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Sample records for binding motif pbm

  1. A Comparison Study for DNA Motif Modeling on Protein Binding Microarray

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Li, Yue; Peng, Chengbin; Wong, Hau-San

    2015-01-01

    Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBSs) are relatively short (5-15 bp) and degenerate. Identifying them is a computationally challenging task. In particular, Protein Binding Microarray (PBM) is a high-throughput platform that can measure the DNA binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner; for instance, a typical PBM experiment can measure binding signal intensities of a protein to all possible DNA k-mers (k=810). Since proteins can often bind to DNA with different binding intensities, one of the major challenges is to build motif models which can fully capture the quantitative binding affinity data. To learn DNA motif models from the non-convex objective function landscape, several optimization methods are compared and applied to the PBM motif model building problem. In particular, representative methods from different optimization paradigms have been chosen for modeling performance comparison on hundreds of PBM datasets. The results suggest that the multimodal optimization methods are very effective for capturing the binding preference information from PBM data. In particular, we observe a general performance improvement using di-nucleotide modeling over mono-nucleotide modeling. In addition, the models learned by the best-performing method are applied to two independent applications: PBM probe rotation testing and ChIP-Seq peak sequence prediction, demonstrating its biological applicability.

  2. A Comparison Study for DNA Motif Modeling on Protein Binding Microarray

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun

    2015-06-11

    Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBSs) are relatively short (5-15 bp) and degenerate. Identifying them is a computationally challenging task. In particular, Protein Binding Microarray (PBM) is a high-throughput platform that can measure the DNA binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner; for instance, a typical PBM experiment can measure binding signal intensities of a protein to all possible DNA k-mers (k=810). Since proteins can often bind to DNA with different binding intensities, one of the major challenges is to build motif models which can fully capture the quantitative binding affinity data. To learn DNA motif models from the non-convex objective function landscape, several optimization methods are compared and applied to the PBM motif model building problem. In particular, representative methods from different optimization paradigms have been chosen for modeling performance comparison on hundreds of PBM datasets. The results suggest that the multimodal optimization methods are very effective for capturing the binding preference information from PBM data. In particular, we observe a general performance improvement using di-nucleotide modeling over mono-nucleotide modeling. In addition, the models learned by the best-performing method are applied to two independent applications: PBM probe rotation testing and ChIP-Seq peak sequence prediction, demonstrating its biological applicability.

  3. Assessment of algorithms for inferring positional weight matrix motifs of transcription factor binding sites using protein binding microarray data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaron Orenstein

    Full Text Available The new technology of protein binding microarrays (PBMs allows simultaneous measurement of the binding intensities of a transcription factor to tens of thousands of synthetic double-stranded DNA probes, covering all possible 10-mers. A key computational challenge is inferring the binding motif from these data. We present a systematic comparison of four methods developed specifically for reconstructing a binding site motif represented as a positional weight matrix from PBM data. The reconstructed motifs were evaluated in terms of three criteria: concordance with reference motifs from the literature and ability to predict in vivo and in vitro bindings. The evaluation encompassed over 200 transcription factors and some 300 assays. The results show a tradeoff between how the methods perform according to the different criteria, and a dichotomy of method types. Algorithms that construct motifs with low information content predict PBM probe ranking more faithfully, while methods that produce highly informative motifs match reference motifs better. Interestingly, in predicting high-affinity binding, all methods give far poorer results for in vivo assays compared to in vitro assays.

  4. The PDZ domain binding motif (PBM) of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 Tax can be substituted by heterologous PBMs from viral oncoproteins during T-cell transformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoyagi, Tomoya; Takahashi, Masahiko; Higuchi, Masaya; Oie, Masayasu; Tanaka, Yuetsu; Kiyono, Tohru; Aoyagi, Yutaka; Fujii, Masahiro

    2010-04-01

    Several tumor viruses, such as human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), human papilloma virus (HPV), human adenovirus, have high-oncogenic and low-oncogenic subtypes, and such subtype-specific oncogenesis is associated with the PDZ-domain binding motif (PBM) in their transforming proteins. HTLV-1, the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia, encodes Tax1 with PBM as a transforming protein. The Tax1 PBM was substituted with those from other oncoviruses, and the transforming activity was examined. Tax1 mutants with PBM from either HPV-16 E6 or adenovirus type 9 E4ORF1 are fully active in the transformation of a mouse T-cell line from interleukin-2-dependent growth into independent growth. Interestingly, one such Tax1 PBM mutant had an extra amino acid insertion derived from E6 between PBM and the rest of Tax1, thus suggesting that the amino acid sequences of the peptides between PBM and the rest of Tax1 and the numbers only slightly affect the function of PBM in the transformation. Tax1 and Tax1 PBM mutants interacted with tumor suppressors Dlg1 and Scribble with PDZ-domains. Unlike E6, Tax1 PBM mutants as well as Tax1 did not or minimally induced the degradations of Dlg1 and Scribble, but instead induced their subcellular translocation from the detergent-soluble fraction into the insoluble fraction, thus suggesting that the inactivation mechanism of these tumor suppressor proteins is distinct. The present results suggest that PBMs of high-risk oncoviruses have a common function(s) required for these three tumor viruses to transform cells, which is likely associated with the subtype-specific oncogenesis of these tumor viruses.

  5. PDZ binding motif of HTLV-1 Tax promotes virus-mediated T-cell proliferation in vitro and persistence in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Li; Yamamoto, Brenda; Haoudi, Abdelali; Semmes, O John; Green, Patrick L

    2006-03-01

    HTLV-1 cellular transformation and disease induction is dependent on expression of the viral Tax oncoprotein. PDZ is a modular protein interaction domain used in organizing signaling complexes in eukaryotic cells through recognition of a specific binding motif in partner proteins. Tax-1, but not Tax-2, contains a PDZ-binding domain motif (PBM) that promotes the interaction with several cellular PDZ proteins. Herein, we investigate the contribution of the Tax-1 PBM in HTLV-induced proliferation and immortalization of primary T cells in vitro and viral survival in an infectious rabbit animal model. We generated several HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 Tax viral mutants, including HTLV-1deltaPBM, HTLV-2+C22(+PBM), and HTLV-2+ C18(deltaPBM). All Tax mutants maintained the ability to significantly activate the CREB/ATF or NFkappaB signaling pathways. Microtiter proliferation assays revealed that the Tax-1 PBM significantly increases both HTLV-1- and HTLV-2-induced primary T-cell proliferation. In addition, Tax-1 PBM was responsible for the micronuclei induction activity of Tax-1 relative to that of Tax-2. Viral infection and persistence were severely attenuated in rabbits inoculated with HTLV-1deltaPBM. Our results provide the first direct evidence suggesting that PBM-mediated associations between Tax-1 and cellular proteins play a key role in HTLV-induced cell proliferation and genetic instability in vitro and facilitate viral persistence in vivo.

  6. DNA motif elucidation using belief propagation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Chan, Tak-Ming; Peng, Chengbin; Li, Yue; Zhang, Zhaolei

    2013-09-01

    Protein-binding microarray (PBM) is a high-throughout platform that can measure the DNA-binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. A typical PBM experiment can measure binding signal intensities of a protein to all the possible DNA k-mers (k=8∼10); such comprehensive binding affinity data usually need to be reduced and represented as motif models before they can be further analyzed and applied. Since proteins can often bind to DNA in multiple modes, one of the major challenges is to decompose the comprehensive affinity data into multimodal motif representations. Here, we describe a new algorithm that uses Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and can derive precise and multimodal motifs using belief propagations. We describe an HMM-based approach using belief propagations (kmerHMM), which accepts and preprocesses PBM probe raw data into median-binding intensities of individual k-mers. The k-mers are ranked and aligned for training an HMM as the underlying motif representation. Multiple motifs are then extracted from the HMM using belief propagations. Comparisons of kmerHMM with other leading methods on several data sets demonstrated its effectiveness and uniqueness. Especially, it achieved the best performance on more than half of the data sets. In addition, the multiple binding modes derived by kmerHMM are biologically meaningful and will be useful in interpreting other genome-wide data such as those generated from ChIP-seq. The executables and source codes are available at the authors' websites: e.g. http://www.cs.toronto.edu/∼wkc/kmerHMM.

  7. DNA motif elucidation using belief propagation

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Chan, Tak-Ming; Peng, Chengbin; Li, Yue; Zhang, Zhaolei

    2013-01-01

    Protein-binding microarray (PBM) is a high-throughout platform that can measure the DNA-binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. A typical PBM experiment can measure binding signal intensities of a protein to all the possible DNA k-mers (k = 8 ?10); such comprehensive binding affinity data usually need to be reduced and represented as motif models before they can be further analyzed and applied. Since proteins can often bind to DNA in multiple modes, one of the major challenges is to decompose the comprehensive affinity data into multimodal motif representations. Here, we describe a new algorithm that uses Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and can derive precise and multimodal motifs using belief propagations. We describe an HMM-based approach using belief propagations (kmerHMM), which accepts and preprocesses PBM probe raw data into median-binding intensities of individual k-mers. The k-mers are ranked and aligned for training an HMM as the underlying motif representation. Multiple motifs are then extracted from the HMM using belief propagations. Comparisons of kmerHMM with other leading methods on several data sets demonstrated its effectiveness and uniqueness. Especially, it achieved the best performance on more than half of the data sets. In addition, the multiple binding modes derived by kmerHMM are biologically meaningful and will be useful in interpreting other genome-wide data such as those generated from ChIP-seq. The executables and source codes are available at the authors' websites: e.g. http://www.cs.toronto.edu/?wkc/kmerHMM. 2013 The Author(s).

  8. DNA motif elucidation using belief propagation

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun

    2013-06-29

    Protein-binding microarray (PBM) is a high-throughout platform that can measure the DNA-binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. A typical PBM experiment can measure binding signal intensities of a protein to all the possible DNA k-mers (k = 8 ?10); such comprehensive binding affinity data usually need to be reduced and represented as motif models before they can be further analyzed and applied. Since proteins can often bind to DNA in multiple modes, one of the major challenges is to decompose the comprehensive affinity data into multimodal motif representations. Here, we describe a new algorithm that uses Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and can derive precise and multimodal motifs using belief propagations. We describe an HMM-based approach using belief propagations (kmerHMM), which accepts and preprocesses PBM probe raw data into median-binding intensities of individual k-mers. The k-mers are ranked and aligned for training an HMM as the underlying motif representation. Multiple motifs are then extracted from the HMM using belief propagations. Comparisons of kmerHMM with other leading methods on several data sets demonstrated its effectiveness and uniqueness. Especially, it achieved the best performance on more than half of the data sets. In addition, the multiple binding modes derived by kmerHMM are biologically meaningful and will be useful in interpreting other genome-wide data such as those generated from ChIP-seq. The executables and source codes are available at the authors\\' websites: e.g. http://www.cs.toronto.edu/?wkc/kmerHMM. 2013 The Author(s).

  9. The Human Papillomavirus E6 PDZ Binding Motif: From Life Cycle to Malignancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ketaki Ganti

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Cancer-causing HPV E6 oncoproteins are characterized by the presence of a PDZ binding motif (PBM at their extreme carboxy terminus. It was long thought that this region of E6 had a sole function to confer interaction with a defined set of cellular substrates. However, more recent studies have shown that the E6 PBM has a complex pattern of regulation, whereby phosphorylation within the PBM can regulate interaction with two classes of cellular proteins: those containing PDZ domains and the members of the 14-3-3 family of proteins. In this review, we explore the roles that the PBM and its ligands play in the virus life cycle, and subsequently how these can inadvertently contribute towards the development of malignancy. We also explore how subtle alterations in cellular signal transduction pathways might result in aberrant E6 phosphorylation, which in turn might contribute towards disease progression.

  10. PDZ domain-binding motif of Tax sustains T-cell proliferation in HTLV-1-infected humanized mice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Artesi, Maria; Jalinot, Pierre

    2018-01-01

    Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiological agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), an aggressive malignant proliferation of activated CD4+ T lymphocytes. The viral Tax oncoprotein is critically involved in both HTLV-1-replication and T-cell proliferation, a prerequisite to the development of ATLL. In this study, we investigated the in vivo contribution of the Tax PDZ domain-binding motif (PBM) to the lymphoproliferative process. To that aim, we examined T-cell proliferation in humanized mice (hu-mice) carrying a human hemato-lymphoid system infected with either a wild type (WT) or a Tax PBM-deleted (ΔPBM) provirus. We observed that the frequency of CD4+ activated T-cells in the peripheral blood and in the spleen was significantly higher in WT than in ΔPBM hu-mice. Likewise, human T-cells collected from WT hu-mice and cultivated in vitro in presence of interleukin-2 were proliferating at a higher level than those from ΔPBM animals. We next examined the association of Tax with the Scribble PDZ protein, a prominent regulator of T-cell polarity, in human T-cells analyzed either after ex vivo isolation or after in vitro culture. We confirmed the interaction of Tax with Scribble only in T-cells from the WT hu-mice. This association correlated with the presence of both proteins in aggregates at the leading edge of the cells and with the formation of long actin filopods. Finally, data from a comparative genome-wide transcriptomic analysis suggested that the PBM-PDZ association is implicated in the expression of genes regulating proliferation, apoptosis and cytoskeletal organization. Collectively, our findings suggest that the Tax PBM is an auxiliary motif that contributes to the sustained growth of HTLV-1 infected T-cells in vivo and in vitro and is essential to T-cell immortalization. PMID:29566098

  11. PDZ domain-binding motif of Tax sustains T-cell proliferation in HTLV-1-infected humanized mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérès, Eléonore; Blin, Juliana; Ricci, Emiliano P; Artesi, Maria; Hahaut, Vincent; Van den Broeke, Anne; Corbin, Antoine; Gazzolo, Louis; Ratner, Lee; Jalinot, Pierre; Duc Dodon, Madeleine

    2018-03-01

    Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiological agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), an aggressive malignant proliferation of activated CD4+ T lymphocytes. The viral Tax oncoprotein is critically involved in both HTLV-1-replication and T-cell proliferation, a prerequisite to the development of ATLL. In this study, we investigated the in vivo contribution of the Tax PDZ domain-binding motif (PBM) to the lymphoproliferative process. To that aim, we examined T-cell proliferation in humanized mice (hu-mice) carrying a human hemato-lymphoid system infected with either a wild type (WT) or a Tax PBM-deleted (ΔPBM) provirus. We observed that the frequency of CD4+ activated T-cells in the peripheral blood and in the spleen was significantly higher in WT than in ΔPBM hu-mice. Likewise, human T-cells collected from WT hu-mice and cultivated in vitro in presence of interleukin-2 were proliferating at a higher level than those from ΔPBM animals. We next examined the association of Tax with the Scribble PDZ protein, a prominent regulator of T-cell polarity, in human T-cells analyzed either after ex vivo isolation or after in vitro culture. We confirmed the interaction of Tax with Scribble only in T-cells from the WT hu-mice. This association correlated with the presence of both proteins in aggregates at the leading edge of the cells and with the formation of long actin filopods. Finally, data from a comparative genome-wide transcriptomic analysis suggested that the PBM-PDZ association is implicated in the expression of genes regulating proliferation, apoptosis and cytoskeletal organization. Collectively, our findings suggest that the Tax PBM is an auxiliary motif that contributes to the sustained growth of HTLV-1 infected T-cells in vivo and in vitro and is essential to T-cell immortalization.

  12. Evolving Transcription Factor Binding Site Models From Protein Binding Microarray Data

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Peng, Chengbin; Li, Yue

    2016-01-01

    Protein binding microarray (PBM) is a high-throughput platform that can measure the DNA binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. In this paper, we describe the PBM motif model building problem. We apply several evolutionary computation methods and compare their performance with the interior point method, demonstrating their performance advantages. In addition, given the PBM domain knowledge, we propose and describe a novel method called kmerGA which makes domain-specific assumptions to exploit PBM data properties to build more accurate models than the other models built. The effectiveness and robustness of kmerGA is supported by comprehensive performance benchmarking on more than 200 datasets, time complexity analysis, convergence analysis, parameter analysis, and case studies. To demonstrate its utility further, kmerGA is applied to two real world applications: 1) PBM rotation testing and 2) ChIP-Seq peak sequence prediction. The results support the biological relevance of the models learned by kmerGA, and thus its real world applicability.

  13. Evolving Transcription Factor Binding Site Models From Protein Binding Microarray Data

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun

    2016-02-02

    Protein binding microarray (PBM) is a high-throughput platform that can measure the DNA binding preference of a protein in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. In this paper, we describe the PBM motif model building problem. We apply several evolutionary computation methods and compare their performance with the interior point method, demonstrating their performance advantages. In addition, given the PBM domain knowledge, we propose and describe a novel method called kmerGA which makes domain-specific assumptions to exploit PBM data properties to build more accurate models than the other models built. The effectiveness and robustness of kmerGA is supported by comprehensive performance benchmarking on more than 200 datasets, time complexity analysis, convergence analysis, parameter analysis, and case studies. To demonstrate its utility further, kmerGA is applied to two real world applications: 1) PBM rotation testing and 2) ChIP-Seq peak sequence prediction. The results support the biological relevance of the models learned by kmerGA, and thus its real world applicability.

  14. Space-related pharma-motifs for fast search of protein binding motifs and polypharmacological targets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Yi-Yuan; Lin, Chun-Yu; Lin, Chih-Ta; Hsu, Kai-Cheng; Chang, Li-Zen; Yang, Jinn-Moon

    2012-01-01

    To discover a compound inhibiting multiple proteins (i.e. polypharmacological targets) is a new paradigm for the complex diseases (e.g. cancers and diabetes). In general, the polypharmacological proteins often share similar local binding environments and motifs. As the exponential growth of the number of protein structures, to find the similar structural binding motifs (pharma-motifs) is an emergency task for drug discovery (e.g. side effects and new uses for old drugs) and protein functions. We have developed a Space-Related Pharmamotifs (called SRPmotif) method to recognize the binding motifs by searching against protein structure database. SRPmotif is able to recognize conserved binding environments containing spatially discontinuous pharma-motifs which are often short conserved peptides with specific physico-chemical properties for protein functions. Among 356 pharma-motifs, 56.5% interacting residues are highly conserved. Experimental results indicate that 81.1% and 92.7% polypharmacological targets of each protein-ligand complex are annotated with same biological process (BP) and molecular function (MF) terms, respectively, based on Gene Ontology (GO). Our experimental results show that the identified pharma-motifs often consist of key residues in functional (active) sites and play the key roles for protein functions. The SRPmotif is available at http://gemdock.life.nctu.edu.tw/SRP/. SRPmotif is able to identify similar pharma-interfaces and pharma-motifs sharing similar binding environments for polypharmacological targets by rapidly searching against the protein structure database. Pharma-motifs describe the conservations of binding environments for drug discovery and protein functions. Additionally, these pharma-motifs provide the clues for discovering new sequence-based motifs to predict protein functions from protein sequence databases. We believe that SRPmotif is useful for elucidating protein functions and drug discovery.

  15. Mitotic control of human papillomavirus genome-containing cells is regulated by the function of the PDZ-binding motif of the E6 oncoprotein

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Elizabeth K.; Delury, Craig P.; Davies, Nicholas J.; Weston, Christopher J.; Miah, Mohammed A.L.; Banks, Lawrence; Parish, Joanna L.

    2017-01-01

    The function of a conserved PDS95/DLG1/ZO1 (PDZ) binding motif (E6 PBM) at the C-termini of E6 oncoproteins of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types contributes to the development of HPV-associated malignancies. Here, using a primary human keratinocyte-based model of the high-risk HPV18 life cycle, we identify a novel link between the E6 PBM and mitotic stability. In cultures containing a mutant genome in which the E6 PBM was deleted there was an increase in the frequency of abnormal mitoses, including multinucleation, compared to cells harboring the wild type HPV18 genome. The loss of the E6 PBM was associated with a significant increase in the frequency of mitotic spindle defects associated with anaphase and telophase. Furthermore, cells carrying this mutant genome had increased chromosome segregation defects and they also exhibited greater levels of genomic instability, as shown by an elevated level of centromere-positive micronuclei. In wild type HPV18 genome-containing organotypic cultures, the majority of mitotic cells reside in the suprabasal layers, in keeping with the hyperplastic morphology of the structures. However, in mutant genome-containing structures a greater proportion of mitotic cells were retained in the basal layer, which were often of undefined polarity, thus correlating with their reduced thickness. We conclude that the ability of E6 to target cellular PDZ proteins plays a critical role in maintaining mitotic stability of HPV infected cells, ensuring stable episome persistence and vegetative amplification. PMID:28061478

  16. Mitotic control of human papillomavirus genome-containing cells is regulated by the function of the PDZ-binding motif of the E6 oncoprotein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Elizabeth K; Delury, Craig P; Davies, Nicholas J; Weston, Christopher J; Miah, Mohammed A L; Banks, Lawrence; Parish, Joanna L; Higgs, Martin R; Roberts, Sally

    2017-03-21

    The function of a conserved PDS95/DLG1/ZO1 (PDZ) binding motif (E6 PBM) at the C-termini of E6 oncoproteins of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types contributes to the development of HPV-associated malignancies. Here, using a primary human keratinocyte-based model of the high-risk HPV18 life cycle, we identify a novel link between the E6 PBM and mitotic stability. In cultures containing a mutant genome in which the E6 PBM was deleted there was an increase in the frequency of abnormal mitoses, including multinucleation, compared to cells harboring the wild type HPV18 genome. The loss of the E6 PBM was associated with a significant increase in the frequency of mitotic spindle defects associated with anaphase and telophase. Furthermore, cells carrying this mutant genome had increased chromosome segregation defects and they also exhibited greater levels of genomic instability, as shown by an elevated level of centromere-positive micronuclei. In wild type HPV18 genome-containing organotypic cultures, the majority of mitotic cells reside in the suprabasal layers, in keeping with the hyperplastic morphology of the structures. However, in mutant genome-containing structures a greater proportion of mitotic cells were retained in the basal layer, which were often of undefined polarity, thus correlating with their reduced thickness. We conclude that the ability of E6 to target cellular PDZ proteins plays a critical role in maintaining mitotic stability of HPV infected cells, ensuring stable episome persistence and vegetative amplification.

  17. MOCCS: Clarifying DNA-binding motif ambiguity using ChIP-Seq data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozaki, Haruka; Iwasaki, Wataru

    2016-08-01

    As a key mechanism of gene regulation, transcription factors (TFs) bind to DNA by recognizing specific short sequence patterns that are called DNA-binding motifs. A single TF can accept ambiguity within its DNA-binding motifs, which comprise both canonical (typical) and non-canonical motifs. Clarification of such DNA-binding motif ambiguity is crucial for revealing gene regulatory networks and evaluating mutations in cis-regulatory elements. Although chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) now provides abundant data on the genomic sequences to which a given TF binds, existing motif discovery methods are unable to directly answer whether a given TF can bind to a specific DNA-binding motif. Here, we report a method for clarifying the DNA-binding motif ambiguity, MOCCS. Given ChIP-Seq data of any TF, MOCCS comprehensively analyzes and describes every k-mer to which that TF binds. Analysis of simulated datasets revealed that MOCCS is applicable to various ChIP-Seq datasets, requiring only a few minutes per dataset. Application to the ENCODE ChIP-Seq datasets proved that MOCCS directly evaluates whether a given TF binds to each DNA-binding motif, even if known position weight matrix models do not provide sufficient information on DNA-binding motif ambiguity. Furthermore, users are not required to provide numerous parameters or background genomic sequence models that are typically unavailable. MOCCS is implemented in Perl and R and is freely available via https://github.com/yuifu/moccs. By complementing existing motif-discovery software, MOCCS will contribute to the basic understanding of how the genome controls diverse cellular processes via DNA-protein interactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Motif decomposition of the phosphotyrosine proteome reveals a new N-terminal binding motif for SHIP2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, Martin Lee; Hanke, S.; Hinsby, A. M.

