Gas Sensing in Cells

Gas molecules such as O₂, NO, CO and ethylene are present in the environment and are endogenously (enzymatically) produced to act as signalling molecules in biological systems, including the regulation of metabolic networks, chemotaxis, circadian rhythms, mammalian hypoxia responses, and plant ethylene responses by transcriptional, translational, or post translational control. Sensing these gas molecules is the first step in their acting as signalling molecules. When a sensor domain/protein senses an external signal, intra- and inter-molecular signal transductions take place to regulate the biological function of a regulatory domain/protein such as DNA-binding, enzymatic activity, or protein–protein interaction. Interaction between gas molecules and sensor proteins is essential for recognition of gas molecules. Metal-containing prosthetic groups such as haem, iron–sulfur clusters, and non-haem iron centres are widely used. As these metal-containing centres are good spectroscopic probes, detail characterizations have utilized spectroscopic techniques along with X-ray crystallography.
Covering both the signalling and sensing of gaseous molecules, this book provides the first comprehensive overview of gas sensor proteins in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This book will be particularly interesting to postgraduates and researchers in biochemistry, molecular biology and metallobiology.

Professor Shigatoshi Aono received a Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1987. After working as a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Georgia, he was an Assistant Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and then an Associate Professor at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology from 1994. He is now a Professor at the Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience & Institute for Molecular Science, since 2002. His research focuses on the heme-based gas sensor proteins such as CO sensor (CooA) and O2 sensors (HemAT, Aer2, and HemDGC). He has pioneered the establishment of CO as a signaling molecule for bacterial transcriptional regulation.
Dr. Rui Wang has been Vice-President of Research of Laurentian University since January of 2015. From 2004 to 2014, Dr. Wang served as the Vice President of Research firstly, and then as Vice President of Research, Economic Development and Innovation at Lakehead University. Dr. Wang came to Lakehead from the University of Saskatchewan, where he was a Professor of Physiology and leader of both the Cardiovascular Research Group and the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Network. Dr. Wang is an international leader in the study of the metabolism and physiological functions of a group of small molecules of gas, known as gasotransmitters, a category which includes nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and ammonia. Dr. Wang's achievements have been recognized with numerous national and international honors and awards.