.; Young, R.; Avis, J. M.; de la Fortelle, E.; Raker, V. A.; Lührmann, R.; Li, J.; Nagai, K. (1999-02-05). "Crystal structures of two Sm protein complexes and their implications for the assembly of the spliceosomal snRNPs" . Cell . 96 (3): 375–387. doi :10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80550-4 . ISSN 0092-8674 . PMID 10025403 . S2CID 17379935 .
^ Pomeranz Krummel, Daniel A.; Oubridge, Chris; Leung, Adelaine K. W.; Li, Jade; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2009-03-26). "Crystal structure of human spliceosomal U1 snRNP at 5.5 A resolution" . Nature . 458 (7237): 475–480. Bibcode :2009Natur.458..475P . doi :10.1038/nature07851 . ISSN 1476-4687 . PMC 2673513 . PMID 19325628 .
^ Kondo, Yasushi; Oubridge, Chris; van Roon, Anne-Marie M.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2015-01-02). "Crystal structure of human U1 snRNP, a small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle, reveals the mechanism of 5' splice site recognition" . eLife . 4 . doi :10.7554/eLife.04986 . ISSN 2050-084X . PMC 4383343 . PMID 25555158 .
^ Galej, Wojciech P.; Oubridge, Chris; Newman, Andrew J.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2013-01-31). "Crystal structure of Prp8 reveals active site cavity of the spliceosome" . Nature . 493 (7434): 638–643. Bibcode :2013Natur.493..638G . doi :10.1038/nature11843 . ISSN 1476-4687 . PMC 3672837 . PMID 23354046 .
^ Nguyen, Thi Hoang Duong; Li, Jade; Galej, Wojciech P.; Oshikane, Hiroyuki; Newman, Andrew J.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2013-06-04). "Structural basis of Brr2-Prp8 interactions and implications for U5 snRNP biogenesis and the spliceosome active site" . Structure . 21 (6): 910–919. doi :10.1016/j.str.2013.04.017 . ISSN 1878-4186 . PMC 3677097 . PMID 23727230 .
^ Nguyen, Thi Hoang Duong; Galej, Wojciech P.; Bai, Xiao-chen; Savva, Christos G.; Newman, Andrew J.; Scheres, Sjors H. W.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2015-07-02). "The architecture of the spliceosomal U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP" . Nature . 523 (7558): 47–52. Bibcode :2015Natur.523...47N . doi :10.1038/nature14548 . ISSN 1476-4687 . PMC 4536768 . PMID 26106855 .
^ Nguyen, Thi Hoang Duong; Galej, Wojciech P.; Bai, Xiao-Chen; Oubridge, Chris; Newman, Andrew J.; Scheres, Sjors H. W.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2016-02-18). "Cryo-EM structure of the yeast U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP at 3.7 Å resolution" . Nature . 530 (7590): 298–302. Bibcode :2016Natur.530..298N . doi :10.1038/nature16940 . ISSN 1476-4687 . PMC 4762201 . PMID 26829225 .
^ Fica, Sebastian M.; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2017-10-05). "Cryo-electron microscopy snapshots of the spliceosome: structural insights into a dynamic ribonucleoprotein machine" . Nature Structural & Molecular Biology . 24 (10): 791–799. doi :10.1038/nsmb.3463 . ISSN 1545-9985 . PMC 6386135 . PMID 28981077 .
^ Scheres, Sjors Hw; Nagai, Kiyoshi (2017). "CryoEM structures of spliceosomal complexes reveal the molecular mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing". Current Opinion in Structural Biology . 46 : 130–139. doi :10.1016/j.sbi.2017.08.001 . ISSN 1879-033X . PMID 28888105 .
^ "Kiyoshi Nagai | Royal Society" . royalsociety.org . Retrieved 2018-12-09 .
^ Newman, Andy; Luisi, Ben (2022). "Kiyoshi Nagai. 25 June 1949—27 September 2019" . Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 72 : 275–291. doi :10.1098/rsbm.2021.0043 . S2CID 247453651 .
^ "Find people in the EMBO Communities" . people.embo.org . Retrieved 2018-12-09 .
^ Nagai, K.; Muto, Y.; Pomeranz Krummel, D. A.; Kambach, C.; Ignjatovic, T.; Walke, S.; Kuglstatter, A. (2001). "Structure and assembly of the spliceosomal snRNPs. Novartis Medal Lecture". Biochemical Society Transactions . 29 (Pt 2): 15–26. doi :10.1042/bst0290015 . ISSN 0300-5127 . PMID 11356120 .