    2008-01-01

    set of 481 unique phosphotyrosine (Tyr(P)) peptides by sequence similarity to known ligands of the Src homology 2 (SH2) and the phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domains. From 20 clusters we extracted 16 known and four new interaction motifs. Using quantitative mass spectrometry we pulled down Tyr......(P)-specific binding partners for peptides corresponding to the extracted motifs. We confirmed numerous previously known interaction motifs and found 15 new interactions mediated by phosphosites not previously known to bind SH2 or PTB. Remarkably, a novel hydrophobic N-terminal motif ((L/V/I)(L/V/I)pY) was identified...

  19. A survey of motif finding Web tools for detecting binding site motifs in ChIP-Seq data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Ngoc Tam L; Huang, Chun-Hsi

    2014-02-20

    ChIP-Seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing) has provided the advantage for finding motifs as ChIP-Seq experiments narrow down the motif finding to binding site locations. Recent motif finding tools facilitate the motif detection by providing user-friendly Web interface. In this work, we reviewed nine motif finding Web tools that are capable for detecting binding site motifs in ChIP-Seq data. We showed each motif finding Web tool has its own advantages for detecting motifs that other tools may not discover. We recommended the users to use multiple motif finding Web tools that implement different algorithms for obtaining significant motifs, overlapping resemble motifs, and non-overlapping motifs. Finally, we provided our suggestions for future development of motif finding Web tool that better assists researchers for finding motifs in ChIP-Seq data.

  20. The MHC motif viewer: a visualization tool for MHC binding motifs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rapin, Nicolas; Hoof, Ilka; Lund, Ole

    2010-01-01

    is hampered by the lack of tools for browsing and comparing specificity of these molecules. We have developed a Web server, MHC Motif Viewer, which allows the display of the binding motif for MHC class I proteins for human, chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, mouse, and swine, as well as HLA-DR protein sequences...

  1. Binding properties of SUMO-interacting motifs (SIMs) in yeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jardin, Christophe; Horn, Anselm H C; Sticht, Heinrich

    2015-03-01

    Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) conjugation and interaction play an essential role in many cellular processes. A large number of yeast proteins is known to interact non-covalently with SUMO via short SUMO-interacting motifs (SIMs), but the structural details of this interaction are yet poorly characterized. In the present work, sequence analysis of a large dataset of 148 yeast SIMs revealed the existence of a hydrophobic core binding motif and a preference for acidic residues either within or adjacent to the core motif. Thus the sequence properties of yeast SIMs are highly similar to those described for human. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the binding preferences for four representative SIM peptides differing in the number and distribution of acidic residues. Furthermore, the relative stability of two previously observed alternative binding orientations (parallel, antiparallel) was assessed. For all SIMs investigated, the antiparallel binding mode remained stable in the simulations and the SIMs were tightly bound via their hydrophobic core residues supplemented by polar interactions of the acidic residues. In contrary, the stability of the parallel binding mode is more dependent on the sequence features of the SIM motif like the number and position of acidic residues or the presence of additional adjacent interaction motifs. This information should be helpful to enhance the prediction of SIMs and their binding properties in different organisms to facilitate the reconstruction of the SUMO interactome.

  2. Evolutionarily conserved bias of amino-acid usage refines the definition of PDZ-binding motif

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Launey Thomas

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The interactions between PDZ (PSD-95, Dlg, ZO-1 domains and PDZ-binding motifs play central roles in signal transductions within cells. Proteins with PDZ domains bind to PDZ-binding motifs almost exclusively when the motifs are located at the carboxyl (C- terminal ends of their binding partners. However, it remains little explored whether PDZ-binding motifs show any preferential location at the C-terminal ends of proteins, at genome-level. Results Here, we examined the distribution of the type-I (x-x-S/T-x-I/L/V or type-II (x-x-V-x-I/V PDZ-binding motifs in proteins encoded in the genomes of five different species (human, mouse, zebrafish, fruit fly and nematode. We first established that these PDZ-binding motifs are indeed preferentially present at their C-terminal ends. Moreover, we found specific amino acid (AA bias for the 'x' positions in the motifs at the C-terminal ends. In general, hydrophilic AAs were favored. Our genomics-based findings confirm and largely extend the results of previous interaction-based studies, allowing us to propose refined consensus sequences for all of the examined PDZ-binding motifs. An ontological analysis revealed that the refined motifs are functionally relevant since a large fraction of the proteins bearing the motif appear to be involved in signal transduction. Furthermore, co-precipitation experiments confirmed two new protein interactions predicted by our genomics-based approach. Finally, we show that influenza virus pathogenicity can be correlated with PDZ-binding motif, with high-virulence viral proteins bearing a refined PDZ-binding motif. Conclusions Our refined definition of PDZ-binding motifs should provide important clues for identifying functional PDZ-binding motifs and proteins involved in signal transduction.

  3. Comprehensive human transcription factor binding site map for combinatory binding motifs discovery.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnoldo J Müller-Molina

    Full Text Available To know the map between transcription factors (TFs and their binding sites is essential to reverse engineer the regulation process. Only about 10%-20% of the transcription factor binding motifs (TFBMs have been reported. This lack of data hinders understanding gene regulation. To address this drawback, we propose a computational method that exploits never used TF properties to discover the missing TFBMs and their sites in all human gene promoters. The method starts by predicting a dictionary of regulatory "DNA words." From this dictionary, it distills 4098 novel predictions. To disclose the crosstalk between motifs, an additional algorithm extracts TF combinatorial binding patterns creating a collection of TF regulatory syntactic rules. Using these rules, we narrowed down a list of 504 novel motifs that appear frequently in syntax patterns. We tested the predictions against 509 known motifs confirming that our system can reliably predict ab initio motifs with an accuracy of 81%-far higher than previous approaches. We found that on average, 90% of the discovered combinatorial binding patterns target at least 10 genes, suggesting that to control in an independent manner smaller gene sets, supplementary regulatory mechanisms are required. Additionally, we discovered that the new TFBMs and their combinatorial patterns convey biological meaning, targeting TFs and genes related to developmental functions. Thus, among all the possible available targets in the genome, the TFs tend to regulate other TFs and genes involved in developmental functions. We provide a comprehensive resource for regulation analysis that includes a dictionary of "DNA words," newly predicted motifs and their corresponding combinatorial patterns. Combinatorial patterns are a useful filter to discover TFBMs that play a major role in orchestrating other factors and thus, are likely to lock/unlock cellular functional clusters.

  4. Genome-wide conserved consensus transcription factor binding motifs are hyper-methylated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Down Thomas A

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA methylation can regulate gene expression by modulating the interaction between DNA and proteins or protein complexes. Conserved consensus motifs exist across the human genome ("predicted transcription factor binding sites": "predicted TFBS" but the large majority of these are proven by chromatin immunoprecipitation and high throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq not to be biological transcription factor binding sites ("empirical TFBS". We hypothesize that DNA methylation at conserved consensus motifs prevents promiscuous or disorderly transcription factor binding. Results Using genome-wide methylation maps of the human heart and sperm, we found that all conserved consensus motifs as well as the subset of those that reside outside CpG islands have an aggregate profile of hyper-methylation. In contrast, empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs have a profile of hypo-methylation. 40% of empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs resided in CpG islands whereas only 7% of all conserved consensus motifs were in CpG islands. Finally we further identified a minority subset of TF whose profiles are either hypo-methylated or neutral at their respective conserved consensus motifs implicating that these TF may be responsible for establishing or maintaining an un-methylated DNA state, or whose binding is not regulated by DNA methylation. Conclusions Our analysis supports the hypothesis that at least for a subset of TF, empirical binding to conserved consensus motifs genome-wide may be controlled by DNA methylation.

  5. Factors Affecting the Binding of a Recombinant Heavy Metal-Binding Domain (CXXC motif Protein to Heavy Metals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamala Boonyodying

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available A number of heavy metal-binding proteins have been used to study bioremediation. CXXC motif, a metal binding domain containing Cys-X-X-Cys motif, has been identified in various organisms. These proteins are capable of binding various types of heavy metals. In this study, heavy metal binding domain (CXXC motif recombinant protein encoded from mcsA gene of S. aureus were cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The factors involved in the metal-binding activity were determined in order to analyze the potential of recombinant protein for bioremediation. A recombinant protein can be bound to Cd2+, Co2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+. The thermal stability of a recombinant protein was tested, and the results showed that the metal binding activity to Cu2+ and Zn2+ still exist after treating the protein at 85ºC for 30 min. The temperature and pH that affected the metal binding activity was tested and the results showed that recombinant protein was still bound to Cu2+ at 65ºC, whereas a pH of 3-7 did not affect the metal binding E. coli harboring a pRset with a heavy metal-binding domain CXXC motif increased the resistance of heavy metals against CuCl2 and CdCl2. This study shows that metal binding domain (CXXC motif recombinant protein can be effectively bound to various types of heavy metals and may be used as a potential tool for studying bioremediation.

  6. Composite Structural Motifs of Binding Sites for Delineating Biological Functions of Proteins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinjo, Akira R.; Nakamura, Haruki

    2012-01-01

    Most biological processes are described as a series of interactions between proteins and other molecules, and interactions are in turn described in terms of atomic structures. To annotate protein functions as sets of interaction states at atomic resolution, and thereby to better understand the relation between protein interactions and biological functions, we conducted exhaustive all-against-all atomic structure comparisons of all known binding sites for ligands including small molecules, proteins and nucleic acids, and identified recurring elementary motifs. By integrating the elementary motifs associated with each subunit, we defined composite motifs that represent context-dependent combinations of elementary motifs. It is demonstrated that function similarity can be better inferred from composite motif similarity compared to the similarity of protein sequences or of individual binding sites. By integrating the composite motifs associated with each protein function, we define meta-composite motifs each of which is regarded as a time-independent diagrammatic representation of a biological process. It is shown that meta-composite motifs provide richer annotations of biological processes than sequence clusters. The present results serve as a basis for bridging atomic structures to higher-order biological phenomena by classification and integration of binding site structures. PMID:22347478

  7. PDZ domain-binding motif of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 Tax oncoprotein augments the transforming activity in a rat fibroblast cell line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirata, Akira; Higuchi, Masaya; Niinuma, Akiko; Ohashi, Minako; Fukushi, Masaya; Oie, Masayasu; Akiyama, Tetsu; Tanaka, Yuetsu; Gejyo, Fumitake; Fujii, Masahiro

    2004-01-01

    While human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is associated with the development of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), HTLV-2 has not been reported to be associated with such malignant leukemias. HTLV-1 Tax1 oncoprotein transforms a rat fibroblast cell line (Rat-1) to form multiple large colonies in soft agar, and this activity is much greater than that of HTLV-2 Tax2. We have demonstrated here that the increased number of transformed colonies induced by Tax1 relative to Tax2 was mediated by a PDZ domain-binding motif (PBM) in Tax1, which is absent in Tax2. Tax1 PBM mediated the interaction of Tax1 with the discs large (Dlg) tumor suppressor containing PDZ domains, and the interaction correlated well with the transforming activities of Tax1 and the mutants. Through this interaction, Tax1 altered the subcellular localization of Dlg from the detergent-soluble to the detergent-insoluble fraction in a fibroblast cell line as well as in HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines. These results suggest that the interaction of Tax1 with PDZ domain protein(s) is critically involved in the transforming activity of Tax1, the activity of which may be a crucial factor in malignant transformation of HTLV-1-infected cells in vivo

  8. Stanniocalcin 1 binds hemin through a partially conserved heme regulatory motif

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westberg, Johan A.; Jiang, Ji; Andersson, Leif C.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) binds heme through novel heme binding motif. → Central iron atom of heme and cysteine-114 of STC1 are essential for binding. → STC1 binds Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ heme. → STC1 peptide prevents oxidative decay of heme. -- Abstract: Hemin (iron protoporphyrin IX) is a necessary component of many proteins, functioning either as a cofactor or an intracellular messenger. Hemoproteins have diverse functions, such as transportation of gases, gas detection, chemical catalysis and electron transfer. Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) is a protein involved in respiratory responses of the cell but whose mechanism of action is still undetermined. We examined the ability of STC1 to bind hemin in both its reduced and oxidized states and located Cys 114 as the axial ligand of the central iron atom of hemin. The amino acid sequence differs from the established (Cys-Pro) heme regulatory motif (HRM) and therefore presents a novel heme binding motif (Cys-Ser). A STC1 peptide containing the heme binding sequence was able to inhibit both spontaneous and H 2 O 2 induced decay of hemin. Binding of hemin does not affect the mitochondrial localization of STC1.

  9. The Q Motif Is Involved in DNA Binding but Not ATP Binding in ChlR1 Helicase.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Ding

    Full Text Available Helicases are molecular motors that couple the energy of ATP hydrolysis to the unwinding of structured DNA or RNA and chromatin remodeling. The conversion of energy derived from ATP hydrolysis into unwinding and remodeling is coordinated by seven sequence motifs (I, Ia, II, III, IV, V, and VI. The Q motif, consisting of nine amino acids (GFXXPXPIQ with an invariant glutamine (Q residue, has been identified in some, but not all helicases. Compared to the seven well-recognized conserved helicase motifs, the role of the Q motif is less acknowledged. Mutations in the human ChlR1 (DDX11 gene are associated with a unique genetic disorder known as Warsaw Breakage Syndrome, which is characterized by cellular defects in genome maintenance. To examine the roles of the Q motif in ChlR1 helicase, we performed site directed mutagenesis of glutamine to alanine at residue 23 in the Q motif of ChlR1. ChlR1 recombinant protein was overexpressed and purified from HEK293T cells. ChlR1-Q23A mutant abolished the helicase activity of ChlR1 and displayed reduced DNA binding ability. The mutant showed impaired ATPase activity but normal ATP binding. A thermal shift assay revealed that ChlR1-Q23A has a melting point value similar to ChlR1-WT. Partial proteolysis mapping demonstrated that ChlR1-WT and Q23A have a similar globular structure, although some subtle conformational differences in these two proteins are evident. Finally, we found ChlR1 exists and functions as a monomer in solution, which is different from FANCJ, in which the Q motif is involved in protein dimerization. Taken together, our results suggest that the Q motif is involved in DNA binding but not ATP binding in ChlR1 helicase.

  10. Stanniocalcin 1 binds hemin through a partially conserved heme regulatory motif

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Westberg, Johan A., E-mail: johan.westberg@helsinki.fi [Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, P.O. Box 21, Haartmaninkatu 3, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Jiang, Ji, E-mail: ji.jiang@helsinki.fi [Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, P.O. Box 21, Haartmaninkatu 3, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Andersson, Leif C., E-mail: leif.andersson@helsinki.fi [Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, P.O. Box 21, Haartmaninkatu 3, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland)

    2011-06-03

    Highlights: {yields} Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) binds heme through novel heme binding motif. {yields} Central iron atom of heme and cysteine-114 of STC1 are essential for binding. {yields} STC1 binds Fe{sup 2+} and Fe{sup 3+} heme. {yields} STC1 peptide prevents oxidative decay of heme. -- Abstract: Hemin (iron protoporphyrin IX) is a necessary component of many proteins, functioning either as a cofactor or an intracellular messenger. Hemoproteins have diverse functions, such as transportation of gases, gas detection, chemical catalysis and electron transfer. Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) is a protein involved in respiratory responses of the cell but whose mechanism of action is still undetermined. We examined the ability of STC1 to bind hemin in both its reduced and oxidized states and located Cys{sup 114} as the axial ligand of the central iron atom of hemin. The amino acid sequence differs from the established (Cys-Pro) heme regulatory motif (HRM) and therefore presents a novel heme binding motif (Cys-Ser). A STC1 peptide containing the heme binding sequence was able to inhibit both spontaneous and H{sub 2}O{sub 2} induced decay of hemin. Binding of hemin does not affect the mitochondrial localization of STC1.

  11. The Verrucomicrobia LexA-binding Motif: Insights into the Evolutionary Dynamics of the SOS Response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan Erill

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The SOS response is the primary bacterial mechanism to address DNA damage, coordinating multiple cellular processes that include DNA repair, cell division and translesion synthesis. In contrast to other regulatory systems, the composition of the SOS genetic network and the binding motif of its transcriptional repressor, LexA, have been shown to vary greatly across bacterial clades, making it an ideal system to study the co-evolution of transcription factors and their regulons. Leveraging comparative genomics approaches and prior knowledge on the core SOS regulon, here we define the binding motif of the Verrucomicrobia, a recently described phylum of emerging interest due to its association with eukaryotic hosts. Site directed mutagenesis of the Verrucomicrobium spinosum recA promoter confirms that LexA binds a 14 bp palindromic motif with consensus sequence TGTTC-N4-GAACA. Computational analyses suggest that recognition of this novel motif is determined primarily by changes in base-contacting residues of the third alpha helix of the LexA helix-turn-helix DNA binding motif. In conjunction with comparative genomics analysis of the LexA regulon in the Verrucomicrobia phylum, electrophoretic shift assays reveal that LexA binds to operators in the promoter region of DNA repair genes and a mutagenesis cassette in this organism, and identify previously unreported components of the SOS response. The identification of tandem LexA-binding sites generating instances of other LexA-binding motifs in the lexA gene promoter of Verrucomicrobia species leads us to postulate a novel mechanism for LexA-binding motif evolution. This model, based on gene duplication, successfully addresses outstanding questions in the intricate co-evolution of the LexA protein, its binding motif and the regulatory network it controls.

  12. The Verrucomicrobia LexA-Binding Motif: Insights into the Evolutionary Dynamics of the SOS Response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erill, Ivan; Campoy, Susana; Kılıç, Sefa; Barbé, Jordi

    2016-01-01

    The SOS response is the primary bacterial mechanism to address DNA damage, coordinating multiple cellular processes that include DNA repair, cell division, and translesion synthesis. In contrast to other regulatory systems, the composition of the SOS genetic network and the binding motif of its transcriptional repressor, LexA, have been shown to vary greatly across bacterial clades, making it an ideal system to study the co-evolution of transcription factors and their regulons. Leveraging comparative genomics approaches and prior knowledge on the core SOS regulon, here we define the binding motif of the Verrucomicrobia, a recently described phylum of emerging interest due to its association with eukaryotic hosts. Site directed mutagenesis of the Verrucomicrobium spinosum recA promoter confirms that LexA binds a 14 bp palindromic motif with consensus sequence TGTTC-N4-GAACA. Computational analyses suggest that recognition of this novel motif is determined primarily by changes in base-contacting residues of the third alpha helix of the LexA helix-turn-helix DNA binding motif. In conjunction with comparative genomics analysis of the LexA regulon in the Verrucomicrobia phylum, electrophoretic shift assays reveal that LexA binds to operators in the promoter region of DNA repair genes and a mutagenesis cassette in this organism, and identify previously unreported components of the SOS response. The identification of tandem LexA-binding sites generating instances of other LexA-binding motifs in the lexA gene promoter of Verrucomicrobia species leads us to postulate a novel mechanism for LexA-binding motif evolution. This model, based on gene duplication, successfully addresses outstanding questions in the intricate co-evolution of the LexA protein, its binding motif and the regulatory network it controls.

  13. Discovery and validation of information theory-based transcription factor and cofactor binding site motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Ruipeng; Mucaki, Eliseos J; Rogan, Peter K

    2017-03-17

    Data from ChIP-seq experiments can derive the genome-wide binding specificities of transcription factors (TFs) and other regulatory proteins. We analyzed 765 ENCODE ChIP-seq peak datasets of 207 human TFs with a novel motif discovery pipeline based on recursive, thresholded entropy minimization. This approach, while obviating the need to compensate for skewed nucleotide composition, distinguishes true binding motifs from noise, quantifies the strengths of individual binding sites based on computed affinity and detects adjacent cofactor binding sites that coordinate with the targets of primary, immunoprecipitated TFs. We obtained contiguous and bipartite information theory-based position weight matrices (iPWMs) for 93 sequence-specific TFs, discovered 23 cofactor motifs for 127 TFs and revealed six high-confidence novel motifs. The reliability and accuracy of these iPWMs were determined via four independent validation methods, including the detection of experimentally proven binding sites, explanation of effects of characterized SNPs, comparison with previously published motifs and statistical analyses. We also predict previously unreported TF coregulatory interactions (e.g. TF complexes). These iPWMs constitute a powerful tool for predicting the effects of sequence variants in known binding sites, performing mutation analysis on regulatory SNPs and predicting previously unrecognized binding sites and target genes. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  14. 24 CFR 990.275 - Project-based management (PBM).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Project-based management (PBM). 990... URBAN DEVELOPMENT THE PUBLIC HOUSING OPERATING FUND PROGRAM Asset Management § 990.275 Project-based... of rental housing at the project level. Under PBM, these property management services are arranged...

  15. A Novel Protein Interaction between Nucleotide Binding Domain of Hsp70 and p53 Motif

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asita Elengoe

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, protein interaction of Homo sapiens nucleotide binding domain (NBD of heat shock 70 kDa protein (PDB: 1HJO with p53 motif remains to be elucidated. The NBD-p53 motif complex enhances the p53 stabilization, thereby increasing the tumor suppression activity in cancer treatment. Therefore, we identified the interaction between NBD and p53 using STRING version 9.1 program. Then, we modeled the three-dimensional structure of p53 motif through homology modeling and determined the binding affinity and stability of NBD-p53 motif complex structure via molecular docking and dynamics (MD simulation. Human DNA binding domain of p53 motif (SCMGGMNR retrieved from UniProt (UniProtKB: P04637 was docked with the NBD protein, using the Autodock version 4.2 program. The binding energy and intermolecular energy for the NBD-p53 motif complex were −0.44 Kcal/mol and −9.90 Kcal/mol, respectively. Moreover, RMSD, RMSF, hydrogen bonds, salt bridge, and secondary structure analyses revealed that the NBD protein had a strong bond with p53 motif and the protein-ligand complex was stable. Thus, the current data would be highly encouraging for designing Hsp70 structure based drug in cancer therapy.

