Identifying the Bridge for Proteins to 17 Achieve Excellence ｜ －16 “I wish to contribute to science and answer basic but key questions to the best of my ability. Take our research on the protein bridges of chloroplasts for example: we spent seven years experimenting before finally discovering unknown things in nature bit by bit. Our understanding of nature is thus pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.” ‒Hsou-Min Li, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Molecular Biology As a result of seven years of unstinting efforts, scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biology identified the bridge that proteins use to cross the double-membrane envelope of chloroplasts, and named it TIC236. Their analyses of TIC236 further discovered that the structure of chloroplast protein import systems evolved from a protein secretion system of Gram-negative bacteria. These research results not only uncovered the missing link between chloroplast outer and inner membrane transport mechanisms, but also provided fundamental insights into the evolution of protein transport systems from bacteria to embryophytes. A research article describing these results was published in the journal Nature , and featured in a News and Views article.
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