Yoshito Kaziro

Yoshito Kaziro (April 18, 1929 – June 29, 2011) was a Japanese biochemical and medical scientist who performed research on the effects and mechanisms of ATP and GTP driven conformational changes in enzymes and intracellular signaling pathways for over 50 years. He is well-known for his research on various signal transduction pathways involving GTP-binding proteins and the mechanism for biotin dependent carboxylation reactions of Coenzyme A (CoA) proteins. Afterwards, Kaziro attended the University of Tokyo, graduating in March 1954 from the Faculty of Medicine. Their combined work was later cited in the textbook “The Enzyme” by Malcolm Dixon, published in 1964. His research on the conformational change of proteins resulting from the energy release of GTP hydrolysis was extended to subsequent research on intracellular signal transduction and became widely accepted among world-wide researchers. Additionally, Kaziro conducted research on a human homologue of apoptosis-associated tyrosine kinase (AATYK) and identified isoforms that are novel Cdk5/p35-bnding proteins involved with the cell cycle progression.

In April 2000, Kaziro retired from the TIT and became the Vice President of Sanyo Gakuen University, located in his birth town of Okayama, Japan. By producing a crystallized pig heart propionyl carboxylase, Kaziro and his team were able to observe the effects of biotin and sulfhydryl binding reagents on the enzyme’s function. The research team proposed an overall mechanism involving the exchange of ATP for ADP and Pi resulting in the attachment of CO2 to the propionyl carboxylase enzyme. The attachment of CO2 to the enzyme catalyzed the reaction of converting propionyl CoA to methylmalonyl CoA. Factor T is one of two complementary factors that are required for the elongation of peptide bonds on ribosomes within E. coli. Factor T divides into Tu and Ts components, where in the presence of GTP, a Tu-Ts complex will dissociated to Tu and Ts, and reassociate in the absence of guanine. G-CSF is a hormone-like glycoprotein that assists in regulating the cell proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells, or those blood stem cells that mature and differentiate into blood’s cellular components. Kaziro and his team detailed the association of protein elongation factors with GTP hydrolysis. Raf-1 cytoplasmic kinase enzyme that transmits proliferative and developmental signals from a cell’s plasma membrane to its cytosol and nucleus. Kaziro and his team identified a mutation of a glutamate residue located on the C-terminal of potassium inward rectifier channels. The research team concluded that the area of the mutation must be one of the determinants for controlling the ion gate opening for GIRKs and potassium inward rectifier channels. This mutation’s link to Andersen’s syndrome is its corresponding location to one of the prominent genetic causes for the syndrome.

Awards and society memberships Awards 1972 – 9th Matsunaga Prize 1980 – Takeda Medical Prize 1995 – Medal with Purple Ribbon 1999 – Japan Gakushiin Prize 2002 – Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 2002 – Member of Microbiology Academy, USA 2005 – Medal of Orders of the Sacred Treasure of Japan 2006 – Honorary member of Japanese Biochemical Society Memberships and Society Positions 1972 – 1976: Associate Editor for the Journal of Biochemistry 1974 – 1999: Member of the Symposium Committee for the Japanese Delegation of the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB) 1975 – 1983: Trustee of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists (FAOB) 1976 – 1999: Member of the Biochemical Research Committee of the Academic Council of Japan 1979 – 1983 and 1987-1992: Council Member of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan 1979 – 2011: Trustee of Sanyo Gakuen University 1983 – 1984: Vice President of the Japanese Biochemical Society 1984 – 1985: President of the Japanese Biochemical Society 1987 – 1995: Member of the Editorial Board for Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1987 – 1993: Member of the Editorial Board for Biochemistry (USA) 1987 – 2002: Member of the Editorial Board for Biochimie (France) 1989 – 2002: Member of the Editorial Board for J. Biology Chemistry (USA) 1992 – 2011: President of Sanyo Gakuen University 2000 – 2011: Council member of the Takeda Science Foundation 2004 – 2011: Council member of the Tokyo Medical Research Foundation 2008 – 2011: Advisor of the Editorial Board with the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network