  16. The Rho ADP-ribosylating C3 exoenzyme binds cells via an Arg-Gly-Asp motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohrbeck, Astrid; Höltje, Markus; Adolf, Andrej; Oms, Elisabeth; Hagemann, Sandra; Ahnert-Hilger, Gudrun; Just, Ingo

    2017-10-27

    The Rho ADP-ribosylating C3 exoenzyme (C3bot) is a bacterial protein toxin devoid of a cell-binding or -translocation domain. Nevertheless, C3 can efficiently enter intact cells, including neurons, but the mechanism of C3 binding and uptake is not yet understood. Previously, we identified the intermediate filament vimentin as an extracellular membranous interaction partner of C3. However, uptake of C3 into cells still occurs (although reduced) in the absence of vimentin, indicating involvement of an additional host cell receptor. C3 harbors an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif, which is the major integrin-binding site, present in a variety of integrin ligands. To check whether the RGD motif of C3 is involved in binding to cells, we performed a competition assay with C3 and RGD peptide or with a monoclonal antibody binding to β1-integrin subunit and binding assays in different cell lines, primary neurons, and synaptosomes with C3-RGD mutants. Here, we report that preincubation of cells with the GRGDNP peptide strongly reduced C3 binding to cells. Moreover, mutation of the RGD motif reduced C3 binding to intact cells and also to recombinant vimentin. Anti-integrin antibodies also lowered the C3 binding to cells. Our results indicate that the RGD motif of C3 is at least one essential C3 motif for binding to host cells and that integrin is an additional receptor for C3 besides vimentin. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  17. Peptide-binding motifs of two common equine class I MHC molecules in Thoroughbred horses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergmann, Tobias; Lindvall, Mikaela; Moore, Erin; Moore, Eugene; Sidney, John; Miller, Donald; Tallmadge, Rebecca L; Myers, Paisley T; Malaker, Stacy A; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Osterrieder, Nikolaus; Peters, Bjoern; Hunt, Donald F; Antczak, Douglas F; Sette, Alessandro

    2017-05-01

    Quantitative peptide-binding motifs of MHC class I alleles provide a valuable tool to efficiently identify putative T cell epitopes. Detailed information on equine MHC class I alleles is still very limited, and to date, only a single equine MHC class I allele, Eqca-1*00101 (ELA-A3 haplotype), has been characterized. The present study extends the number of characterized ELA class I specificities in two additional haplotypes found commonly in the Thoroughbred breed. Accordingly, we here report quantitative binding motifs for the ELA-A2 allele Eqca-16*00101 and the ELA-A9 allele Eqca-1*00201. Utilizing analyses of endogenously bound and eluted ligands and the screening of positional scanning combinatorial libraries, detailed and quantitative peptide-binding motifs were derived for both alleles. Eqca-16*00101 preferentially binds peptides with aliphatic/hydrophobic residues in position 2 and at the C-terminus, and Eqca-1*00201 has a preference for peptides with arginine in position 2 and hydrophobic/aliphatic residues at the C-terminus. Interestingly, the Eqca-16*00101 motif resembles that of the human HLA A02-supertype, while the Eqca-1*00201 motif resembles that of the HLA B27-supertype and two macaque class I alleles. It is expected that the identified motifs will facilitate the selection of candidate epitopes for the study of immune responses in horses.

  18. Conserved binding of GCAC motifs by MEC-8, couch potato, and the RBPMS protein family

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soufari, Heddy

    2017-01-01

    Precise regulation of mRNA processing, translation, localization, and stability relies on specific interactions with RNA-binding proteins whose biological function and target preference are dictated by their preferred RNA motifs. The RBPMS family of RNA-binding proteins is defined by a conserved RNA recognition motif (RRM) domain found in metazoan RBPMS/Hermes and RBPMS2, Drosophila couch potato, and MEC-8 from Caenorhabditis elegans. In order to determine the parameters of RNA sequence recognition by the RBPMS family, we have first used the N-terminal domain from MEC-8 in binding assays and have demonstrated a preference for two GCAC motifs optimally separated by >6 nucleotides (nt). We have also determined the crystal structure of the dimeric N-terminal RRM domain from MEC-8 in the unbound form, and in complex with an oligonucleotide harboring two copies of the optimal GCAC motif. The atomic details reveal the molecular network that provides specificity to all four bases in the motif, including multiple hydrogen bonds to the initial guanine. Further studies with human RBPMS, as well as Drosophila couch potato, confirm a general preference for this double GCAC motif by other members of the protein family and the presence of this motif in known targets. PMID:28003515

  19. Characterization of Novel Calmodulin Binding Domains within IQ Motifs of IQGAP1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Deok-Jin; Ban, Byungkwan; Lee, Jin-A

    2011-01-01

    IQ motif-containing GTPase-activating protein 1 (IQGAP1), which is a well-known calmodulin (CaM) binding protein, is involved in a wide range of cellular processes including cell proliferation, tumorigenesis, adhesion, and migration. Interaction of IQGAP1 with CaM is important for its cellular functions. Although each IQ domain of IQGAP1 for CaM binding has been characterized in a Ca2+-dependent or -independent manner, it was not clear which IQ motifs are physiologically relevant for CaM binding in the cells. In this study, we performed immunoprecipitation using 3xFLAGhCaM in mammalian cell lines to characterize the domains of IQGAP1 that are key for CaM binding under physiological conditions. Interestingly, using this method, we identified two novel domains, IQ(2.7-3) and IQ(3.5-4.4), within IQGAP1 that were involved in Ca2+-independent or -dependent CaM binding, respectively. Mutant analysis clearly showed that the hydrophobic regions within IQ(2.7-3) were mainly involved in apoCaM binding, while the basic amino acids and hydrophobic region of IQ(3.5-4.4) were required for Ca2+/CaM binding. Finally, we showed that IQ(2.7-3) was the main apoCaM binding domain and both IQ(2.7-3) and IQ(3.5-4.4) were required for Ca2+/CaM binding within IQ(1- 2-3-4). Thus, we identified and characterized novel direct CaM binding motifs essential for IQGAP1. This finding indicates that IQGAP1 plays a dynamic role via direct interactions with CaM in a Ca2+-dependent or -independent manner. PMID:22080369

  20. A sialoreceptor binding motif in the Mycoplasma synoviae adhesin VlhA.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meghan May

    Full Text Available Mycoplasma synoviae depends on its adhesin VlhA to mediate cytadherence to sialylated host cell receptors. Allelic variants of VlhA arise through recombination between an assemblage of promoterless vlhA pseudogenes and a single transcription promoter site, creating lineages of M. synoviae that each express a different vlhA allele. The predicted full-length VlhA sequences adjacent to the promoter of nine lineages of M. synoviae varying in avidity of cytadherence were aligned with that of the reference strain MS53 and with a 60-a.a. hemagglutinating VlhA C-terminal fragment from a Tunisian lineage of strain WVU1853(T. Seven different sequence variants of an imperfectly conserved, single-copy, 12-a.a. candidate cytadherence motif were evident amid the flanking variable residues of the 11 total sequences examined. The motif was predicted to adopt a short hairpin structure in a low-complexity region near the C-terminus of VlhA. Biotinylated synthetic oligopeptides representing four selected variants of the 12-a.a. motif, with the whole synthesized 60-a.a. fragment as a positive control, differed (P<0.01 in the extent they bound to chicken erythrocyte membranes. All bound to a greater extent (P<0.01 than scrambled or irrelevant VlhA domain negative control peptides did. Experimentally introduced branched-chain amino acid (BCAA substitutions Val3Ile and Leu7Ile did not significantly alter binding, whereas fold-destabilizing substitutions Thr4Gly and Ala9Gly tended to reduce it (P<0.05. Binding was also reduced to background levels (P<0.01 when the peptides were exposed to desialylated membranes, or were pre-saturated with free sialic acid before exposure to untreated membranes. From this evidence we conclude that the motif P-X-(BCAA-X-F-X-(BCAA-X-A-K-X-G binds sialic acid and likely mediates VlhA-dependent M. synoviae attachment to host cells. This conserved mechanism retains the potential for fine-scale rheostasis in binding avidity, which could be a

  1. MotifMark: Finding regulatory motifs in DNA sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanzadeh, Hamid Reza; Kolhe, Pushkar; Isbell, Charles L; Wang, May D

    2017-07-01

    The interaction between proteins and DNA is a key driving force in a significant number of biological processes such as transcriptional regulation, repair, recombination, splicing, and DNA modification. The identification of DNA-binding sites and the specificity of target proteins in binding to these regions are two important steps in understanding the mechanisms of these biological activities. A number of high-throughput technologies have recently emerged that try to quantify the affinity between proteins and DNA motifs. Despite their success, these technologies have their own limitations and fall short in precise characterization of motifs, and as a result, require further downstream analysis to extract useful and interpretable information from a haystack of noisy and inaccurate data. Here we propose MotifMark, a new algorithm based on graph theory and machine learning, that can find binding sites on candidate probes and rank their specificity in regard to the underlying transcription factor. We developed a pipeline to analyze experimental data derived from compact universal protein binding microarrays and benchmarked it against two of the most accurate motif search methods. Our results indicate that MotifMark can be a viable alternative technique for prediction of motif from protein binding microarrays and possibly other related high-throughput techniques.

  2. I-Ad-binding peptides derived from unrelated protein antigens share a common structural motif

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sette, A; Buus, S; Colon, S

    1988-01-01

    on the I-Ad binding of the immunogenic peptide OVA 323-339. The results obtained demonstrated the very permissive nature of Ag-Ia interaction. We also showed that unrelated peptides that are good I-Ad binders share a common structural motif and speculated that recognition of such motifs could represent...... that I-Ad molecules recognize a large library of Ag by virtue of common structural motifs present in peptides derived from phylogenetically unrelated proteins....

  3. A novel fibronectin binding motif in MSCRAMMs targets F3 modules.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabitha Prabhakaran

    Full Text Available BBK32 is a surface expressed lipoprotein and fibronectin (Fn-binding microbial surface component recognizing adhesive matrix molecule (MSCRAMM of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Previous studies from our group showed that BBK32 is a virulence factor in experimental Lyme disease and located the Fn-binding region to residues 21-205 of the lipoprotein.Studies aimed at identifying interacting sites between BBK32 and Fn revealed an interaction between the MSCRAMM and the Fn F3 modules. Further analysis of this interaction showed that BBK32 can cause the aggregation of human plasma Fn in a similar concentration-dependent manner to that of anastellin, the superfibronectin (sFn inducing agent. The resulting Fn aggregates are conformationally distinct from plasma Fn as indicated by a change in available thermolysin cleavage sites. Recombinant BBK32 and anastellin affect the structure of Fn matrices formed by cultured fibroblasts and inhibit endothelial cell proliferation similarly. Within BBK32, we have located the sFn-forming activity to a region between residues 160 and 175 which contains two sequence motifs that are also found in anastellin. Synthetic peptides mimicking these motifs induce Fn aggregation, whereas a peptide with a scrambled sequence motif was inactive, suggesting that these motifs represent the sFn-inducing sequence.We conclude that BBK32 induces the formation of Fn aggregates that are indistinguishable from those formed by anastellin. The results of this study provide evidence for how bacteria can target host proteins to manipulate host cell activities.

  4. Sequence-specific DNA binding by MYC/MAX to low-affinity non-E-box motifs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Allevato

    Full Text Available The MYC oncoprotein regulates transcription of a large fraction of the genome as an obligatory heterodimer with the transcription factor MAX. The MYC:MAX heterodimer and MAX:MAX homodimer (hereafter MYC/MAX bind Enhancer box (E-box DNA elements (CANNTG and have the greatest affinity for the canonical MYC E-box (CME CACGTG. However, MYC:MAX also recognizes E-box variants and was reported to bind DNA in a "non-specific" fashion in vitro and in vivo. Here, in order to identify potential additional non-canonical binding sites for MYC/MAX, we employed high throughput in vitro protein-binding microarrays, along with electrophoretic mobility-shift assays and bioinformatic analyses of MYC-bound genomic loci in vivo. We identified all hexameric motifs preferentially bound by MYC/MAX in vitro, which include the low-affinity non-E-box sequence AACGTT, and found that the vast majority (87% of MYC-bound genomic sites in a human B cell line contain at least one of the top 21 motifs bound by MYC:MAX in vitro. We further show that high MYC/MAX concentrations are needed for specific binding to the low-affinity sequence AACGTT in vitro and that elevated MYC levels in vivo more markedly increase the occupancy of AACGTT sites relative to CME sites, especially at distal intergenic and intragenic loci. Hence, MYC binds diverse DNA motifs with a broad range of affinities in a sequence-specific and dose-dependent manner, suggesting that MYC overexpression has more selective effects on the tumor transcriptome than previously thought.

  5. The PDZ-binding motif of Yes-associated protein is required for its co-activation of TEAD-mediated CTGF transcription and oncogenic cell transforming activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimomura, Tadanori; Miyamura, Norio; Hata, Shoji; Miura, Ryota; Hirayama, Jun; Nishina, Hiroshi

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: •Loss of the PDZ-binding motif inhibits constitutively active YAP (5SA)-induced oncogenic cell transformation. •The PDZ-binding motif of YAP promotes its nuclear localization in cultured cells and mouse liver. •Loss of the PDZ-binding motif inhibits YAP (5SA)-induced CTGF transcription in cultured cells and mouse liver. -- Abstract: YAP is a transcriptional co-activator that acts downstream of the Hippo signaling pathway and regulates multiple cellular processes, including proliferation. Hippo pathway-dependent phosphorylation of YAP negatively regulates its function. Conversely, attenuation of Hippo-mediated phosphorylation of YAP increases its ability to stimulate proliferation and eventually induces oncogenic transformation. The C-terminus of YAP contains a highly conserved PDZ-binding motif that regulates YAP’s functions in multiple ways. However, to date, the importance of the PDZ-binding motif to the oncogenic cell transforming activity of YAP has not been determined. In this study, we disrupted the PDZ-binding motif in the YAP (5SA) protein, in which the sites normally targeted by Hippo pathway-dependent phosphorylation are mutated. We found that loss of the PDZ-binding motif significantly inhibited the oncogenic transformation of cultured cells induced by YAP (5SA). In addition, the increased nuclear localization of YAP (5SA) and its enhanced activation of TEAD-dependent transcription of the cell proliferation gene CTGF were strongly reduced when the PDZ-binding motif was deleted. Similarly, in mouse liver, deletion of the PDZ-binding motif suppressed nuclear localization of YAP (5SA) and YAP (5SA)-induced CTGF expression. Taken together, our results indicate that the PDZ-binding motif of YAP is critical for YAP-mediated oncogenesis, and that this effect is mediated by YAP’s co-activation of TEAD-mediated CTGF transcription

  6. The PDZ-binding motif of Yes-associated protein is required for its co-activation of TEAD-mediated CTGF transcription and oncogenic cell transforming activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shimomura, Tadanori; Miyamura, Norio; Hata, Shoji; Miura, Ryota; Hirayama, Jun, E-mail: hirayama.dbio@mri.tmd.ac.jp; Nishina, Hiroshi, E-mail: nishina.dbio@mri.tmd.ac.jp

    2014-01-17

    Highlights: •Loss of the PDZ-binding motif inhibits constitutively active YAP (5SA)-induced oncogenic cell transformation. •The PDZ-binding motif of YAP promotes its nuclear localization in cultured cells and mouse liver. •Loss of the PDZ-binding motif inhibits YAP (5SA)-induced CTGF transcription in cultured cells and mouse liver. -- Abstract: YAP is a transcriptional co-activator that acts downstream of the Hippo signaling pathway and regulates multiple cellular processes, including proliferation. Hippo pathway-dependent phosphorylation of YAP negatively regulates its function. Conversely, attenuation of Hippo-mediated phosphorylation of YAP increases its ability to stimulate proliferation and eventually induces oncogenic transformation. The C-terminus of YAP contains a highly conserved PDZ-binding motif that regulates YAP’s functions in multiple ways. However, to date, the importance of the PDZ-binding motif to the oncogenic cell transforming activity of YAP has not been determined. In this study, we disrupted the PDZ-binding motif in the YAP (5SA) protein, in which the sites normally targeted by Hippo pathway-dependent phosphorylation are mutated. We found that loss of the PDZ-binding motif significantly inhibited the oncogenic transformation of cultured cells induced by YAP (5SA). In addition, the increased nuclear localization of YAP (5SA) and its enhanced activation of TEAD-dependent transcription of the cell proliferation gene CTGF were strongly reduced when the PDZ-binding motif was deleted. Similarly, in mouse liver, deletion of the PDZ-binding motif suppressed nuclear localization of YAP (5SA) and YAP (5SA)-induced CTGF expression. Taken together, our results indicate that the PDZ-binding motif of YAP is critical for YAP-mediated oncogenesis, and that this effect is mediated by YAP’s co-activation of TEAD-mediated CTGF transcription.

  7. Ni2+-binding RNA motifs with an asymmetric purine-rich internal loop and a G-A base pair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, H P; Limmer, S; Hornung, V; Sprinzl, M

    1997-01-01

    RNA molecules with high affinity for immobilized Ni2+ were isolated from an RNA pool with 50 randomized positions by in vitro selection-amplification. The selected RNAs preferentially bind Ni2+ and Co2+ over other cations from first series transition metals. Conserved structure motifs, comprising about 15 nt, were identified that are likely to represent the Ni2+ binding sites. Two conserved motifs contain an asymmetric purine-rich internal loop and probably a mismatch G-A base pair. The structure of one of these motifs was studied with proton NMR spectroscopy and formation of the G-A pair at the junction of helix and internal loop was demonstrated. Using Ni2+ as a paramagnetic probe, a divalent metal ion binding site near this G-A base pair was identified. Ni2+ ions bound to this motif exert a specific stabilization effect. We propose that small asymmetric purine-rich loops that contain a G-A interaction may represent a divalent metal ion binding site in RNA. PMID:9409620

  8. RNA-protein binding motifs mining with a new hybrid deep learning based cross-domain knowledge integration approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Xiaoyong; Shen, Hong-Bin

    2017-02-28

    RNAs play key roles in cells through the interactions with proteins known as the RNA-binding proteins (RBP) and their binding motifs enable crucial understanding of the post-transcriptional regulation of RNAs. How the RBPs correctly recognize the target RNAs and why they bind specific positions is still far from clear. Machine learning-based algorithms are widely acknowledged to be capable of speeding up this process. Although many automatic tools have been developed to predict the RNA-protein binding sites from the rapidly growing multi-resource data, e.g. sequence, structure, their domain specific features and formats have posed significant computational challenges. One of current difficulties is that the cross-source shared common knowledge is at a higher abstraction level beyond the observed data, resulting in a low efficiency of direct integration of observed data across domains. The other difficulty is how to interpret the prediction results. Existing approaches tend to terminate after outputting the potential discrete binding sites on the sequences, but how to assemble them into the meaningful binding motifs is a topic worth of further investigation. In viewing of these challenges, we propose a deep learning-based framework (iDeep) by using a novel hybrid convolutional neural network and deep belief network to predict the RBP interaction sites and motifs on RNAs. This new protocol is featured by transforming the original observed data into a high-level abstraction feature space using multiple layers of learning blocks, where the shared representations across different domains are integrated. To validate our iDeep method, we performed experiments on 31 large-scale CLIP-seq datasets, and our results show that by integrating multiple sources of data, the average AUC can be improved by 8% compared to the best single-source-based predictor; and through cross-domain knowledge integration at an abstraction level, it outperforms the state-of-the-art predictors by 6

  9. Gentamicin binds to the megalin receptor as a competitive inhibitor using the common ligand binding motif of complement type repeats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dagil, Robert; O'Shea, Charlotte; Nykjær, Anders

    2013-01-01

    megalin and investigated its interaction with gentamicin. Using NMR titration data in HADDOCK, we have generated a three-dimensional model describing the complex between megalin and gentamicin. Gentamicin binds to megalin with low affinity and exploits the common ligand binding motif previously described...... to megalin is highly similar to gentamicin binding to calreticulin. We discuss the impact of this novel insight for the future structure-based design of gentamicin antagonists....

  10. Structural motif screening reveals a novel, conserved carbohydrate-binding surface in the pathogenesis-related protein PR-5d

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moffatt Barbara A

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Aromatic amino acids play a critical role in protein-glycan interactions. Clusters of surface aromatic residues and their features may therefore be useful in distinguishing glycan-binding sites as well as predicting novel glycan-binding proteins. In this work, a structural bioinformatics approach was used to screen the Protein Data Bank (PDB for coplanar aromatic motifs similar to those found in known glycan-binding proteins. Results The proteins identified in the screen were significantly associated with carbohydrate-related functions according to gene ontology (GO enrichment analysis, and predicted motifs were found frequently within novel folds and glycan-binding sites not included in the training set. In addition to numerous binding sites predicted in structural genomics proteins of unknown function, one novel prediction was a surface motif (W34/W36/W192 in the tobacco pathogenesis-related protein, PR-5d. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the surface motif is exclusive to a subfamily of PR-5 proteins from the Solanaceae family of plants, and is absent completely in more distant homologs. To confirm PR-5d's insoluble-polysaccharide binding activity, a cellulose-pulldown assay of tobacco proteins was performed and PR-5d was identified in the cellulose-binding fraction by mass spectrometry. Conclusions Based on the combined results, we propose that the putative binding site in PR-5d may be an evolutionary adaptation of Solanaceae plants including potato, tomato, and tobacco, towards defense against cellulose-containing pathogens such as species of the deadly oomycete genus, Phytophthora. More generally, the results demonstrate that coplanar aromatic clusters on protein surfaces are a structural signature of glycan-binding proteins, and can be used to computationally predict novel glycan-binding proteins from 3 D structure.

  11. Structural motif screening reveals a novel, conserved carbohydrate-binding surface in the pathogenesis-related protein PR-5d.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doxey, Andrew C; Cheng, Zhenyu; Moffatt, Barbara A; McConkey, Brendan J

    2010-08-03

    Aromatic amino acids play a critical role in protein-glycan interactions. Clusters of surface aromatic residues and their features may therefore be useful in distinguishing glycan-binding sites as well as predicting novel glycan-binding proteins. In this work, a structural bioinformatics approach was used to screen the Protein Data Bank (PDB) for coplanar aromatic motifs similar to those found in known glycan-binding proteins. The proteins identified in the screen were significantly associated with carbohydrate-related functions according to gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, and predicted motifs were found frequently within novel folds and glycan-binding sites not included in the training set. In addition to numerous binding sites predicted in structural genomics proteins of unknown function, one novel prediction was a surface motif (W34/W36/W192) in the tobacco pathogenesis-related protein, PR-5d. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the surface motif is exclusive to a subfamily of PR-5 proteins from the Solanaceae family of plants, and is absent completely in more distant homologs. To confirm PR-5d's insoluble-polysaccharide binding activity, a cellulose-pulldown assay of tobacco proteins was performed and PR-5d was identified in the cellulose-binding fraction by mass spectrometry. Based on the combined results, we propose that the putative binding site in PR-5d may be an evolutionary adaptation of Solanaceae plants including potato, tomato, and tobacco, towards defense against cellulose-containing pathogens such as species of the deadly oomycete genus, Phytophthora. More generally, the results demonstrate that coplanar aromatic clusters on protein surfaces are a structural signature of glycan-binding proteins, and can be used to computationally predict novel glycan-binding proteins from 3 D structure.

  12. The Runt domain of AML1 (RUNX1) binds a sequence-conserved RNA motif that mimics a DNA element.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukunaga, Junichi; Nomura, Yusuke; Tanaka, Yoichiro; Amano, Ryo; Tanaka, Taku; Nakamura, Yoshikazu; Kawai, Gota; Sakamoto, Taiichi; Kozu, Tomoko

    2013-07-01

    AML1 (RUNX1) is a key transcription factor for hematopoiesis that binds to the Runt-binding double-stranded DNA element (RDE) of target genes through its N-terminal Runt domain. Aberrations in the AML1 gene are frequently found in human leukemia. To better understand AML1 and its potential utility for diagnosis and therapy, we obtained RNA aptamers that bind specifically to the AML1 Runt domain. Enzymatic probing and NMR analyses revealed that Apt1-S, which is a truncated variant of one of the aptamers, has a CACG tetraloop and two stem regions separated by an internal loop. All the isolated aptamers were found to contain the conserved sequence motif 5'-NNCCAC-3' and 5'-GCGMGN'N'-3' (M:A or C; N and N' form Watson-Crick base pairs). The motif contains one AC mismatch and one base bulged out. Mutational analysis of Apt1-S showed that three guanines of the motif are important for Runt binding as are the three guanines of RDE, which are directly recognized by three arginine residues of the Runt domain. Mutational analyses of the Runt domain revealed that the amino acid residues used for Apt1-S binding were similar to those used for RDE binding. Furthermore, the aptamer competed with RDE for binding to the Runt domain in vitro. These results demonstrated that the Runt domain of the AML1 protein binds to the motif of the aptamer that mimics DNA. Our findings should provide new insights into RNA function and utility in both basic and applied sciences.

  13. Conserved retinoblastoma protein-binding motif in human cytomegalovirus UL97 kinase minimally impacts viral replication but affects susceptibility to maribavir

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chou Sunwen

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The UL97 kinase has been shown to phosphorylate and inactivate the retinoblastoma protein (Rb and has three consensus Rb-binding motifs that might contribute to this activity. Recombinant viruses containing mutations in the Rb-binding motifs generally replicated well in human foreskin fibroblasts with only a slight delay in replication kinetics. Their susceptibility to the specific UL97 kinase inhibitor, maribavir, was also examined. Mutation of the amino terminal motif, which is involved in the inactivation of Rb, also renders the virus hypersensitive to the drug and suggests that the motif may play a role in its mechanism of action.

  14. A Common Structural Motif in the Binding of Virulence Factors to Bacterial Secretion Chaperones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lilic, M.; Vujanac, M.; Stebbins, C.

    2006-01-01

    Salmonella invasion protein A (SipA) is translocated into host cells by a type III secretion system (T3SS) and comprises two regions: one domain binds its cognate type III secretion chaperone, InvB, in the bacterium to facilitate translocation, while a second domain functions in the host cell, contributing to bacterial uptake by polymerizing actin. We present here the crystal structures of the SipA chaperone binding domain (CBD) alone and in complex with InvB. The SipA CBD is found to consist of a nonglobular polypeptide as well as a large globular domain, both of which are necessary for binding to InvB. We also identify a structural motif that may direct virulence factors to their cognate chaperones in a diverse range of pathogenic bacteria. Disruption of this structural motif leads to a destabilization of several chaperone-substrate complexes from different species, as well as an impairment of secretion in Salmonella

  15. RSAT matrix-clustering: dynamic exploration and redundancy reduction of transcription factor binding motif collections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro-Mondragon, Jaime Abraham; Jaeger, Sébastien; Thieffry, Denis; Thomas-Chollier, Morgane; van Helden, Jacques

    2017-07-27

    Transcription factor (TF) databases contain multitudes of binding motifs (TFBMs) from various sources, from which non-redundant collections are derived by manual curation. The advent of high-throughput methods stimulated the production of novel collections with increasing numbers of motifs. Meta-databases, built by merging these collections, contain redundant versions, because available tools are not suited to automatically identify and explore biologically relevant clusters among thousands of motifs. Motif discovery from genome-scale data sets (e.g. ChIP-seq) also produces redundant motifs, hampering the interpretation of results. We present matrix-clustering, a versatile tool that clusters similar TFBMs into multiple trees, and automatically creates non-redundant TFBM collections. A feature unique to matrix-clustering is its dynamic visualisation of aligned TFBMs, and its capability to simultaneously treat multiple collections from various sources. We demonstrate that matrix-clustering considerably simplifies the interpretation of combined results from multiple motif discovery tools, and highlights biologically relevant variations of similar motifs. We also ran a large-scale application to cluster ∼11 000 motifs from 24 entire databases, showing that matrix-clustering correctly groups motifs belonging to the same TF families, and drastically reduced motif redundancy. matrix-clustering is integrated within the RSAT suite (http://rsat.eu/), accessible through a user-friendly web interface or command-line for its integration in pipelines. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  16. Secbase: database module to retrieve secondary structure elements with ligand binding motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Oliver; Cole, Jason; Block, Peter; Klebe, Gerhard

    2009-10-01

    Secbase is presented as a novel extension module of Relibase. It integrates the information about secondary structure elements into the retrieval facilities of Relibase. The data are accessible via the extended Relibase user interface, and integrated retrieval queries can be addressed using an extended version of Reliscript. The primary information about alpha-helices and beta-sheets is used as provided by the PDB. Furthermore, a uniform classification of all turn families, based on recent clustering methods, and a new helix assignment that is based on this turn classification has been included. Algorithms to analyze the geometric features of helices and beta-strands were also implemented. To demonstrate the performance of the Secbase implementation, some application examples are given. They provide new insights into the involvement of secondary structure elements in ligand binding. A survey of water molecules detected next to the N-terminus of helices is analyzed to show their involvement in ligand binding. Additionally, the parallel oriented NH groups at the alpha-helix N-termini provide special binding motifs to bind particular ligand functional groups with two adjacent oxygen atoms, e.g., as found in negatively charged carboxylate or phosphate groups, respectively. The present study also shows that the specific structure of the first turn of alpha-helices provides a suitable explanation for stabilizing charged structures. The magnitude of the overall helix macrodipole seems to have no or only a minor influence on binding. Furthermore, an overview of the involvement of secondary structure elements with the recognition of some important endogenous ligands such as cofactors shows some distinct preference for particular binding motifs and amino acids.

  17. Regulation and function of the CD3¿ DxxxLL motif: a binding site for adaptor protein-1 and adaptor protein-2 in vitro

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dietrich, J; Kastrup, J; Nielsen, B L

    1997-01-01

    /CD3gamma chimeras; and in vitro by binding CD3gamma peptides to clathrin-coated vesicle adaptor proteins (APs). We find that the CD3gamma D127xxxLL131/132 sequence represents one united motif for binding of both AP-1 and AP-2, and that this motif functions as an active sorting motif in monomeric CD4...... and for AP binding in vitro. Furthermore, we provide evidence indicating that phosphorylation of CD3gamma S126 in the context of the complete TCR induces a conformational change that exposes the DxxxLL sequence for AP binding. Exposure of the DxxxLL motif causes an increase in the TCR internalization rate...

  18. An essential GT motif in the lamin A promoter mediates activation by CREB-binding protein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janaki Ramaiah, M.; Parnaik, Veena K.

    2006-01-01

    Lamin A is an important component of nuclear architecture in mammalian cells. Mutations in the human lamin A gene lead to highly degenerative disorders that affect specific tissues. In studies directed towards understanding the mode of regulation of the lamin A promoter, we have identified an essential GT motif at -55 position by reporter gene assays and mutational analysis. Binding of this sequence to Sp transcription factors has been observed in electrophoretic mobility shift assays and by chromatin immunoprecipitation studies. Further functional analysis by co-expression of recombinant proteins and ChIP assays has shown an important regulatory role for CREB-binding protein in promoter activation, which is mediated by the GT motif

  19. Characterizing the binding motifs of 11 common human HLA‐DP and HLA‐DQ molecules using NNAlign

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreatta, Massimo; Nielsen, Morten

    2012-01-01

    ‐based method NNAlign, we characterized the binding specificities of five HLA‐DP and six HLA‐DQ among the most frequent in the human population. The identified binding motifs showed an overall concurrence with earlier studies but revealed subtle differences. The DP molecules revealed a large overlap...

  20. Modification of Titanium Substrates with Chimeric Peptides Comprising Antimicrobial and Titanium-Binding Motifs Connected by Linkers To Inhibit Biofilm Formation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zihao; Ma, Shiqing; Duan, Shun; Xuliang, Deng; Sun, Yingchun; Zhang, Xi; Xu, Xinhua; Guan, Binbin; Wang, Chao; Hu, Meilin; Qi, Xingying; Zhang, Xu; Gao, Ping

    2016-03-02

    Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation are the primary causes of implant-associated infection, which is difficult to eliminate and may induce failure in dental implants. Chimeric peptides with both binding and antimicrobial motifs may provide a promising alternative to inhibit biofilm formation on titanium surfaces. In this study, chimeric peptides were designed by connecting an antimicrobial motif (JH8194: KRLFRRWQWRMKKY) with a binding motif (minTBP-1: RKLPDA) directly or via flexible/rigid linkers to modify Ti surfaces. We evaluated the binding behavior of peptides using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques and investigated the effect of the modification of titanium surfaces with these peptides on the bioactivity of Streptococcus gordonii (S. gordonii) and Streptococcus sanguis (S. sanguis). Compared with the flexible linker (GGGGS), the rigid linker (PAPAP) significantly increased the adsorption of the chimeric peptide on titanium surfaces (p chimeric peptide with the rigid linker exhibited more effective antimicrobial ability than the peptide with the flexible linker. This finding was ascribed to the ability of the rigid linker to separate functional domains and reduce their interference to the maximum extent. Consequently, the performance of chimeric peptides with specific titanium-binding motifs and antimicrobial motifs against bacteria can be optimized by the proper selection of linkers. This rational design of chimeric peptides provides a promising alternative to inhibit the formation of biofilms on titanium surfaces with the potential to prevent peri-implantitis and peri-implant mucositis.

  1. A Heparin Binding Motif Rich in Arginine and Lysine is the Functional Domain of YKL-40

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nipaporn Ngernyuang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The heparin-binding glycoprotein YKL-40 (CHI3L1 is intimately associated with microvascularization in multiple human diseases including cancer and inflammation. However, the heparin-binding domain(s pertinent to the angiogenic activity have yet been identified. YKL-40 harbors a consensus heparin-binding motif that consists of positively charged arginine (R and lysine (K (RRDK; residues 144–147; but they don't bind to heparin. Intriguingly, we identified a separate KR-rich domain (residues 334–345 that does display strong heparin binding affinity. A short synthetic peptide spanning this KR-rich domain successfully competed with YKL-40 and blocked its ability to bind heparin. Three individual point mutations, where alanine (A substituted for K or R (K337A, K342A, R344A, led to remarkable decreases in heparin-binding ability and angiogenic activity. In addition, a neutralizing anti-YKL-40 antibody that targets these residues and prevents heparin binding impeded angiogenesis in vitro. MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells engineered to express ectopic K337A, K342A or R344A mutants displayed reduced tumor development and compromised tumor vessel formation in mice relative to control cells expressing wild-type YKL-40. These data reveal that the KR-rich heparin-binding motif is the functional heparin-binding domain of YKL-40. Our findings shed light on novel molecular mechanisms underlying endothelial cell angiogenesis promoted by YKL-40 in a variety of diseases.

  2. Identification of a novel calcium binding motif based on the detection of sequence insertions in the animal peroxidase domain of bacterial proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santamaría-Hernando, Saray; Krell, Tino; Ramos-González, María-Isabel

    2012-01-01

    Proteins of the animal heme peroxidase (ANP) superfamily differ greatly in size since they have either one or two catalytic domains that match profile PS50292. The orf PP_2561 of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 that we have called PepA encodes a two-domain ANP. The alignment of these domains with those of PepA homologues revealed a variable number of insertions with the consensus G-x-D-G-x-x-[GN]-[TN]-x-D-D. This motif has also been detected in the structure of pseudopilin (pdb 3G20), where it was found to be involved in Ca(2+) coordination although a sequence analysis did not reveal the presence of any known calcium binding motifs in this protein. Isothermal titration calorimetry revealed that a peptide containing this consensus motif bound specifically calcium ions with affinities ranging between 33-79 µM depending on the pH. Microcalorimetric titrations of the purified N-terminal ANP-like domain of PepA revealed Ca(2+) binding with a K(D) of 12 µM and stoichiometry of 1.25 calcium ions per protein monomer. This domain exhibited peroxidase activity after its reconstitution with heme. These data led to the definition of a novel calcium binding motif that we have termed PERCAL and which was abundantly present in animal peroxidase-like domains of bacterial proteins. Bacterial heme peroxidases thus possess two different types of calcium binding motifs, namely PERCAL and the related hemolysin type calcium binding motif, with the latter being located outside the catalytic domains and in their C-terminal end. A phylogenetic tree of ANP-like catalytic domains of bacterial proteins with PERCAL motifs, including single domain peroxidases, was divided into two major clusters, representing domains with and without PERCAL motif containing insertions. We have verified that the recently reported classification of bacterial heme peroxidases in two families (cd09819 and cd09821) is unrelated to these insertions. Sequences matching PERCAL were detected in all kingdoms of life.

  3. Identification of a novel calcium binding motif based on the detection of sequence insertions in the animal peroxidase domain of bacterial proteins.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saray Santamaría-Hernando

    Full Text Available Proteins of the animal heme peroxidase (ANP superfamily differ greatly in size since they have either one or two catalytic domains that match profile PS50292. The orf PP_2561 of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 that we have called PepA encodes a two-domain ANP. The alignment of these domains with those of PepA homologues revealed a variable number of insertions with the consensus G-x-D-G-x-x-[GN]-[TN]-x-D-D. This motif has also been detected in the structure of pseudopilin (pdb 3G20, where it was found to be involved in Ca(2+ coordination although a sequence analysis did not reveal the presence of any known calcium binding motifs in this protein. Isothermal titration calorimetry revealed that a peptide containing this consensus motif bound specifically calcium ions with affinities ranging between 33-79 µM depending on the pH. Microcalorimetric titrations of the purified N-terminal ANP-like domain of PepA revealed Ca(2+ binding with a K(D of 12 µM and stoichiometry of 1.25 calcium ions per protein monomer. This domain exhibited peroxidase activity after its reconstitution with heme. These data led to the definition of a novel calcium binding motif that we have termed PERCAL and which was abundantly present in animal peroxidase-like domains of bacterial proteins. Bacterial heme peroxidases thus possess two different types of calcium binding motifs, namely PERCAL and the related hemolysin type calcium binding motif, with the latter being located outside the catalytic domains and in their C-terminal end. A phylogenetic tree of ANP-like catalytic domains of bacterial proteins with PERCAL motifs, including single domain peroxidases, was divided into two major clusters, representing domains with and without PERCAL motif containing insertions. We have verified that the recently reported classification of bacterial heme peroxidases in two families (cd09819 and cd09821 is unrelated to these insertions. Sequences matching PERCAL were detected in all kingdoms of

  4. Binding of the cSH3 domain of Grb2 adaptor to two distinct RXXK motifs within Gab1 docker employs differential mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, Caleb B; Seldeen, Kenneth L; Deegan, Brian J; Bhat, Vikas; Farooq, Amjad

    2011-01-01

    A ubiquitous component of cellular signaling machinery, Gab1 docker plays a pivotal role in routing extracellular information in the form of growth factors and cytokines to downstream targets such as transcription factors within the nucleus. Here, using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) in combination with macromolecular modeling (MM), we show that although Gab1 contains four distinct RXXK motifs, designated G1, G2, G3, and G4, only G1 and G2 motifs bind to the cSH3 domain of Grb2 adaptor and do so with distinct mechanisms. Thus, while the G1 motif strictly requires the PPRPPKP consensus sequence for high-affinity binding to the cSH3 domain, the G2 motif displays preference for the PXVXRXLKPXR consensus. Such sequential differences in the binding of G1 and G2 motifs arise from their ability to adopt distinct polyproline type II (PPII)- and 3(10) -helical conformations upon binding to the cSH3 domain, respectively. Collectively, our study provides detailed biophysical insights into a key protein-protein interaction involved in a diverse array of signaling cascades central to health and disease. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Computational analysis and prediction of the binding motif and protein interacting partners of the Abl SH3 domain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tingjun Hou

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Protein-protein interactions, particularly weak and transient ones, are often mediated by peptide recognition domains, such as Src Homology 2 and 3 (SH2 and SH3 domains, which bind to specific sequence and structural motifs. It is important but challenging to determine the binding specificity of these domains accurately and to predict their physiological interacting partners. In this study, the interactions between 35 peptide ligands (15 binders and 20 non-binders and the Abl SH3 domain were analyzed using molecular dynamics simulation and the Molecular Mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann Solvent Area method. The calculated binding free energies correlated well with the rank order of the binding peptides and clearly distinguished binders from non-binders. Free energy component analysis revealed that the van der Waals interactions dictate the binding strength of peptides, whereas the binding specificity is determined by the electrostatic interaction and the polar contribution of desolvation. The binding motif of the Abl SH3 domain was then determined by a virtual mutagenesis method, which mutates the residue at each position of the template peptide relative to all other 19 amino acids and calculates the binding free energy difference between the template and the mutated peptides using the Molecular Mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann Solvent Area method. A single position mutation free energy profile was thus established and used as a scoring matrix to search peptides recognized by the Abl SH3 domain in the human genome. Our approach successfully picked ten out of 13 experimentally determined binding partners of the Abl SH3 domain among the top 600 candidates from the 218,540 decapeptides with the PXXP motif in the SWISS-PROT database. We expect that this physical-principle based method can be applied to other protein domains as well.

  6. Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Type 1 (CRHR1 Clustering with MAGUKs Is Mediated via Its C-Terminal PDZ Binding Motif.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Bender

    Full Text Available The corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor type 1 (CRHR1 plays an important role in orchestrating neuroendocrine, behavioral, and autonomic responses to stress. To identify molecules capable of directly modulating CRHR1 signaling, we performed a yeast-two-hybrid screen using the C-terminal intracellular tail of the receptor as bait. We identified several members of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK family: postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95, synapse-associated protein 97 (SAP97, SAP102 and membrane associated guanylate kinase, WW and PDZ domain containing 2 (MAGI2. CRHR1 is co-expressed with the identified MAGUKs and with the additionally investigated PSD93 in neurons of the adult mouse brain and in primary hippocampal neurons, supporting the probability of a physiological interaction in vivo. The C-terminal PDZ (PSD-95, discs large, zona occludens 1 binding motif of CRHR1 is essential for its physical interaction with MAGUKs, as revealed by the CRHR1-STAVA mutant, which harbors a functionally impaired PDZ binding motif. The imitation of a phosphorylation at Thr413 within the PDZ binding motif also disrupted the interaction with MAGUKs. In contrast, distinct PDZ domains within the identified MAGUKs are involved in the interactions. Expression of CRHR1 in primary neurons demonstrated its localization throughout the neuronal plasma membrane, including the excitatory post synapse, where the receptor co-localized with PSD95 and SAP97. The co-expression of CRHR1 and respective interacting MAGUKs in HEK293 cells resulted in a clustered subcellular co-localization which required an intact PDZ binding motif. In conclusion, our study characterized the PDZ binding motif-mediated interaction of CRHR1 with multiple MAGUKs, which directly affects receptor function.

  7. Bayesian centroid estimation for motif discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carvalho, Luis

    2013-01-01

    Biological sequences may contain patterns that signal important biomolecular functions; a classical example is regulation of gene expression by transcription factors that bind to specific patterns in genomic promoter regions. In motif discovery we are given a set of sequences that share a common motif and aim to identify not only the motif composition, but also the binding sites in each sequence of the set. We propose a new centroid estimator that arises from a refined and meaningful loss function for binding site inference. We discuss the main advantages of centroid estimation for motif discovery, including computational convenience, and how its principled derivation offers further insights about the posterior distribution of binding site configurations. We also illustrate, using simulated and real datasets, that the centroid estimator can differ from the traditional maximum a posteriori or maximum likelihood estimators.

  8. Bayesian centroid estimation for motif discovery.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Carvalho

    Full Text Available Biological sequences may contain patterns that signal important biomolecular functions; a classical example is regulation of gene expression by transcription factors that bind to specific patterns in genomic promoter regions. In motif discovery we are given a set of sequences that share a common motif and aim to identify not only the motif composition, but also the binding sites in each sequence of the set. We propose a new centroid estimator that arises from a refined and meaningful loss function for binding site inference. We discuss the main advantages of centroid estimation for motif discovery, including computational convenience, and how its principled derivation offers further insights about the posterior distribution of binding site configurations. We also illustrate, using simulated and real datasets, that the centroid estimator can differ from the traditional maximum a posteriori or maximum likelihood estimators.

  9. Motif III in superfamily 2 "helicases" helps convert the binding energy of ATP into a high-affinity RNA binding site in the yeast DEAD-box protein Ded1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banroques, Josette; Doère, Monique; Dreyfus, Marc; Linder, Patrick; Tanner, N Kyle

    2010-03-05

    Motif III in the putative helicases of superfamily 2 is highly conserved in both its sequence and its structural context. It typically consists of the sequence alcohol-alanine-alcohol (S/T-A-S/T). Historically, it was thought to link ATPase activity with a "helicase" strand displacement activity that disrupts RNA or DNA duplexes. DEAD-box proteins constitute the largest family of superfamily 2; they are RNA-dependent ATPases and ATP-dependent RNA binding proteins that, in some cases, are able to disrupt short RNA duplexes. We made mutations of motif III (S-A-T) in the yeast DEAD-box protein Ded1 and analyzed in vivo phenotypes and in vitro properties. Moreover, we made a tertiary model of Ded1 based on the solved structure of Vasa. We used Ded1 because it has relatively high ATPase and RNA binding activities; it is able to displace moderately stable duplexes at a large excess of substrate. We find that the alanine and the threonine in the second and third positions of motif III are more important than the serine, but that mutations of all three residues have strong phenotypes. We purified the wild-type and various mutants expressed in Escherichia coli. We found that motif III mutations affect the RNA-dependent hydrolysis of ATP (k(cat)), but not the affinity for ATP (K(m)). Moreover, mutations alter and reduce the affinity for single-stranded RNA and subsequently reduce the ability to disrupt duplexes. We obtained intragenic suppressors of the S-A-C mutant that compensate for the mutation by enhancing the affinity for ATP and RNA. We conclude that motif III and the binding energy of gamma-PO(4) of ATP are used to coordinate motifs I, II, and VI and the two RecA-like domains to create a high-affinity single-stranded RNA binding site. It also may help activate the beta,gamma-phosphoanhydride bond of ATP. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Global MYCN transcription factor binding analysis in neuroblastoma reveals association with distinct E-box motifs and regions of DNA hypermethylation.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Murphy, Derek M

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma, a cancer derived from precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous system, is a major cause of childhood cancer related deaths. The single most important prognostic indicator of poor clinical outcome in this disease is genomic amplification of MYCN, a member of a family of oncogenic transcription factors. METHODOLOGY: We applied MYCN chromatin immunoprecipitation to microarrays (ChIP-chip) using MYCN amplified\\/non-amplified cell lines as well as a conditional knockdown cell line to determine the distribution of MYCN binding sites within all annotated promoter regions. CONCLUSION: Assessment of E-box usage within consistently positive MYCN binding sites revealed a predominance for the CATGTG motif (p<0.0016), with significant enrichment of additional motifs CATTTG, CATCTG, CAACTG in the MYCN amplified state. For cell lines over-expressing MYCN, gene ontology analysis revealed enrichment for the binding of MYCN at promoter regions of numerous molecular functional groups including DNA helicases and mRNA transcriptional regulation. In order to evaluate MYCN binding with respect to other genomic features, we determined the methylation status of all annotated CpG islands and promoter sequences using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP). The integration of MYCN ChIP-chip and MeDIP data revealed a highly significant positive correlation between MYCN binding and DNA hypermethylation. This association was also detected in regions of hemizygous loss, indicating that the observed association occurs on the same homologue. In summary, these findings suggest that MYCN binding occurs more commonly at CATGTG as opposed to the classic CACGTG E-box motif, and that disease associated over expression of MYCN leads to aberrant binding to additional weaker affinity E-box motifs in neuroblastoma. The co-localization of MYCN binding and DNA hypermethylation further supports the dual role of MYCN, namely that of a classical transcription factor affecting the

  11. Myosin-1A Targets to Microvilli Using Multiple Membrane Binding Motifs in the Tail Homology 1 (TH1) Domain*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazerik, Jessica N.; Tyska, Matthew J.

    2012-01-01

    One of the most abundant components of the enterocyte brush border is the actin-based monomeric motor, myosin-1a (Myo1a). Within brush border microvilli, Myo1a carries out a number of critical functions at the interface between membrane and actin cytoskeleton. Proper physiological function of Myo1a depends on its ability to bind to microvillar membrane, an interaction mediated by a C-terminal tail homology 1 (TH1) domain. However, little is known about the mechanistic details of the Myo1a-TH1/membrane interaction. Structure-function analysis of Myo1a-TH1 targeting in epithelial cells revealed that an N-terminal motif conserved among class I myosins and a C-terminal motif unique to Myo1a-TH1 are both required for steady state microvillar enrichment. Purified Myo1a bound to liposomes composed of phosphatidylserine and phosphoinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, with moderate affinity in a charge-dependent manner. Additionally, peptides of the N- and C-terminal regions required for targeting were able to compete with Myo1a for binding to highly charged liposomes in vitro. Single molecule total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy showed that these motifs are also necessary for slowing the membrane detachment rate in cells. Finally, Myo1a-TH1 co-localized with both lactadherin-C2 (a phosphatidylserine-binding protein) and PLCδ1-PH (a phosphoinositol 4,5-bisphosphate-binding protein) in microvilli, but only lactaderin-C2 expression reduced brush border targeting of Myo1a-TH1. Together, our results suggest that Myo1a targeting to microvilli is driven by membrane binding potential that is distributed throughout TH1 rather than localized to a single motif. These data highlight the diversity of mechanisms that enable different class I myosins to target membranes in distinct biological contexts. PMID:22367206

  12. Two sequence motifs from HIF-1α bind to the DNA-binding site of p53

    OpenAIRE

    Hansson, Lars O.; Friedler, Assaf; Freund, Stefan; Rüdiger, Stefan; Fersht, Alan R.

    2002-01-01

    There is evidence that hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) interacts with the tumor suppressor p53. To characterize the putative interaction, we mapped the binding of the core domain of p53 (p53c) to an array of immobilized HIF-1α-derived peptides and found two peptide-sequence motifs that bound to p53c with micromolar affinity in solution. One sequence was adjacent to and the other coincided with the two proline residues of the oxygen-dependent degradation domain (P402 and P564) that act as...

  13. Beauvericin synthetase contains a calmodulin binding motif in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jiyoung; Sung, Gi-Ho

    2018-03-19

    Beauvericin is a mycotoxin which has insecticidal, anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-cancer activities. Beauvericin biosynthesis is rapidly catalyzed by the beauvericin synthetase (BEAS) in Beauveria bassiana. Ca 2+ plays crucial roles in multiple signaling pathways in eukaryotic cells. These Ca 2+ signals are partially decoded by Ca 2+ sensor calmodulin (CaM). In this report, we describe that B. bassiana BEAS (BbBEAS) can interact with CaM in a Ca 2+ -dependent manner. A synthetic BbBEAS peptide, corresponding to the putative CaM-binding motif, formed a stable complex with CaM in the presence of Ca 2+ . In addition, in vitro CaM-binding assay revealed that the His-tagged BbBEAS (amino acids 2421-2538) binds to CaM in a Ca 2+ -dependent manner. Therefore, this work suggests that BbBEAS is a novel CaM-binding protein in B. bassiana.

  14. The human Ago2 MC region does not contain an eIF4E-like mRNA cap binding motif

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grishin Nick V

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Argonaute (Ago proteins interact with small regulatory RNAs to mediate gene regulatory pathways. A recent report by Kiriakidou et al. 1 describes an MC sequence region identified in Ago2 that displays similarity to the cap-binding motif in translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E. In a cap-bound eIF4E structure, two important aromatic residues of the motif stack on either side of a 7-methylguanosine 5'-triphosphate (m7Gppp base. The corresponding Ago2 aromatic residues (F450 and F505 were hypothesized to perform the same cap-binding function. However, the detected similarity between the MC sequence and the eIF4E cap-binding motif was questionable. Results A number of sequence-based and structure-based bioinformatics methods reveal the reported similarity between the Ago2 MC sequence region and the eIF4E cap-binding motif to be spurious. Alternatively, the MC sequence region is confidently assigned to the N-terminus of the Ago piwi module, within the mid domain of experimentally determined prokaryotic Ago structures. Confident mapping of the Ago2 MC sequence region to the piwi mid domain results in a homology-based structure model that positions the identified aromatic residues over 20 Å apart, with one of the aromatic side chains (F450 contributing instead to the hydrophobic core of the domain. Conclusion Correct functional prediction based on weak sequence similarity requires substantial evolutionary and structural support. The evolutionary context of the Ago mid domain suggested by multiple sequence alignment is limited to a conserved hydrophobicity profile required for the fold and a motif following the MC region that binds guide RNA. Mapping of the MC sequence to the mid domain structure reveals Ago2 aromatics that are incompatible with eIF4E-like mRNA cap-binding, yet display some limited local structure similarities that cause the chance sequence match to eIF4E. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Arcady Mushegian

  15. Preorganization of the catalytic Zn2+-binding site in the HNH nuclease motif-A solution study

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Németh, E.; Kožíšek, Milan; Schilli, G. K.; Gyurcsik, B.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 151, Oct (2015), s. 143-149 ISSN 0162-0134 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LO1302 Institutional support: RVO:61388963 Keywords : HNH-motif * metallonuclease * Zn2+-binding * protein folding * ITC Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry Impact factor: 3.205, year: 2015

  16. Multiple POU-binding motifs, recognized by tissue-specific nuclear factors, are important for Dll1 gene expression in neural stem cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakayama, Kohzo; Nagase, Kazuko; Tokutake, Yuriko; Koh, Chang-Sung; Hiratochi, Masahiro; Ohkawara, Takeshi; Nakayama, Noriko

    2004-01-01

    We cloned the 5'-flanking region of the mouse homolog of the Delta gene (Dll1) and demonstrated that the sequence between nucleotide position -514 and -484 in the 5'-flanking region of Dll1 played a critical role in the regulation of its tissue-specific expression in neural stem cells (NSCs). Further, we showed that multiple POU-binding motifs, located within this short sequence of 30 bp, were essential for transcriptional activation of Dll1 and also that multiple tissue-specific nuclear factors recognized these POU-binding motifs in various combinations through differentiation of NSCs. Thus, POU-binding factors may play an important role in Dll1 expression in developing NSCs

  17. Sequence similarity between the erythrocyte binding domain of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein and the V3 loop of HIV-1 strain MN reveals a functional heparin binding motif involved in binding to the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines

    OpenAIRE

    Bolton, Michael J; Garry, Robert F

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Background The HIV surface glycoprotein gp120 (SU, gp120) and the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein (PvDBP) bind to chemokine receptors during infection and have a site of amino acid sequence similarity in their binding domains that often includes a heparin binding motif (HBM). Infection by either pathogen has been found to be inhibited by polyanions. Results Specific polyanions that inhibit HIV infection and bind to the V3 loop of X4 strains also inhibited DBP-mediated infectio...

  18. MSDmotif: exploring protein sites and motifs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henrick Kim

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein structures have conserved features – motifs, which have a sufficient influence on the protein function. These motifs can be found in sequence as well as in 3D space. Understanding of these fragments is essential for 3D structure prediction, modelling and drug-design. The Protein Data Bank (PDB is the source of this information however present search tools have limited 3D options to integrate protein sequence with its 3D structure. Results We describe here a web application for querying the PDB for ligands, binding sites, small 3D structural and sequence motifs and the underlying database. Novel algorithms for chemical fragments, 3D motifs, ϕ/ψ sequences, super-secondary structure motifs and for small 3D structural motif associations searches are incorporated. The interface provides functionality for visualization, search criteria creation, sequence and 3D multiple alignment options. MSDmotif is an integrated system where a results page is also a search form. A set of motif statistics is available for analysis. This set includes molecule and motif binding statistics, distribution of motif sequences, occurrence of an amino-acid within a motif, correlation of amino-acids side-chain charges within a motif and Ramachandran plots for each residue. The binding statistics are presented in association with properties that include a ligand fragment library. Access is also provided through the distributed Annotation System (DAS protocol. An additional entry point facilitates XML requests with XML responses. Conclusion MSDmotif is unique by combining chemical, sequence and 3D data in a single search engine with a range of search and visualisation options. It provides multiple views of data found in the PDB archive for exploring protein structures.

  19. The NTP-binding motif in cowpea mosaic virus B polyprotein is essential for viral replication

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peters, S A; Verver, J; Nollen, E A; van Lent, J W; Wellink, J; van Kammen, A

    1994-01-01

    We have assessed the functional importance of the NTP-binding motif (NTBM) in the cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) B-RNA-encoded 58K domain by changing two conserved amino acids within the consensus A and B sites (GKSRTGK500S and MDD545, respectively). Both Lys-500 to Thr and Asp-545 to Pro substitutions

  20. Characterization of the Canine MHC Class I DLA-88*50101 Peptide Binding Motif as a Prerequisite for Canine T Cell Immunotherapy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharon M Barth

    Full Text Available There are limitations in pre-clinical settings using mice as a basis for clinical development in humans. In cancer, similarities exist between humans and dogs; thus, the dog patient can be a link in the transition from laboratory research on mouse models to clinical trials in humans. Knowledge of the peptides presented on MHC molecules is fundamental for the development of highly specific T cell-based immunotherapies. This information is available for human MHC molecules but is absent for the canine MHC. In the present study, we characterized the binding motif of dog leukocyte antigen (DLA class I allele DLA-88*50101, using human C1R and K562 transfected cells expressing the DLA-88*50101 heavy chain. MHC class I immunoaffinity-purification revealed 3720 DLA-88*50101 derived peptides, which enabled the determination of major anchor positions. The characterized binding motif of DLA-88*50101 was similar to HLA-A*02:01. Peptide binding analyses on HLA-A*02:01 and DLA-88*50101 via flow cytometry showed weak binding of DLA-88*50101 derived peptides to HLA-A*02:01, and vice versa. Our results present for the first time a detailed peptide binding motif of the canine MHC class I allelic product DLA-88*50101. These data support the goal of establishing dogs as a suitable animal model for the evaluation and development of T cell-based cancer immunotherapies, benefiting both dog and human patients.

  1. Neighboring phosphoSer-Pro motifs in the undefined domain of IRAK1 impart bivalent advantage for Pin1 binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogals, Monique J; Greenwood, Alexander I; Kwon, Jeahoo; Lu, Kun Ping; Nicholson, Linda K

    2016-12-01

    The peptidyl prolyl isomerase Pin1 has two domains that are considered to be its binding (WW) and catalytic (PPIase) domains, both of which interact with phosphorylated Ser/Thr-Pro motifs. This shared specificity might influence substrate selection, as many known Pin1 substrates have multiple sequentially close phosphoSer/Thr-Pro motifs, including the protein interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase-1 (IRAK1). The IRAK1 undefined domain (UD) contains two sets of such neighboring motifs (Ser131/Ser144 and Ser163/Ser173), suggesting possible bivalent interactions with Pin1. Using a series of NMR titrations with 15N-labeled full-length Pin1 (Pin1-FL), PPIase, or WW domain and phosphopeptides representing the Ser131/Ser144 and Ser163/Ser173 regions of IRAK1-UD, bivalent interactions were investigated. Binding studies using singly phosphorylated peptides showed that individual motifs displayed weak affinities (> 100 μm) for Pin1-FL and each isolated domain. Analysis of dually phosphorylated peptides binding to Pin1-FL showed that inclusion of bivalent states was necessary to fit the data. The resulting complex model and fitted parameters were applied to predict the impact of bivalent states at low micromolar concentrations, demonstrating significant affinity enhancement for both dually phosphorylated peptides (3.5 and 24 μm for peptides based on the Ser131/Ser144 and Ser163/Ser173 regions, respectively). The complementary technique biolayer interferometry confirmed the predicted affinity enhancement for a representative set of singly and dually phosphorylated Ser131/Ser144 peptides at low micromolar concentrations, validating model predictions. These studies provide novel insights regarding the complexity of interactions between Pin1 and activated IRAK1, and more broadly suggest that phosphorylation of neighboring Ser/Thr-Pro motifs in proteins might provide competitive advantage at cellular concentrations for engaging with Pin1. © 2016 Federation of European

  2. Genome-wide identification of basic helix-loop-helix and NF-1 motifs underlying GR binding sites in male rat hippocampus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pooley, John R.; Flynn, Ben P.; Grøntved, Lars

    2017-01-01

    linked to structural and organizational roles, an absence of major tethering partners for GRs, and little or no evidence for binding at negative glucocorticoid response elements. A basic helix-loop-helix motif closely resembling a NeuroD1 or Olig2 binding site was found underlying a subset of GR binding......Glucocorticoids regulate hippocampal function in part by modulating gene expression through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). GR binding is highly cell type specific, directed to accessible chromatin regions established during tissue differentiation. Distinct classes of GR binding sites...

  3. Characterization of diverse internal binding specificities of PDZ domains by yeast two-hybrid screening of a special peptide library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mu, Yi; Cai, Pengfei; Hu, Siqi; Ma, Sucan; Gao, Youhe

    2014-01-01

    Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are essential events to play important roles in a series of biological processes. There are probably more ways of PPIs than we currently realized. Structural and functional investigations of weak PPIs have lagged behind those of strong PPIs due to technical difficulties. Weak PPIs are often short-lived, which may result in more dynamic signals with important biological roles within and/or between cells. For example, the characteristics of PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (PDZ) domain binding to internal sequences, which are primarily weak interactions, have not yet been systematically explored. In the present study, we constructed a nearly random octapeptide yeast two-hybrid library. A total of 24 PDZ domains were used as baits for screening the library. Fourteen of these domains were able to bind internal PDZ-domain binding motifs (PBMs), and PBMs screened for nine PDZ domains exhibited strong preferences. Among 11 PDZ domains that have not been reported their internal PBM binding ability, six were confirmed to bind internal PBMs. The first PDZ domain of LNX2, which has not been reported to bind C-terminal PBMs, was found to bind internal PBMs. These results suggest that the internal PBMs binding ability of PDZ domains may have been underestimated. The data provided diverse internal binding properties for several PDZ domains that may help identify their novel binding partners.

  4. A Conserved Metal Binding Motif in the Bacillus subtilis Competence Protein ComFA Enhances Transformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilton, Scott S; Falbel, Tanya G; Hromada, Susan; Burton, Briana M

    2017-08-01

    Genetic competence is a process in which cells are able to take up DNA from their environment, resulting in horizontal gene transfer, a major mechanism for generating diversity in bacteria. Many bacteria carry homologs of the central DNA uptake machinery that has been well characterized in Bacillus subtilis It has been postulated that the B. subtilis competence helicase ComFA belongs to the DEAD box family of helicases/translocases. Here, we made a series of mutants to analyze conserved amino acid motifs in several regions of B. subtilis ComFA. First, we confirmed that ComFA activity requires amino acid residues conserved among the DEAD box helicases, and second, we show that a zinc finger-like motif consisting of four cysteines is required for efficient transformation. Each cysteine in the motif is important, and mutation of at least two of the cysteines dramatically reduces transformation efficiency. Further, combining multiple cysteine mutations with the helicase mutations shows an additive phenotype. Our results suggest that the helicase and metal binding functions are two distinct activities important for ComFA function during transformation. IMPORTANCE ComFA is a highly conserved protein that has a role in DNA uptake during natural competence, a mechanism for horizontal gene transfer observed in many bacteria. Investigation of the details of the DNA uptake mechanism is important for understanding the ways in which bacteria gain new traits from their environment, such as drug resistance. To dissect the role of ComFA in the DNA uptake machinery, we introduced point mutations into several motifs in the protein sequence. We demonstrate that several amino acid motifs conserved among ComFA proteins are important for efficient transformation. This report is the first to demonstrate the functional requirement of an amino-terminal cysteine motif in ComFA. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

  5. Nicotine induced CpG methylation of Pax6 binding motif in StAR promoter reduces the gene expression and cortisol production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Tingting; Chen, Man; Liu, Lian; Cheng, Huaiyan; Yan, You-E; Feng, Ying-Hong; Wang, Hui

    2011-01-01

    Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) mediates the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of steroid hormones, essential to fetal development. We have reported that the StAR expression in fetal adrenal is inhibited in a rat model of nicotine-induced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Here using primary human fetal adrenal cortex (pHFAC) cells and a human fetal adrenal cell line NCI-H295A, we show that nicotine inhibits StAR expression and cortisol production in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and prolongs the inhibitory effect on cells proliferating over 5 passages after termination of nicotine treatment. Methylation detection within the StAR promoter region uncovers a single site CpG methylation at nt -377 that is sensitive to nicotine treatment. Nicotine-induced alterations in frequency of this point methylation correlates well with the levels of StAR expression, suggesting an important role of the single site in regulating StAR expression. Further studies using bioinformatics analysis and siRNA approach reveal that the single CpG site is part of the Pax6 binding motif (CGCCTGA) in the StAR promoter. The luciferase activity assays validate that Pax6 increases StAR gene expression by binding to the glucagon G3-like motif (CGCCTGA) and methylation of this site blocks Pax6 binding and thus suppresses StAR expression. These data identify a nicotine-sensitive CpG site at the Pax6 binding motif in the StAR promoter that may play a central role in regulating StAR expression. The results suggest an epigenetic mechanism that may explain how nicotine contributes to onset of adult diseases or disorders such as metabolic syndrome via fetal programming. -- Highlights: ► Nicotine-induced StAR inhibition in two human adrenal cell models. ► Nicotine-induced single CpG site methylation in StAR promoter. ► Persistent StAR inhibition and single CpG methylation after nicotine termination. ► Single CpG methylation located at Pax6 binding motif regulates St

  6. CFD-PBM Coupled Simulation of an Airlift Reactor with Non-Newtonian Fluid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Mei

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Hydrodynamics of an AirLift Reactor (ALR with tap water and non-Newtonian fluid was studied experimentally and by numerical simulations. The Population Balance Model (PBM with multiple breakup and coalescence mechanisms was used to describe bubble size characteristics in the ALR. The interphase forces for closing the two-fluid model were formulated by considering the effect of Bubble Size Distribution (BSD. The BSD in the ALR obtained from the coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD-PBM model was validated against results from digital imaging measurements. The simulated velocity fields of both the gas and liquid phases were compared to measured fields obtained with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV. The simulated results show different velocity field profile features at the top of the ALR between tap water and non-Newtonian fluid, which are in agreement with experiments. In addition, good agreement between simulations and experiments was obtained in terms of overall gas holdup and bubble Sauter mean diameter.

  7. ATP-binding motifs play key roles in Krp1p, kinesin-related protein 1, function for bi-polar growth control in fission yeast

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhee, Dong Keun; Cho, Bon A; Kim, Hyong Bai

    2005-01-01

    Kinesin is a microtubule-based motor protein with various functions related to the cell growth and division. It has been reported that Krp1p, kinesin-related protein 1, which belongs to the kinesin heavy chain superfamily, localizes on microtubules and may play an important role in cytokinesis. However, the function of Krp1p has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we overexpressed an intact form and three different mutant forms of Krp1p in fission yeast constructed by site-directed mutagenesis in two ATP-binding motifs or by truncation of the leucine zipper-like motif (LZiP). We observed hyper-extended microtubules and the aberrant nuclear shape in Krp1p-overexpressed fission yeast. As a functional consequence, a point mutation of ATP-binding domain 1 (G89E) in Krp1p reversed the effect of Krp1p overexpression in fission yeast, whereas the specific mutation in ATP-binding domain 2 (G238E) resulted in the altered cell polarity. Additionally, truncation of the leucine zipper-like domain (LZiP) at the C-terminal of Krp1p showed a normal nuclear division. Taken together, we suggest that krp1p is involved in regulation of cell-polarized growth through ATP-binding motifs in fission yeast

  8. Use of Cre/loxP recombination to swap cell binding motifs on the adenoviral capsid protein IX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poulin, Kathy L.; Tong, Grace; Vorobyova, Olga; Pool, Madeline; Kothary, Rashmi; Parks, Robin J.

    2011-01-01

    We used Cre/loxP recombination to swap targeting ligands present on the adenoviral capsid protein IX (pIX). A loxP-flanked sequence encoding poly-lysine (pK-binds heparan sulfate proteoglycans) was engineered onto the 3'-terminus of pIX, and the resulting fusion protein allowed for routine virus propagation. Growth of this virus on Cre-expressing cells removed the pK coding sequence, generating virus that could only infect through alternative ligands, such as a tyrosine kinase receptor A (TrkA)-binding motif engineered into the capsid fibre protein for enhanced infection of neuronal cells. We used a similar approach to swap the pK motif on pIX for a sequence encoding a single-domain antibody directed towards CD66c for targeted infection of cancer cells; Cre-mediated removal of the pK-coding sequence simultaneously placed the single-domain antibody coding sequence in frame with pIX. Thus, we have developed a simple method to propagate virus lacking native viral tropism but containing cell-specific binding ligands. - Highlights: → We describe a method to grow virus lacking native tropism but containing novel cell-binding ligands. → Cre/loxP recombination was used to modify the adenovirus genome. → A targeting ligand present on capsid protein IX was removed or replaced using recombination. → Cre-loxP was also used to 'swap' the identity of the targeting ligand present on pIX.

  9. The limits of de novo DNA motif discovery.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Simcha

    Full Text Available A major challenge in molecular biology is reverse-engineering the cis-regulatory logic that plays a major role in the control of gene expression. This program includes searching through DNA sequences to identify "motifs" that serve as the binding sites for transcription factors or, more generally, are predictive of gene expression across cellular conditions. Several approaches have been proposed for de novo motif discovery-searching sequences without prior knowledge of binding sites or nucleotide patterns. However, unbiased validation is not straightforward. We consider two approaches to unbiased validation of discovered motifs: testing the statistical significance of a motif using a DNA "background" sequence model to represent the null hypothesis and measuring performance in predicting membership in gene clusters. We demonstrate that the background models typically used are "too null," resulting in overly optimistic assessments of significance, and argue that performance in predicting TF binding or expression patterns from DNA motifs should be assessed by held-out data, as in predictive learning. Applying this criterion to common motif discovery methods resulted in universally poor performance, although there is a marked improvement when motifs are statistically significant against real background sequences. Moreover, on synthetic data where "ground truth" is known, discriminative performance of all algorithms is far below the theoretical upper bound, with pronounced "over-fitting" in training. A key conclusion from this work is that the failure of de novo discovery approaches to accurately identify motifs is basically due to statistical intractability resulting from the fixed size of co-regulated gene clusters, and thus such failures do not necessarily provide evidence that unfound motifs are not active biologically. Consequently, the use of prior knowledge to enhance motif discovery is not just advantageous but necessary. An implementation of

  10. Coach simplified structure modeling and optimization study based on the PBM method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Miaoli; Ren, Jindong; Yin, Ying; Du, Jian

    2016-09-01

    For the coach industry, rapid modeling and efficient optimization methods are desirable for structure modeling and optimization based on simplified structures, especially for use early in the concept phase and with capabilities of accurately expressing the mechanical properties of structure and with flexible section forms. However, the present dimension-based methods cannot easily meet these requirements. To achieve these goals, the property-based modeling (PBM) beam modeling method is studied based on the PBM theory and in conjunction with the characteristics of coach structure of taking beam as the main component. For a beam component of concrete length, its mechanical characteristics are primarily affected by the section properties. Four section parameters are adopted to describe the mechanical properties of a beam, including the section area, the principal moments of inertia about the two principal axles, and the torsion constant of the section. Based on the equivalent stiffness strategy, expressions for the above section parameters are derived, and the PBM beam element is implemented in HyperMesh software. A case is realized using this method, in which the structure of a passenger coach is simplified. The model precision is validated by comparing the basic performance of the total structure with that of the original structure, including the bending and torsion stiffness and the first-order bending and torsional modal frequencies. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to choose design variables. The optimal Latin hypercube experiment design is adopted to sample the test points, and polynomial response surfaces are used to fit these points. To improve the bending and torsion stiffness and the first-order torsional frequency and taking the allowable maximum stresses of the braking and left turning conditions as constraints, the multi-objective optimization of the structure is conducted using the NSGA-II genetic algorithm on the ISIGHT platform. The result of the

  11. Manipulation of EphB2 regulatory motifs and SH2 binding sites switches MAPK signaling and biological activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Jiefei; Elowe, Sabine; Nash, Piers; Pawson, Tony

    2003-02-21

    Signaling by the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is complex, because they can interact with a variety of intracellular targets, and can potentially induce distinct responses in different cell types. In NG108 neuronal cells, activated EphB2 recruits p120RasGAP, in a fashion that is associated with down-regulation of the Ras-Erk mitogen-activated kinase (MAPK) pathway and neurite retraction. To pursue the role of the Ras-MAPK pathway in EphB2-mediated growth cone collapse, and to explore the biochemical and biological functions of Eph receptors, we sought to re-engineer the signaling properties of EphB2 by manipulating its regulatory motifs and SH2 binding sites. An EphB2 mutant that retained juxtamembrane (JM) RasGAP binding sites but incorporated a Grb2 binding motif at an alternate RasGAP binding site within the kinase domain had little effect on basal Erk MAPK activation. In contrast, elimination of all RasGAP binding sites, accompanied by the addition of a Grb2 binding site within the kinase domain, led to an increase in phospho-Erk levels in NG108 cells following ephrin-B1 stimulation. Functional assays indicated a correlation between neurite retraction and the ability of the EphB2 mutants to down-regulate Ras-Erk MAPK signaling. These data suggest that EphB2 can be designed to repress, stabilize, or activate the Ras-Erk MAPK pathway by the manipulation of RasGAP and Grb2 SH2 domain binding sites and support the notion that Erk MAPK regulation plays a significant role in axon guidance. The behavior of EphB2 variants with mutations in the JM region and kinase domains suggests an intricate pattern of regulation and target recognition by Eph receptors.

  12. Regulation of synaptic inhibition by phospho-dependent binding of the AP2 complex to a YECL motif in the GABAA receptor γ2 subunit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kittler, Josef T.; Chen, Guojun; Kukhtina, Viktoria; Vahedi-Faridi, Ardeschir; Gu, Zhenglin; Tretter, Verena; Smith, Katharine R.; McAinsh, Kristina; Arancibia-Carcamo, I. Lorena; Saenger, Wolfram; Haucke, Volker; Yan, Zhen; Moss, Stephen J.

    2008-01-01

    The regulation of the number of γ2-subunit-containing GABAA receptors (GABAARs) present at synapses is critical for correct synaptic inhibition and animal behavior. This regulation occurs, in part, by the controlled removal of receptors from the membrane in clathrin-coated vesicles, but it remains unclear how clathrin recruitment to surface γ2-subunit-containing GABAARs is regulated. Here, we identify a γ2-subunit-specific Yxxφ-type-binding motif for the clathrin adaptor protein, AP2, which is located within a site for γ2-subunit tyrosine phosphorylation. Blocking GABAAR-AP2 interactions via this motif increases synaptic responses within minutes. Crystallographic and biochemical studies reveal that phosphorylation of the Yxxφ motif inhibits AP2 binding, leading to increased surface receptor number. In addition, the crystal structure provides an explanation for the high affinity of this motif for AP2 and suggests that γ2-subunit-containing heteromeric GABAARs may be internalized as dimers or multimers. These data define a mechanism for tyrosine kinase regulation of GABAAR surface levels and synaptic inhibition. PMID:18305175

  13. Crystal Structure of (+)-[delta]-Cadinene Synthase from Gossypium arboreum and Evolutionary Divergence of Metal Binding Motifs for Catalysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gennadios, Heather A.; Gonzalez, Veronica; Di Costanzo, Luigi; Li, Amang; Yu, Fanglei; Miller, David J.; Allemann, Rudolf K.; Christianson, David W.; (UPENN); (Cardiff); (UC)

    2009-09-11

    (+)-{delta}-Cadinene synthase (DCS) from Gossypium arboreum (tree cotton) is a sesquiterpene cyclase that catalyzes the cyclization of farnesyl diphosphate in the first committed step of the biosynthesis of gossypol, a phytoalexin that defends the plant from bacterial and fungal pathogens. Here, we report the X-ray crystal structure of unliganded DCS at 2.4 {angstrom} resolution and the structure of its complex with three putative Mg{sup 2+} ions and the substrate analogue inhibitor 2-fluorofarnesyl diphosphate (2F-FPP) at 2.75 {angstrom} resolution. These structures illuminate unusual features that accommodate the trinuclear metal cluster required for substrate binding and catalysis. Like other terpenoid cyclases, DCS contains a characteristic aspartate-rich D{sup 307}DTYD{sup 311} motif on helix D that interacts with Mg{sub A}{sup 2+} and Mg{sub C}{sup 2+}. However, DCS appears to be unique among terpenoid cyclases in that it does not contain the 'NSE/DTE' motif on helix H that specifically chelates Mg{sub B}{sup 2+}, which is usually found as the signature sequence (N,D)D(L,I,V)X(S,T)XXXE (boldface indicates Mg{sub B}{sup 2+} ligands). Instead, DCS contains a second aspartate-rich motif, D{sup 451}DVAE{sup 455}, that interacts with Mg{sub B}{sup 2+}. In this regard, DCS is more similar to the isoprenoid chain elongation enzyme farnesyl diphosphate synthase, which also contains two aspartate-rich motifs, rather than the greater family of terpenoid cyclases. Nevertheless, the structure of the DCS-2F-FPP complex shows that the structure of the trinuclear magnesium cluster is generally similar to that of other terpenoid cyclases despite the alternative Mg{sub B}{sup 2+} binding motif. Analyses of DCS mutants with alanine substitutions in the D{sup 307}DTYD{sup 311} and D{sup 451}DVAE{sup 455} segments reveal the contributions of these segments to catalysis.

  14. Rtt107/Esc4 binds silent chromatin and DNA repair proteins using different BRCT motifs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jockusch Rebecca A

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background By screening a plasmid library for proteins that could cause silencing when targeted to the HMR locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we previously reported the identification of Rtt107/Esc4 based on its ability to establish silent chromatin. In this study we aimed to determine the mechanism of Rtt107/Esc4 targeted silencing and also learn more about its biological functions. Results Targeted silencing by Rtt107/Esc4 was dependent on the SIR genes, which encode obligatory structural and enzymatic components of yeast silent chromatin. Based on its sequence, Rtt107/Esc4 was predicted to contain six BRCT motifs. This motif, originally identified in the human breast tumor suppressor gene BRCA1, is a protein interaction domain. The targeted silencing activity of Rtt107/Esc4 resided within the C-terminal two BRCT motifs, and this region of the protein bound to Sir3 in two-hybrid tests. Deletion of RTT107/ESC4 caused sensitivity to the DNA damaging agent MMS as well as to hydroxyurea. A two-hybrid screen showed that the N-terminal BRCT motifs of Rtt107/Esc4 bound to Slx4, a protein previously shown to be involved in DNA repair and required for viability in a strain lacking the DNA helicase Sgs1. Like SLX genes, RTT107ESC4 interacted genetically with SGS1; esc4Δ sgs1Δ mutants were viable, but exhibited a slow-growth phenotype and also a synergistic DNA repair defect. Conclusion Rtt107/Esc4 binds to the silencing protein Sir3 and the DNA repair protein Slx4 via different BRCT motifs, thus providing a bridge linking silent chromatin to DNA repair enzymes.

  15. Nicotine induced CpG methylation of Pax6 binding motif in StAR promoter reduces the gene expression and cortisol production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Tingting [Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071 (China); Department of Pharmacology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland (United States); Chen, Man; Liu, Lian [Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071 (China); Cheng, Huaiyan [Department of Pharmacology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland (United States); Yan, You-E [Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071 (China); Feng, Ying-Hong, E-mail: yhfeng@usuhs.edu [Department of Pharmacology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland (United States); Wang, Hui, E-mail: wanghui19@whu.edu.cn [Department of Pharmacology, Basic Medical School of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071 (China); Research Center of Food and Drug Evaluation, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071 (China)

    2011-12-15

    Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) mediates the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of steroid hormones, essential to fetal development. We have reported that the StAR expression in fetal adrenal is inhibited in a rat model of nicotine-induced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Here using primary human fetal adrenal cortex (pHFAC) cells and a human fetal adrenal cell line NCI-H295A, we show that nicotine inhibits StAR expression and cortisol production in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and prolongs the inhibitory effect on cells proliferating over 5 passages after termination of nicotine treatment. Methylation detection within the StAR promoter region uncovers a single site CpG methylation at nt -377 that is sensitive to nicotine treatment. Nicotine-induced alterations in frequency of this point methylation correlates well with the levels of StAR expression, suggesting an important role of the single site in regulating StAR expression. Further studies using bioinformatics analysis and siRNA approach reveal that the single CpG site is part of the Pax6 binding motif (CGCCTGA) in the StAR promoter. The luciferase activity assays validate that Pax6 increases StAR gene expression by binding to the glucagon G3-like motif (CGCCTGA) and methylation of this site blocks Pax6 binding and thus suppresses StAR expression. These data identify a nicotine-sensitive CpG site at the Pax6 binding motif in the StAR promoter that may play a central role in regulating StAR expression. The results suggest an epigenetic mechanism that may explain how nicotine contributes to onset of adult diseases or disorders such as metabolic syndrome via fetal programming. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Nicotine-induced StAR inhibition in two human adrenal cell models. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Nicotine-induced single CpG site methylation in StAR promoter. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Persistent StAR inhibition and single CpG methylation after nicotine termination

  16. Activity of the rat osteocalcin basal promoter in osteoblastic cells is dependent upon homeodomain and CP1 binding motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Towler, D A; Bennett, C D; Rodan, G A

    1994-05-01

    A detailed analysis of the transcriptional machinery responsible for osteoblast-specific gene expression should provide tools useful for understanding osteoblast commitment and differentiation. We have defined three cis-elements important for basal activity of the rat osteocalcin (OC) promoter, located at about -200 to -180, -170 to -138, and -121 to -64 relative to the transcription initiation site. A motif (TCTGATTGTGT) present in the region between -200 and -170 that binds a multisubunit CP1/NFY/CBF-like CAAT factor complex contributes significantly to high level basal activity and presumably functions as the CAAT box for the rat OC promoter. We show that the region -121 to 32 is sufficient to confer osteoblastic cell type specificity in transient transfection assays of cultured cell lines using luciferase as a reporter. The basal promoter is active in rodent osteoblastic cell lines, but not in rodent fibroblastic or muscle cell lines. Although the rat OC box (-100 to -74) contains a CAAT motif, we could not detect CP1-like CAAT factor binding to this region. In fact, we demonstrate that a Msx-1 (Hox 7.1) homeodomain binding motif (ACTAATTG; bottom strand) in the 3'-end of the rat OC box is necessary for high level activity of the rat OC basal promoter in osteoblastic cells. A nuclear factor that recognizes this motif appears to be present in osteoblastic ROS 17/2.8 cells, which produce OC, but not in fibroblastic ROS 25/1 cells, which fail to express OC. This ROS 17/2.8 nuclear factor also recognizes the A/T-rich DNA cognates of the homeodomain-containing POU family of transcription factors. Taken together, these data suggest that a ubiquitous CP1-like CAAT factor and a cell type-restricted homeodomain containing (Msx or POU family) transcription factor interact with the proximal rat OC promoter to direct appropriate basal OC transcription in osteoblastic cells.

  17. Introduction of N-cadherin-binding motif to alginate hydrogels for controlled stem cell differentiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae Won; An, Hyoseok; Lee, Kuen Yong

    2017-07-01

    Control of stem cell fate and phenotype using biomimetic synthetic extracellular matrices (ECMs) is an important tissue engineering approach. Many studies have focused on improving cell-matrix interactions. However, proper control of cell-cell interactions using synthetic ECMs could be critical for tissue engineering, especially with undifferentiated stem cells. In this study, alginate hydrogels were modified with a peptide derived from the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5), which is known to bind to N-cadherin, as a cell-cell interaction motif. In vitro changes in the morphology and differentiation of mouse bone marrow stromal cells (D1 stem cells) cultured in LRP5-alginate hydrogels were investigated. LRP5-alginate gels successfully induced stem cell aggregation and enhanced chondrogenic differentiation of D1 stem cells, compared to RGD-alginate gels, at low cell density. This approach to tailoring synthetic biomimetic ECMs using cell-cell interaction motifs may be critical in tissue engineering approaches using stem cells. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Regulation of synaptic inhibition by phospho-dependent binding of the AP2 complex to a YECL motif in the GABAA receptor gamma2 subunit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kittler, Josef T; Chen, Guojun; Kukhtina, Viktoria; Vahedi-Faridi, Ardeschir; Gu, Zhenglin; Tretter, Verena; Smith, Katharine R; McAinsh, Kristina; Arancibia-Carcamo, I Lorena; Saenger, Wolfram; Haucke, Volker; Yan, Zhen; Moss, Stephen J

    2008-03-04

    The regulation of the number of gamma2-subunit-containing GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs) present at synapses is critical for correct synaptic inhibition and animal behavior. This regulation occurs, in part, by the controlled removal of receptors from the membrane in clathrin-coated vesicles, but it remains unclear how clathrin recruitment to surface gamma2-subunit-containing GABA(A)Rs is regulated. Here, we identify a gamma2-subunit-specific Yxxvarphi-type-binding motif for the clathrin adaptor protein, AP2, which is located within a site for gamma2-subunit tyrosine phosphorylation. Blocking GABA(A)R-AP2 interactions via this motif increases synaptic responses within minutes. Crystallographic and biochemical studies reveal that phosphorylation of the Yxxvarphi motif inhibits AP2 binding, leading to increased surface receptor number. In addition, the crystal structure provides an explanation for the high affinity of this motif for AP2 and suggests that gamma2-subunit-containing heteromeric GABA(A)Rs may be internalized as dimers or multimers. These data define a mechanism for tyrosine kinase regulation of GABA(A)R surface levels and synaptic inhibition.

  19. MHC motif viewer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rapin, Nicolas Philippe Jean-Pierre; Hoof, Ilka; Lund, Ole

    2008-01-01

    . Algorithms that predict which peptides MHC molecules bind have recently been developed and cover many different alleles, but the utility of these algorithms is hampered by the lack of tools for browsing and comparing the specificity of these molecules. We have, therefore, developed a web server, MHC motif....... A special viewing feature, MHC fight, allows for display of the specificity of two different MHC molecules side by side. We show how the web server can be used to discover and display surprising similarities as well as differences between MHC molecules within and between different species. The MHC motif...

  20. Genome-scale study of the importance of binding site context for transcription factor binding and gene regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronne Hans

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The rate of mRNA transcription is controlled by transcription factors that bind to specific DNA motifs in promoter regions upstream of protein coding genes. Recent results indicate that not only the presence of a motif but also motif context (for example the orientation of a motif or its location relative to the coding sequence is important for gene regulation. Results In this study we present ContextFinder, a tool that is specifically aimed at identifying cases where motif context is likely to affect gene regulation. We used ContextFinder to examine the role of motif context in S. cerevisiae both for DNA binding by transcription factors and for effects on gene expression. For DNA binding we found significant patterns of motif location bias, whereas motif orientations did not seem to matter. Motif context appears to affect gene expression even more than it affects DNA binding, as biases in both motif location and orientation were more frequent in promoters of co-expressed genes. We validated our results against data on nucleosome positioning, and found a negative correlation between preferred motif locations and nucleosome occupancy. Conclusion We conclude that the requirement for stable binding of transcription factors to DNA and their subsequent function in gene regulation can impose constraints on motif context.

  1. Discovery of cell-type specific DNA motif grammar in cis-regulatory elements using random Forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin; Lin, Peijie; Ho, Joshua W K

    2018-01-19

    It has been observed that many transcription factors (TFs) can bind to different genomic loci depending on the cell type in which a TF is expressed in, even though the individual TF usually binds to the same core motif in different cell types. How a TF can bind to the genome in such a highly cell-type specific manner, is a critical research question. One hypothesis is that a TF requires co-binding of different TFs in different cell types. If this is the case, it may be possible to observe different combinations of TF motifs - a motif grammar - located at the TF binding sites in different cell types. In this study, we develop a bioinformatics method to systematically identify DNA motifs in TF binding sites across multiple cell types based on published ChIP-seq data, and address two questions: (1) can we build a machine learning classifier to predict cell-type specificity based on motif combinations alone, and (2) can we extract meaningful cell-type specific motif grammars from this classifier model. We present a Random Forest (RF) based approach to build a multi-class classifier to predict the cell-type specificity of a TF binding site given its motif content. We applied this RF classifier to two published ChIP-seq datasets of TF (TCF7L2 and MAX) across multiple cell types. Using cross-validation, we show that motif combinations alone are indeed predictive of cell types. Furthermore, we present a rule mining approach to extract the most discriminatory rules in the RF classifier, thus allowing us to discover the underlying cell-type specific motif grammar. Our bioinformatics analysis supports the hypothesis that combinatorial TF motif patterns are cell-type specific.

  2. A novel k-mer set memory (KSM) motif representation improves regulatory variant prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Yuchun; Tian, Kevin; Zeng, Haoyang; Guo, Xiaoyun; Gifford, David Kenneth

    2018-04-13

    The representation and discovery of transcription factor (TF) sequence binding specificities is critical for understanding gene regulatory networks and interpreting the impact of disease-associated noncoding genetic variants. We present a novel TF binding motif representation, the k -mer set memory (KSM), which consists of a set of aligned k -mers that are overrepresented at TF binding sites, and a new method called KMAC for de novo discovery of KSMs. We find that KSMs more accurately predict in vivo binding sites than position weight matrix (PWM) models and other more complex motif models across a large set of ChIP-seq experiments. Furthermore, KSMs outperform PWMs and more complex motif models in predicting in vitro binding sites. KMAC also identifies correct motifs in more experiments than five state-of-the-art motif discovery methods. In addition, KSM-derived features outperform both PWM and deep learning model derived sequence features in predicting differential regulatory activities of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) alleles. Finally, we have applied KMAC to 1600 ENCODE TF ChIP-seq data sets and created a public resource of KSM and PWM motifs. We expect that the KSM representation and KMAC method will be valuable in characterizing TF binding specificities and in interpreting the effects of noncoding genetic variations. © 2018 Guo et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  3. Principal component analysis for predicting transcription-factor binding motifs from array-derived data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincenti Matthew P

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The responses to interleukin 1 (IL-1 in human chondrocytes constitute a complex regulatory mechanism, where multiple transcription factors interact combinatorially to transcription-factor binding motifs (TFBMs. In order to select a critical set of TFBMs from genomic DNA information and an array-derived data, an efficient algorithm to solve a combinatorial optimization problem is required. Although computational approaches based on evolutionary algorithms are commonly employed, an analytical algorithm would be useful to predict TFBMs at nearly no computational cost and evaluate varying modelling conditions. Singular value decomposition (SVD is a powerful method to derive primary components of a given matrix. Applying SVD to a promoter matrix defined from regulatory DNA sequences, we derived a novel method to predict the critical set of TFBMs. Results The promoter matrix was defined to establish a quantitative relationship between the IL-1-driven mRNA alteration and genomic DNA sequences of the IL-1 responsive genes. The matrix was decomposed with SVD, and the effects of 8 potential TFBMs (5'-CAGGC-3', 5'-CGCCC-3', 5'-CCGCC-3', 5'-ATGGG-3', 5'-GGGAA-3', 5'-CGTCC-3', 5'-AAAGG-3', and 5'-ACCCA-3' were predicted from a pool of 512 random DNA sequences. The prediction included matches to the core binding motifs of biologically known TFBMs such as AP2, SP1, EGR1, KROX, GC-BOX, ABI4, ETF, E2F, SRF, STAT, IK-1, PPARγ, STAF, ROAZ, and NFκB, and their significance was evaluated numerically using Monte Carlo simulation and genetic algorithm. Conclusion The described SVD-based prediction is an analytical method to provide a set of potential TFBMs involved in transcriptional regulation. The results would be useful to evaluate analytically a contribution of individual DNA sequences.

  4. Linear motif atlas for phosphorylation-dependent signaling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, Martin Lee; Jensen, LJ; Diella, F

    2008-01-01

    bind to them remains a challenge. NetPhorest is an atlas of consensus sequence motifs that covers 179 kinases and 104 phosphorylation-dependent binding domains [Src homology 2 (SH2), phosphotyrosine binding (PTB), BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT), WW, and 14-3-3]. The atlas reveals new aspects of signaling...

  5. Regulation of TCF ETS-domain transcription factors by helix-loop-helix motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stinson, Julie; Inoue, Toshiaki; Yates, Paula; Clancy, Anne; Norton, John D; Sharrocks, Andrew D

    2003-08-15

    DNA binding by the ternary complex factor (TCF) subfamily of ETS-domain transcription factors is tightly regulated by intramolecular and intermolecular interactions. The helix-loop-helix (HLH)-containing Id proteins are trans-acting negative regulators of DNA binding by the TCFs. In the TCF, SAP-2/Net/ERP, intramolecular inhibition of DNA binding is promoted by the cis-acting NID region that also contains an HLH-like motif. The NID also acts as a transcriptional repression domain. Here, we have studied the role of HLH motifs in regulating DNA binding and transcription by the TCF protein SAP-1 and how Cdk-mediated phosphorylation affects the inhibitory activity of the Id proteins towards the TCFs. We demonstrate that the NID region of SAP-1 is an autoinhibitory motif that acts to inhibit DNA binding and also functions as a transcription repression domain. This region can be functionally replaced by fusion of Id proteins to SAP-1, whereby the Id moiety then acts to repress DNA binding in cis. Phosphorylation of the Ids by cyclin-Cdk complexes results in reduction in protein-protein interactions between the Ids and TCFs and relief of their DNA-binding inhibitory activity. In revealing distinct mechanisms through which HLH motifs modulate the activity of TCFs, our results therefore provide further insight into the role of HLH motifs in regulating TCF function and how the inhibitory properties of the trans-acting Id HLH proteins are themselves regulated by phosphorylation.

  6. Crystal Structures of the Scaffolding Protein LGN Reveal the General Mechanism by Which GoLoco Binding Motifs Inhibit the Release of GDP from Gαi *

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Min; Li, Jianchao; Zhu, Jinwei; Wen, Wenyu; Zhang, Mingjie; Wang, Wenning

    2012-01-01

    GoLoco (GL) motif-containing proteins regulate G protein signaling by binding to Gα subunit and acting as guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors. GLs of LGN are also known to bind the GDP form of Gαi/o during asymmetric cell division. Here, we show that the C-terminal GL domain of LGN binds four molecules of Gαi·GDP. The crystal structures of Gαi·GDP in complex with LGN GL3 and GL4, respectively, reveal distinct GL/Gαi interaction features when compared with the only high resolution structure known with GL/Gαi interaction between RGS14 and Gαi1. Only a few residues C-terminal to the conserved GL sequence are required for LGN GLs to bind to Gαi·GDP. A highly conserved “double Arg finger” sequence (RΨ(D/E)(D/E)QR) is responsible for LGN GL to bind to GDP bound to Gαi. Together with the sequence alignment, we suggest that the LGN GL/Gαi interaction represents a general binding mode between GL motifs and Gαi. We also show that LGN GLs are potent guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors. PMID:22952234

  7. The identification of functional motifs in temporal gene expression analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael G. Surette

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The identification of transcription factor binding sites is essential to the understanding of the regulation of gene expression and the reconstruction of genetic regulatory networks. The in silico identification of cis-regulatory motifs is challenging due to sequence variability and lack of sufficient data to generate consensus motifs that are of quantitative or even qualitative predictive value. To determine functional motifs in gene expression, we propose a strategy to adopt false discovery rate (FDR and estimate motif effects to evaluate combinatorial analysis of motif candidates and temporal gene expression data. The method decreases the number of predicted motifs, which can then be confirmed by genetic analysis. To assess the method we used simulated motif/expression data to evaluate parameters. We applied this approach to experimental data for a group of iron responsive genes in Salmonella typhimurium 14028S. The method identified known and potentially new ferric-uptake regulator (Fur binding sites. In addition, we identified uncharacterized functional motif candidates that correlated with specific patterns of expression. A SAS code for the simulation and analysis gene expression data is available from the first author upon request.

  8. A tandem sequence motif acts as a distance-dependent enhancer in a set of genes involved in translation by binding the proteins NonO and SFPQ

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roepcke Stefan

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Bioinformatic analyses of expression control sequences in promoters of co-expressed or functionally related genes enable the discovery of common regulatory sequence motifs that might be involved in co-ordinated gene expression. By studying promoter sequences of the human ribosomal protein genes we recently identified a novel highly specific Localized Tandem Sequence Motif (LTSM. In this work we sought to identify additional genes and LTSM-binding proteins to elucidate potential regulatory mechanisms. Results Genome-wide analyses allowed finding a considerable number of additional LTSM-positive genes, the products of which are involved in translation, among them, translation initiation and elongation factors, and 5S rRNA. Electromobility shift assays then showed specific signals demonstrating the binding of protein complexes to LTSM in ribosomal protein gene promoters. Pull-down assays with LTSM-containing oligonucleotides and subsequent mass spectrometric analysis identified the related multifunctional nucleotide binding proteins NonO and SFPQ in the binding complex. Functional characterization then revealed that LTSM enhances the transcriptional activity of the promoters in dependency of the distance from the transcription start site. Conclusions Our data demonstrate the power of bioinformatic analyses for the identification of biologically relevant sequence motifs. LTSM and the here found LTSM-binding proteins NonO and SFPQ were discovered through a synergistic combination of bioinformatic and biochemical methods and are regulators of the expression of a set of genes of the translational apparatus in a distance-dependent manner.

  9. Insights into the Activity and Substrate Binding of Xylella fastidiosa Polygalacturonase by Modification of a Unique QMK Amino Acid Motif Using Protein Chimeras.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warren, Jeremy G; Lincoln, James E; Kirkpatrick, Bruce C

    2015-01-01

    Polygalacturonases (EC 3.2.1.15) catalyze the random hydrolysis of 1, 4-alpha-D-galactosiduronic linkages in pectate and other galacturonans. Xylella fastidiosa possesses a single polygalacturonase gene, pglA (PD1485), and X. fastidiosa mutants deficient in the production of polygalacturonase are non-pathogenic and show a compromised ability to systemically infect grapevines. These results suggested that grapevines expressing sufficient amounts of an inhibitor of X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase might be protected from disease. Previous work in our laboratory and others have tried without success to produce soluble active X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase for use in inhibition assays. In this study, we created two enzymatically active X. fastidiosa / A. vitis polygalacturonase chimeras, AX1A and AX2A to explore the functionality of X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase in vitro. The AX1A chimera was constructed to specifically test if recombinant chimeric protein, produced in Escherichia coli, is soluble and if the X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase catalytic amino acids are able to hydrolyze polygalacturonic acid. The AX2A chimera was constructed to evaluate the ability of a unique QMK motif of X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase, most polygalacturonases have a R(I/L)K motif, to bind to and allow the hydrolysis of polygalacturonic acid. Furthermore, the AX2A chimera was also used to explore what effect modification of the QMK motif of X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase to a conserved RIK motif has on enzymatic activity. These experiments showed that both the AX1A and AX2A polygalacturonase chimeras were soluble and able to hydrolyze the polygalacturonic acid substrate. Additionally, the modification of the QMK motif to the conserved RIK motif eliminated hydrolytic activity, suggesting that the QMK motif is important for the activity of X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase. This result suggests X. fastidiosa polygalacturonase may preferentially hydrolyze a different pectic substrate or

  10. The combinatorial PP1-binding consensus Motif (R/Kx( (0,1V/IxFxx(R/Kx(R/K is a new apoptotic signature.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angélique N Godet

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Previous studies established that PP1 is a target for Bcl-2 proteins and an important regulator of apoptosis. The two distinct functional PP1 consensus docking motifs, R/Kx((0,1V/IxF and FxxR/KxR/K, involved in PP1 binding and cell death were previously characterized in the BH1 and BH3 domains of some Bcl-2 proteins. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we demonstrate that DPT-AIF(1, a peptide containing the AIF(562-571 sequence located in a c-terminal domain of AIF, is a new PP1 interacting and cell penetrating molecule. We also showed that DPT-AIF(1 provoked apoptosis in several human cell lines. Furthermore, DPT-APAF(1 a bi-partite cell penetrating peptide containing APAF-1(122-131, a non penetrating sequence from APAF-1 protein, linked to our previously described DPT-sh1 peptide shuttle, is also a PP1-interacting death molecule. Both AIF(562-571 and APAF-1(122-131 sequences contain a common R/Kx((0,1V/IxFxxR/KxR/K motif, shared by several proteins involved in control of cell survival pathways. This motif combines the two distinct PP1c consensus docking motifs initially identified in some Bcl-2 proteins. Interestingly DPT-AIF(2 and DPT-APAF(2 that carry a F to A mutation within this combinatorial motif, no longer exhibited any PP1c binding or apoptotic effects. Moreover the F to A mutation in DPT-AIF(2 also suppressed cell penetration. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the combinatorial PP1c docking motif R/Kx((0,1V/IxFxxR/KxR/K, deduced from AIF(562-571 and APAF-1(122-131 sequences, is a new PP1c-dependent Apoptotic Signature. This motif is also a new tool for drug design that could be used to characterize potential anti-tumour molecules.

  11. Selection against spurious promoter motifs correlates withtranslational efficiency across bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Froula, Jeffrey L.; Francino, M. Pilar

    2007-05-01

    Because binding of RNAP to misplaced sites could compromise the efficiency of transcription, natural selection for the optimization of gene expression should regulate the distribution of DNA motifs capable of RNAP-binding across the genome. Here we analyze the distribution of the -10 promoter motifs that bind the {sigma}{sup 70} subunit of RNAP in 42 bacterial genomes. We show that selection on these motifs operates across the genome, maintaining an over-representation of -10 motifs in regulatory sequences while eliminating them from the nonfunctional and, in most cases, from the protein coding regions. In some genomes, however, -10 sites are over-represented in the coding sequences; these sites could induce pauses effecting regulatory roles throughout the length of a transcriptional unit. For nonfunctional sequences, the extent of motif under-representation varies across genomes in a manner that broadly correlates with the number of tRNA genes, a good indicator of translational speed and growth rate. This suggests that minimizing the time invested in gene transcription is an important selective pressure against spurious binding. However, selection against spurious binding is detectable in the reduced genomes of host-restricted bacteria that grow at slow rates, indicating that components of efficiency other than speed may also be important. Minimizing the number of RNAP molecules per cell required for transcription, and the corresponding energetic expense, may be most relevant in slow growers. These results indicate that genome-level properties affecting the efficiency of transcription and translation can respond in an integrated manner to optimize gene expression. The detection of selection against promoter motifs in nonfunctional regions also implies that no sequence may evolve free of selective constraints, at least in the relatively small and unstructured genomes of bacteria.

  12. Vaccinia protein F12 has structural similarity to kinesin light chain and contains a motor binding motif required for virion export.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gareth W Morgan

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Vaccinia virus (VACV uses microtubules for export of virions to the cell surface and this process requires the viral protein F12. Here we show that F12 has structural similarity to kinesin light chain (KLC, a subunit of the kinesin-1 motor that binds cargo. F12 and KLC share similar size, pI, hydropathy and cargo-binding tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs. Moreover, molecular modeling of F12 TPRs upon the crystal structure of KLC2 TPRs showed a striking conservation of structure. We also identified multiple TPRs in VACV proteins E2 and A36. Data presented demonstrate that F12 is critical for recruitment of kinesin-1 to virions and that a conserved tryptophan and aspartic acid (WD motif, which is conserved in the kinesin-1-binding sequence (KBS of the neuronal protein calsyntenin/alcadein and several other cellular kinesin-1 binding proteins, is essential for kinesin-1 recruitment and virion transport. In contrast, mutation of WD motifs in protein A36 revealed they were not required for kinesin-1 recruitment or IEV transport. This report of a viral KLC-like protein containing a KBS that is conserved in several cellular proteins advances our understanding of how VACV recruits the kinesin motor to virions, and exemplifies how viruses use molecular mimicry of cellular components to their advantage.

  13. Motif enrichment tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blatti, Charles; Sinha, Saurabh

    2014-07-01

    The Motif Enrichment Tool (MET) provides an online interface that enables users to find major transcriptional regulators of their gene sets of interest. MET searches the appropriate regulatory region around each gene and identifies which transcription factor DNA-binding specificities (motifs) are statistically overrepresented. Motif enrichment analysis is currently available for many metazoan species including human, mouse, fruit fly, planaria and flowering plants. MET also leverages high-throughput experimental data such as ChIP-seq and DNase-seq from ENCODE and ModENCODE to identify the regulatory targets of a transcription factor with greater precision. The results from MET are produced in real time and are linked to a genome browser for easy follow-up analysis. Use of the web tool is free and open to all, and there is no login requirement. ADDRESS: http://veda.cs.uiuc.edu/MET/. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  14. N-Terminal Cu-Binding Motifs (Xxx-Zzz-His, Xxx-His) and Their Derivatives: Chemistry, Biology and Medicinal Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Paulina; Bossak, Karolina; Stefaniak, Ewelina; Hureau, Christelle; Raibaut, Laurent; Bal, Wojciech; Faller, Peter

    2018-06-07

    Peptides and proteins with N-terminal amino acid sequences NH 2 -Xxx-His (XH) and NH 2 -Xxx-Zzz-His (XZH) form well-established high-affinity Cu II -complexes. Key examples are Asp-Ala-His (in serum albumin) and Gly-His-Lys, the wound healing factor. This opens a straightforward way to add a high-affinity Cu II -binding site to almost any peptide or protein, by chemical or recombinant approaches. Thus, these motifs, NH 2 -Xxx-Zzz-His in particular, have been used to equip peptides and proteins with a multitude of functions based on the redox activity of Cu, including nuclease, protease, glycosidase, or oxygen activation properties, useful in anticancer or antimicrobial drugs. More recent research suggests novel biological functions, mainly based on the redox inertness of Cu II in XZH, like PET imaging (with 64 Cu), chelation therapies (for instance in Alzheimer's disease and other types of neurodegeneration), antioxidant units, Cu transporters and activation of biological functions by strong Cu II binding. This Review gives an overview of the chemical properties of Cu-XH and -XZH motifs and discusses the pros and cons of the vastly different biological applications, and how they could be improved depending on the application. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. Identification of the divergent calmodulin binding motif in yeast Ssb1/Hsp75 protein and in other HSP70 family members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinen, R C; Diniz-Mendes, L; Silva, J T; Paschoalin, V M F

    2006-11-01

    Yeast soluble proteins were fractionated by calmodulin-agarose affinity chromatography and the Ca2+/calmodulin-binding proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. One prominent protein of 66 kDa was excised from the gel, digested with trypsin and the masses of the resultant fragments were determined by MALDI/MS. Twenty-one of 38 monoisotopic peptide masses obtained after tryptic digestion were matched to the heat shock protein Ssb1/Hsp75, covering 37% of its sequence. Computational analysis of the primary structure of Ssb1/Hsp75 identified a unique potential amphipathic alpha-helix in its N-terminal ATPase domain with features of target regions for Ca2+/calmodulin binding. This region, which shares 89% similarity to the experimentally determined calmodulin-binding domain from mouse, Hsc70, is conserved in near half of the 113 members of the HSP70 family investigated, from yeast to plant and animals. Based on the sequence of this region, phylogenetic analysis grouped the HSP70s in three distinct branches. Two of them comprise the non-calmodulin binding Hsp70s BIP/GR78, a subfamily of eukaryotic HSP70 localized in the endoplasmic reticulum, and DnaK, a subfamily of prokaryotic HSP70. A third heterogeneous group is formed by eukaryotic cytosolic HSP70s containing the new calmodulin-binding motif and other cytosolic HSP70s whose sequences do not conform to those conserved motif, indicating that not all eukaryotic cytosolic Hsp70s are target for calmodulin regulation. Furthermore, the calmodulin-binding domain found in eukaryotic HSP70s is also the target for binding of Bag-1 - an enhancer of ADP/ATP exchange activity of Hsp70s. A model in which calmodulin displaces Bag-1 and modulates Ssb1/Hsp75 chaperone activity is discussed.

  16. Identification of the divergent calmodulin binding motif in yeast Ssb1/Hsp75 protein and in other HSP70 family members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R.C. Heinen

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Yeast soluble proteins were fractionated by calmodulin-agarose affinity chromatography and the Ca2+/calmodulin-binding proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. One prominent protein of 66 kDa was excised from the gel, digested with trypsin and the masses of the resultant fragments were determined by MALDI/MS. Twenty-one of 38 monoisotopic peptide masses obtained after tryptic digestion were matched to the heat shock protein Ssb1/Hsp75, covering 37% of its sequence. Computational analysis of the primary structure of Ssb1/Hsp75 identified a unique potential amphipathic alpha-helix in its N-terminal ATPase domain with features of target regions for Ca2+/calmodulin binding. This region, which shares 89% similarity to the experimentally determined calmodulin-binding domain from mouse, Hsc70, is conserved in near half of the 113 members of the HSP70 family investigated, from yeast to plant and animals. Based on the sequence of this region, phylogenetic analysis grouped the HSP70s in three distinct branches. Two of them comprise the non-calmodulin binding Hsp70s BIP/GR78, a subfamily of eukaryotic HSP70 localized in the endoplasmic reticulum, and DnaK, a subfamily of prokaryotic HSP70. A third heterogeneous group is formed by eukaryotic cytosolic HSP70s containing the new calmodulin-binding motif and other cytosolic HSP70s whose sequences do not conform to those conserved motif, indicating that not all eukaryotic cytosolic Hsp70s are target for calmodulin regulation. Furthermore, the calmodulin-binding domain found in eukaryotic HSP70s is also the target for binding of Bag-1 - an enhancer of ADP/ATP exchange activity of Hsp70s. A model in which calmodulin displaces Bag-1 and modulates Ssb1/Hsp75 chaperone activity is discussed.

  17. FTZ-Factor1 and Fushi tarazu interact via conserved nuclear receptor and coactivator motifs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Carol J.E.; Sampson, Heidi M.; Hlousek, Daniela; Percival-Smith, Anthony; Copeland, John W.R.; Simmonds, Andrew J.; Krause, Henry M.

    2001-01-01

    To activate transcription, most nuclear receptor proteins require coactivators that bind to their ligand-binding domains (LBDs). The Drosophila FTZ-Factor1 (FTZ-F1) protein is a conserved member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, but was previously thought to lack an AF2 motif, a motif that is required for ligand and coactivator binding. Here we show that FTZ-F1 does have an AF2 motif and that it is required to bind a coactivator, the homeodomain-containing protein Fushi tarazu (FTZ). We also show that FTZ contains an AF2-interacting nuclear receptor box, the first to be found in a homeodomain protein. Both interaction motifs are shown to be necessary for physical interactions in vitro and for functional interactions in developing embryos. These unexpected findings have important implications for the conserved homologs of the two proteins. PMID:11157757

  18. BayesMD: flexible biological modeling for motif discovery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, Man-Hung Eric; Krogh, Anders; Winther, Ole

    2008-01-01

    We present BayesMD, a Bayesian Motif Discovery model with several new features. Three different types of biological a priori knowledge are built into the framework in a modular fashion. A mixture of Dirichlets is used as prior over nucleotide probabilities in binding sites. It is trained on trans......We present BayesMD, a Bayesian Motif Discovery model with several new features. Three different types of biological a priori knowledge are built into the framework in a modular fashion. A mixture of Dirichlets is used as prior over nucleotide probabilities in binding sites. It is trained...

  19. Anion induced conformational preference of Cα NN motif residues in functional proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patra, Piya; Ghosh, Mahua; Banerjee, Raja; Chakrabarti, Jaydeb

    2017-12-01

    Among different ligand binding motifs, anion binding C α NN motif consisting of peptide backbone atoms of three consecutive residues are observed to be important for recognition of free anions, like sulphate or biphosphate and participate in different key functions. Here we study the interaction of sulphate and biphosphate with C α NN motif present in different proteins. Instead of total protein, a peptide fragment has been studied keeping C α NN motif flanked in between other residues. We use classical force field based molecular dynamics simulations to understand the stability of this motif. Our data indicate fluctuations in conformational preferences of the motif residues in absence of the anion. The anion gives stability to one of these conformations. However, the anion induced conformational preferences are highly sequence dependent and specific to the type of anion. In particular, the polar residues are more favourable compared to the other residues for recognising the anion. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Direct AUC optimization of regulatory motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Lin; Zhang, Hong-Bo; Huang, De-Shuang

    2017-07-15

    The discovery of transcription factor binding site (TFBS) motifs is essential for untangling the complex mechanism of genetic variation under different developmental and environmental conditions. Among the huge amount of computational approaches for de novo identification of TFBS motifs, discriminative motif learning (DML) methods have been proven to be promising for harnessing the discovery power of accumulated huge amount of high-throughput binding data. However, they have to sacrifice accuracy for speed and could fail to fully utilize the information of the input sequences. We propose a novel algorithm called CDAUC for optimizing DML-learned motifs based on the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) criterion, which has been widely used in the literature to evaluate the significance of extracted motifs. We show that when the considered AUC loss function is optimized in a coordinate-wise manner, the cost function of each resultant sub-problem is a piece-wise constant function, whose optimal value can be found exactly and efficiently. Further, a key step of each iteration of CDAUC can be efficiently solved as a computational geometry problem. Experimental results on real world high-throughput datasets illustrate that CDAUC outperforms competing methods for refining DML motifs, while being one order of magnitude faster. Meanwhile, preliminary results also show that CDAUC may also be useful for improving the interpretability of convolutional kernels generated by the emerging deep learning approaches for predicting TF sequences specificities. CDAUC is available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxOW5MtIZbJjNFpCeHlBVWJHeW8 . dshuang@tongji.edu.cn. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  1. Interleukin-11 binds specific EF-hand proteins via their conserved structural motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazakov, Alexei S; Sokolov, Andrei S; Vologzhannikova, Alisa A; Permyakova, Maria E; Khorn, Polina A; Ismailov, Ramis G; Denessiouk, Konstantin A; Denesyuk, Alexander I; Rastrygina, Victoria A; Baksheeva, Viktoriia E; Zernii, Evgeni Yu; Zinchenko, Dmitry V; Glazatov, Vladimir V; Uversky, Vladimir N; Mirzabekov, Tajib A; Permyakov, Eugene A; Permyakov, Sergei E

    2017-01-01

    Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a hematopoietic cytokine engaged in numerous biological processes and validated as a target for treatment of various cancers. IL-11 contains intrinsically disordered regions that might recognize multiple targets. Recently we found that aside from IL-11RA and gp130 receptors, IL-11 interacts with calcium sensor protein S100P. Strict calcium dependence of this interaction suggests a possibility of IL-11 interaction with other calcium sensor proteins. Here we probed specificity of IL-11 to calcium-binding proteins of various types: calcium sensors of the EF-hand family (calmodulin, S100B and neuronal calcium sensors: recoverin, NCS-1, GCAP-1, GCAP-2), calcium buffers of the EF-hand family (S100G, oncomodulin), and a non-EF-hand calcium buffer (α-lactalbumin). A specific subset of the calcium sensor proteins (calmodulin, S100B, NCS-1, GCAP-1/2) exhibits metal-dependent binding of IL-11 with dissociation constants of 1-19 μM. These proteins share several amino acid residues belonging to conservative structural motifs of the EF-hand proteins, 'black' and 'gray' clusters. Replacements of the respective S100P residues by alanine drastically decrease its affinity to IL-11, suggesting their involvement into the association process. Secondary structure and accessibility of the hinge region of the EF-hand proteins studied are predicted to control specificity and selectivity of their binding to IL-11. The IL-11 interaction with the EF-hand proteins is expected to occur under numerous pathological conditions, accompanied by disintegration of plasma membrane and efflux of cellular components into the extracellular milieu.

  2. RNA Binding of T-cell Intracellular Antigen-1 (TIA-1) C-terminal RNA Recognition Motif Is Modified by pH Conditions*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz-Gallardo, Isabel; Aroca, Ángeles; Persson, Cecilia; Karlsson, B. Göran; Díaz-Moreno, Irene

    2013-01-01

    T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) is a DNA/RNA-binding protein that regulates critical events in cell physiology by the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing and mRNA translation. TIA-1 is composed of three RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and a glutamine-rich domain and binds to uridine-rich RNA sequences through its C-terminal RRM2 and RRM3 domains. Here, we show that RNA binding mediated by either isolated RRM3 or the RRM23 construct is controlled by slight environmental pH changes due to the protonation/deprotonation of TIA-1 RRM3 histidine residues. The auxiliary role of the C-terminal RRM3 domain in TIA-1 RNA recognition is poorly understood, and this work provides insight into its binding mechanisms. PMID:23902765

  3. miRNA Enriched in Human Neuroblast Nuclei Bind the MAZ Transcription Factor and Their Precursors Contain the MAZ Consensus Motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldie, Belinda J; Fitzsimmons, Chantel; Weidenhofer, Judith; Atkins, Joshua R; Wang, Dan O; Cairns, Murray J

    2017-01-01

    While the cytoplasmic function of microRNA (miRNA) as post-transcriptional regulators of mRNA has been the subject of significant research effort, their activity in the nucleus is less well characterized. Here we use a human neuronal cell model to show that some mature miRNA are preferentially enriched in the nucleus. These molecules were predominantly primate-specific and contained a sequence motif with homology to the consensus MAZ transcription factor binding element. Precursor miRNA containing this motif were shown to have affinity for MAZ protein in nuclear extract. We then used Ago1/2 RIP-Seq to explore nuclear miRNA-associated mRNA targets. Interestingly, the genes for Ago2-associated transcripts were also significantly enriched with MAZ binding sites and neural function, whereas Ago1-transcripts were associated with general metabolic processes and localized with SC35 spliceosomes. These findings suggest the MAZ transcription factor is associated with miRNA in the nucleus and may influence the regulation of neuronal development through Ago2-associated miRNA induced silencing complexes. The MAZ transcription factor may therefore be important for organizing higher order integration of transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes in primate neurons.

  4. IGD motifs, which are required for migration stimulatory activity of fibronectin type I modules, do not mediate binding in matrix assembly.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa M Maurer

    Full Text Available Picomolar concentrations of proteins comprising only the N-terminal 70-kDa region (70K of fibronectin (FN stimulate cell migration into collagen gels. The Ile-Gly-Asp (IGD motifs in four of the nine FN type 1 (FNI modules in 70K are important for such migratory stimulating activity. The 70K region mediates binding of nanomolar concentrations of intact FN to cell-surface sites where FN is assembled. Using baculovirus, we expressed wildtype 70K and 70K with Ile-to-Ala mutations in (3FNI and (5FNI; (7FNI and (9FNI; or (3FNI, (5FNI, (7FNI, and (9FNI. Wildtype 70K and 70K with Ile-to-Ala mutations were equally active in binding to assembly sites of FN-null fibroblasts. This finding indicates that IGD motifs do not mediate the interaction between 70K and the cell-surface that is important for FN assembly. Further, FN fragment N-(3FNIII, which does not stimulate migration, binds to assembly sites on FN-null fibroblast. The Ile-to-Ala mutations had effects on the structure of FNI modules as evidenced by decreases in abilities of 70K with Ile-to-Ala mutations to bind to monoclonal antibody 5C3, which recognizes an epitope in (9FNI, or to bind to FUD, a polypeptide based on the F1 adhesin of Streptococcus pyogenes that interacts with 70K by the β-zipper mechanism. These results suggest that the picomolar interactions of 70K with cells that stimulate cell migration require different conformations of FNI modules than the nanomolar interactions required for assembly.

  5. RBPmap: a web server for mapping binding sites of RNA-binding proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paz, Inbal; Kosti, Idit; Ares, Manuel; Cline, Melissa; Mandel-Gutfreund, Yael

    2014-07-01

    Regulation of gene expression is executed in many cases by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that bind to mRNAs as well as to non-coding RNAs. RBPs recognize their RNA target via specific binding sites on the RNA. Predicting the binding sites of RBPs is known to be a major challenge. We present a new webserver, RBPmap, freely accessible through the website http://rbpmap.technion.ac.il/ for accurate prediction and mapping of RBP binding sites. RBPmap has been developed specifically for mapping RBPs in human, mouse and Drosophila melanogaster genomes, though it supports other organisms too. RBPmap enables the users to select motifs from a large database of experimentally defined motifs. In addition, users can provide any motif of interest, given as either a consensus or a PSSM. The algorithm for mapping the motifs is based on a Weighted-Rank approach, which considers the clustering propensity of the binding sites and the overall tendency of regulatory regions to be conserved. In addition, RBPmap incorporates a position-specific background model, designed uniquely for different genomic regions, such as splice sites, 5' and 3' UTRs, non-coding RNA and intergenic regions. RBPmap was tested on high-throughput RNA-binding experiments and was proved to be highly accurate. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  6. Sequence similarity between the erythrocyte binding domain of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein and the V3 loop of HIV-1 strain MN reveals a functional heparin binding motif involved in binding to the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bolton Michael J

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The HIV surface glycoprotein gp120 (SU, gp120 and the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein (PvDBP bind to chemokine receptors during infection and have a site of amino acid sequence similarity in their binding domains that often includes a heparin binding motif (HBM. Infection by either pathogen has been found to be inhibited by polyanions. Results Specific polyanions that inhibit HIV infection and bind to the V3 loop of X4 strains also inhibited DBP-mediated infection of erythrocytes and DBP binding to the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC. A peptide including the HBM of PvDBP had similar affinity for heparin as RANTES and V3 loop peptides, and could be specifically inhibited from heparin binding by the same polyanions that inhibit DBP binding to DARC. However, some V3 peptides can competitively inhibit RANTES binding to heparin, but not the PvDBP HBM peptide. Three other members of the DBP family have an HBM sequence that is necessary for erythrocyte binding, however only the protein which binds to DARC, the P. knowlesi alpha protein, is inhibited by heparin from binding to erythrocytes. Heparitinase digestion does not affect the binding of DBP to erythrocytes. Conclusion The HBMs of DBPs that bind to DARC have similar heparin binding affinities as some V3 loop peptides and chemokines, are responsible for specific sulfated polysaccharide inhibition of parasite binding and invasion of red blood cells, and are more likely to bind to negative charges on the receptor than cell surface glycosaminoglycans.

  7. The Arabidopsis GAGA-Binding Factor BASIC PENTACYSTEINE6 Recruits the POLYCOMB-REPRESSIVE COMPLEX1 Component LIKE HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 to GAGA DNA Motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecker, Andreas; Brand, Luise H; Peter, Sébastien; Simoncello, Nathalie; Kilian, Joachim; Harter, Klaus; Gaudin, Valérie; Wanke, Dierk

    2015-07-01

    Polycomb-repressive complexes (PRCs) play key roles in development by repressing a large number of genes involved in various functions. Much, however, remains to be discovered about PRC-silencing mechanisms as well as their targeting to specific genomic regions. Besides other mechanisms, GAGA-binding factors in animals can guide PRC members in a sequence-specific manner to Polycomb-responsive DNA elements. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) GAGA-motif binding factor protein basic pentacysteine6 (BPC6) interacts with like heterochromatin protein1 (LHP1), a PRC1 component, and associates with vernalization2 (VRN2), a PRC2 component, in vivo. By using a modified DNA-protein interaction enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay, we could show that BPC6 was required and sufficient to recruit LHP1 to GAGA motif-containing DNA probes in vitro. We also found that LHP1 interacts with VRN2 and, therefore, can function as a possible scaffold between BPC6 and VRN2. The lhp1-4 bpc4 bpc6 triple mutant displayed a pleiotropic phenotype, extreme dwarfism and early flowering, which disclosed synergistic functions of LHP1 and group II plant BPC members. Transcriptome analyses supported this synergy and suggested a possible function in the concerted repression of homeotic genes, probably through histone H3 lysine-27 trimethylation. Hence, our findings suggest striking similarities between animal and plant GAGA-binding factors in the recruitment of PRC1 and PRC2 components to Polycomb-responsive DNA element-like GAGA motifs, which must have evolved through convergent evolution. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

  8. Structural fragment clustering reveals novel structural and functional motifs in α-helical transmembrane proteins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vassilev Boris

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A large proportion of an organism's genome encodes for membrane proteins. Membrane proteins are important for many cellular processes, and several diseases can be linked to mutations in them. With the tremendous growth of sequence data, there is an increasing need to reliably identify membrane proteins from sequence, to functionally annotate them, and to correctly predict their topology. Results We introduce a technique called structural fragment clustering, which learns sequential motifs from 3D structural fragments. From over 500,000 fragments, we obtain 213 statistically significant, non-redundant, and novel motifs that are highly specific to α-helical transmembrane proteins. From these 213 motifs, 58 of them were assigned to function and checked in the scientific literature for a biological assessment. Seventy percent of the motifs are found in co-factor, ligand, and ion binding sites, 30% at protein interaction interfaces, and 12% bind specific lipids such as glycerol or cardiolipins. The vast majority of motifs (94% appear across evolutionarily unrelated families, highlighting the modularity of functional design in membrane proteins. We describe three novel motifs in detail: (1 a dimer interface motif found in voltage-gated chloride channels, (2 a proton transfer motif found in heme-copper oxidases, and (3 a convergently evolved interface helix motif found in an aspartate symporter, a serine protease, and cytochrome b. Conclusions Our findings suggest that functional modules exist in membrane proteins, and that they occur in completely different evolutionary contexts and cover different binding sites. Structural fragment clustering allows us to link sequence motifs to function through clusters of structural fragments. The sequence motifs can be applied to identify and characterize membrane proteins in novel genomes.

  9. Novel Strategy for Discrimination of Transcription Factor Binding Motifs Employing Mathematical Neural Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugimoto, Asuka; Sumi, Takuya; Kang, Jiyoung; Tateno, Masaru

    2017-07-01

    Recognition in biological macromolecular systems, such as DNA-protein recognition, is one of the most crucial problems to solve toward understanding the fundamental mechanisms of various biological processes. Since specific base sequences of genome DNA are discriminated by proteins, such as transcription factors (TFs), finding TF binding motifs (TFBMs) in whole genome DNA sequences is currently a central issue in interdisciplinary biophysical and information sciences. In the present study, a novel strategy to create a discriminant function for discrimination of TFBMs by constituting mathematical neural networks (NNs) is proposed, together with a method to determine the boundary of signals (TFBMs) and noise in the NN-score (output) space. This analysis also leads to the mathematical limitation of discrimination in the recognition of features representing TFBMs, in an information geometrical manifold. Thus, the present strategy enables the identification of the whole space of TFBMs, right up to the noise boundary.

  10. miRNA Enriched in Human Neuroblast Nuclei Bind the MAZ Transcription Factor and Their Precursors Contain the MAZ Consensus Motif

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belinda J. Goldie

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available While the cytoplasmic function of microRNA (miRNA as post-transcriptional regulators of mRNA has been the subject of significant research effort, their activity in the nucleus is less well characterized. Here we use a human neuronal cell model to show that some mature miRNA are preferentially enriched in the nucleus. These molecules were predominantly primate-specific and contained a sequence motif with homology to the consensus MAZ transcription factor binding element. Precursor miRNA containing this motif were shown to have affinity for MAZ protein in nuclear extract. We then used Ago1/2 RIP-Seq to explore nuclear miRNA-associated mRNA targets. Interestingly, the genes for Ago2-associated transcripts were also significantly enriched with MAZ binding sites and neural function, whereas Ago1-transcripts were associated with general metabolic processes and localized with SC35 spliceosomes. These findings suggest the MAZ transcription factor is associated with miRNA in the nucleus and may influence the regulation of neuronal development through Ago2-associated miRNA induced silencing complexes. The MAZ transcription factor may therefore be important for organizing higher order integration of transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes in primate neurons.

  11. Mechanism for activation of the growth factor-activated AGC kinases by turn motif phosphorylation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hauge, Camilla; Antal, Torben L; Hirschberg, Daniel

    2007-01-01

    investigated the role of the third, so-called turn motif phosphate, also located in the tail, in the AGC kinases PKB, S6K, RSK, MSK, PRK and PKC. We report cooperative action of the HM phosphate and the turn motif phosphate, because it binds a phosphoSer/Thr-binding site above the glycine-rich loop within...

  12. Transcriptional control of the tissue-specific, developmentally regulated osteocalcin gene requires a binding motif for the Msx family of homeodomain proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, H M; Catron, K M; van Wijnen, A J; McCabe, L R; Lian, J B; Stein, G S; Stein, J L

    1994-12-20

    The OC box of the rat osteocalcin promoter (nt -99 to -76) is the principal proximal regulatory element contributing to both tissue-specific and developmental control of osteocalcin gene expression. The central motif of the OC box includes a perfect consensus DNA binding site for certain homeodomain proteins. Homeodomain proteins are transcription factors that direct proper development by regulating specific temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression. We therefore addressed the role of the homeodomain binding motif in the activity of the OC promoter. In this study, by the combined application of mutagenesis and site-specific protein recognition analysis, we examined interactions of ROS 17/2.8 osteosarcoma cell nuclear proteins and purified Msx-1 homeodomain protein with the OC box. We detected a series of related specific protein-DNA interactions, a subset of which were inhibited by antibodies directed against the Msx-1 homeodomain but which also recognize the Msx-2 homeodomain. Our results show that the sequence requirements for binding the Msx-1 or Msx-2 homeodomain closely parallel those necessary for osteocalcin gene promoter activity in vivo. This functional relationship was demonstrated by transient expression in ROS 17/2.8 osteosarcoma cells of a series of osteocalcin promoter (nt -1097 to +24)-reporter gene constructs containing mutations within and flanking the homeodomain binding site of the OC box. Northern blot analysis of several bone-related cell types showed that all of the cells expressed msx-1, whereas msx-2 expression was restricted to cells transcribing osteocalcin. Taken together, our results suggest a role for Msx-1 and -2 or related homeodomain proteins in transcription of the osteocalcin gene.

  13. The group B streptococcal alpha C protein binds alpha1beta1-integrin through a novel KTD motif that promotes internalization of GBS within human epithelial cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolduc, Gilles R; Madoff, Lawrence C

    2007-12-01

    Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis among neonates and a cause of morbidity among pregnant women and immunocompromised adults. GBS epithelial cell invasion is associated with expression of alpha C protein (ACP). Loss of ACP expression results in a decrease in GBS internalization and translocation across human cervical epithelial cells (ME180). Soluble ACP and its 170 amino acid N-terminal region (NtACP), but not the repeat protein RR', bind to ME180 cells and reduce internalization of wild-type GBS to levels obtained with an ACP-deficient isogenic mutant. In the current study, ACP colocalized with alpha(1)beta(1)-integrin, resulting in integrin clustering as determined by laser scanning confocal microscopy. NtACP contains two structural domains, D1 and D2. D1 is structurally similar to fibronectin's integrin-binding region (FnIII10). D1's (KT)D146 motif is structurally similar to the FnIII10 (RG)D1495 integrin-binding motif, suggesting that ACP binds alpha(1)beta(1)-integrin via the D1 domain. The (KT)D146A mutation within soluble NtACP reduced its ability to bind alpha(1)beta(1)-integrin and inhibit GBS internalization within ME180 cells. Thus ACP binding to human epithelial cell integrins appears to contribute to GBS internalization within epithelial cells.

  14. Structural and functional studies of a phosphatidic acid-binding antifungal plant defensin MtDef4: Identification of an RGFRRR motif governing fungal cell entry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sagaram, Uma S.; El-Mounadi, Kaoutar; Buchko, Garry W.; Berg, Howard R.; Kaur, Jagdeep; Pandurangi, Raghoottama; Smith, Thomas J.; Shah, Dilip

    2013-12-04

    A highly conserved plant defensin MtDef4 potently inhibits the growth of a filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum. MtDef4 is internalized by cells of F. graminearum. To determine its mechanism of fungal cell entry and antifungal action, NMR solution structure of MtDef4 has been determined. The analysis of its structure has revealed a positively charged patch on the surface of the protein consisting of arginine residues in its γ-core signature, a major determinant of the antifungal activity of MtDef4. Here, we report functional analysis of the RGFRRR motif of the γ-core signature of MtDef4. The replacement of RGFRRR to AAAARR or to RGFRAA not only abolishes fungal cell entry but also results in loss of the antifungal activity of MtDef4. MtDef4 binds strongly to phosphatidic acid (PA), a precursor for the biosynthesis of membrane phospholipids and a signaling lipid known to recruit cytosolic proteins to membranes. Mutations of RGFRRR which abolish fungal cell entry of MtDef4 also impair its binding to PA. Our results suggest that RGFRRR motif is a translocation signal for entry of MtDef4 into fungal cells and that this positively charged motif likely mediates interaction of this defensin with PA as part of its antifungal action.

  15. Mutations in the putative zinc-binding motif of UL52 demonstrate a complex interdependence between the UL5 and UL52 subunits of the human herpes simplex virus type 1 helicase/primase complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yan; Carrington-Lawrence, Stacy D; Bai, Ping; Weller, Sandra K

    2005-07-01

    Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) encodes a heterotrimeric helicase-primase (UL5/8/52) complex. UL5 contains seven motifs found in helicase superfamily 1, and UL52 contains conserved motifs found in primases. The contributions of each subunit to the biochemical activities of the complex, however, remain unclear. We have previously demonstrated that a mutation in the putative zinc finger at UL52 C terminus abrogates not only primase but also ATPase, helicase, and DNA-binding activities of a UL5/UL52 subcomplex, indicating a complex interdependence between the two subunits. To test this hypothesis and to further investigate the role of the zinc finger in the enzymatic activities of the helicase-primase, a series of mutations were constructed in this motif. They differed in their ability to complement a UL52 null virus: totally defective, partial complementation, and potentiating. In this study, four of these mutants were studied biochemically after expression and purification from insect cells infected with recombinant baculoviruses. All mutants show greatly reduced primase activity. Complementation-defective mutants exhibited severe defects in ATPase, helicase, and DNA-binding activities. Partially complementing mutants displayed intermediate levels of these activities, except that one showed a wild-type level of helicase activity. These data suggest that the UL52 zinc finger motif plays an important role in the activities of the helicase-primase complex. The observation that mutations in UL52 affected helicase, ATPase, and DNA-binding activities indicates that UL52 binding to DNA via the zinc finger may be necessary for loading UL5. Alternatively, UL5 and UL52 may share a DNA-binding interface.

  16. Contribution of Sequence Motif, Chromatin State, and DNA Structure Features to Predictive Models of Transcription Factor Binding in Yeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Zing Tsung-Yeh; Shiu, Shin-Han; Tsai, Huai-Kuang

    2015-08-01

    Transcription factor (TF) binding is determined by the presence of specific sequence motifs (SM) and chromatin accessibility, where the latter is influenced by both chromatin state (CS) and DNA structure (DS) properties. Although SM, CS, and DS have been used to predict TF binding sites, a predictive model that jointly considers CS and DS has not been developed to predict either TF-specific binding or general binding properties of TFs. Using budding yeast as model, we found that machine learning classifiers trained with either CS or DS features alone perform better in predicting TF-specific binding compared to SM-based classifiers. In addition, simultaneously considering CS and DS further improves the accuracy of the TF binding predictions, indicating the highly complementary nature of these two properties. The contributions of SM, CS, and DS features to binding site predictions differ greatly between TFs, allowing TF-specific predictions and potentially reflecting different TF binding mechanisms. In addition, a "TF-agnostic" predictive model based on three DNA "intrinsic properties" (in silico predicted nucleosome occupancy, major groove geometry, and dinucleotide free energy) that can be calculated from genomic sequences alone has performance that rivals the model incorporating experiment-derived data. This intrinsic property model allows prediction of binding regions not only across TFs, but also across DNA-binding domain families with distinct structural folds. Furthermore, these predicted binding regions can help identify TF binding sites that have a significant impact on target gene expression. Because the intrinsic property model allows prediction of binding regions across DNA-binding domain families, it is TF agnostic and likely describes general binding potential of TFs. Thus, our findings suggest that it is feasible to establish a TF agnostic model for identifying functional regulatory regions in potentially any sequenced genome.

  17. Contribution of Sequence Motif, Chromatin State, and DNA Structure Features to Predictive Models of Transcription Factor Binding in Yeast.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zing Tsung-Yeh Tsai

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Transcription factor (TF binding is determined by the presence of specific sequence motifs (SM and chromatin accessibility, where the latter is influenced by both chromatin state (CS and DNA structure (DS properties. Although SM, CS, and DS have been used to predict TF binding sites, a predictive model that jointly considers CS and DS has not been developed to predict either TF-specific binding or general binding properties of TFs. Using budding yeast as model, we found that machine learning classifiers trained with either CS or DS features alone perform better in predicting TF-specific binding compared to SM-based classifiers. In addition, simultaneously considering CS and DS further improves the accuracy of the TF binding predictions, indicating the highly complementary nature of these two properties. The contributions of SM, CS, and DS features to binding site predictions differ greatly between TFs, allowing TF-specific predictions and potentially reflecting different TF binding mechanisms. In addition, a "TF-agnostic" predictive model based on three DNA "intrinsic properties" (in silico predicted nucleosome occupancy, major groove geometry, and dinucleotide free energy that can be calculated from genomic sequences alone has performance that rivals the model incorporating experiment-derived data. This intrinsic property model allows prediction of binding regions not only across TFs, but also across DNA-binding domain families with distinct structural folds. Furthermore, these predicted binding regions can help identify TF binding sites that have a significant impact on target gene expression. Because the intrinsic property model allows prediction of binding regions across DNA-binding domain families, it is TF agnostic and likely describes general binding potential of TFs. Thus, our findings suggest that it is feasible to establish a TF agnostic model for identifying functional regulatory regions in potentially any sequenced genome.

  18. iFORM: Incorporating Find Occurrence of Regulatory Motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Chao; Chen, Hebing; Yang, Bite; Liu, Feng; Ouyang, Zhangyi; Bo, Xiaochen; Shu, Wenjie

    2016-01-01

    Accurately identifying the binding sites of transcription factors (TFs) is crucial to understanding the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation and human disease. We present incorporating Find Occurrence of Regulatory Motifs (iFORM), an easy-to-use and efficient tool for scanning DNA sequences with TF motifs described as position weight matrices (PWMs). Both performance assessment with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and a correlation-based approach demonstrated that iFORM achieves higher accuracy and sensitivity by integrating five classical motif discovery programs using Fisher's combined probability test. We have used iFORM to provide accurate results on a variety of data in the ENCODE Project and the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Project, and the tool has demonstrated its utility in further elucidating individual roles of functional elements. Both the source and binary codes for iFORM can be freely accessed at https://github.com/wenjiegroup/iFORM. The identified TF binding sites across human cell and tissue types using iFORM have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus under the accession ID GSE53962.

  19. Overlapping ETS and CRE Motifs (G/CCGGAAGTGACGTCA) Preferentially Bound by GABPα and CREB Proteins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatterjee, Raghunath; Zhao, Jianfei; He, Ximiao; Shlyakhtenko, Andrey; Mann, Ishminder; Waterfall, Joshua J.; Meltzer, Paul; Sathyanarayana, B. K.; FitzGerald, Peter C.; Vinson, Charles

    2012-01-01

    Previously, we identified 8-bps long DNA sequences (8-mers) that localize in human proximal promoters and grouped them into known transcription factor binding sites (TFBS). We now examine split 8-mers consisting of two 4-mers separated by 1-bp to 30-bps (X4-N1-30-X4) to identify pairs of TFBS that localize in proximal promoters at a precise distance. These include two overlapping TFBS: the ETS⇔ETS motif (C/GCCGGAAGCGGAA) and the ETS⇔CRE motif (C/GCGGAAGTGACGTCAC). The nucleotides in bold are part of both TFBS. Molecular modeling shows that the ETS⇔CRE motif can be bound simultaneously by both the ETS and the B-ZIP domains without protein-protein clashes. The electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) shows that the ETS protein GABPα and the B-ZIP protein CREB preferentially bind to the ETS⇔CRE motif only when the two TFBS overlap precisely. In contrast, the ETS domain of ETV5 and CREB interfere with each other for binding the ETS⇔CRE. The 11-mer (CGGAAGTGACG), the conserved part of the ETS⇔CRE motif, occurs 226 times in the human genome and 83% are in known regulatory regions. In vivo GABPα and CREB ChIP-seq peaks identified the ETS⇔CRE as the most enriched motif occurring in promoters of genes involved in mRNA processing, cellular catabolic processes, and stress response, suggesting that a specific class of genes is regulated by this composite motif. PMID:23050235

  20. A New Crucial Protein Interaction Element That Targets the Adenovirus E4-ORF1 Oncoprotein to Membrane Vesicles▿

    OpenAIRE

    Chung, Sang-Hyuk; Frese, Kristopher K.; Weiss, Robert S.; Prasad, B. V. Venkataram; Javier, Ronald T.

    2007-01-01

    Human adenovirus type 9 exclusively elicits mammary tumors in experimental animals, and the primary oncogenic determinant of this virus is the E4-ORF1 oncogene, as opposed to the well-known E1A and E1B oncogenes. The tumorigenic potential of E4-ORF1, as well as its ability to oncogenically stimulate phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), depends on a carboxyl-terminal PDZ domain-binding motif (PBM) that mediates interactions with several different membrane-associated cellular PDZ proteins, inc...

  1. Gene Isolation Using Degenerate Primers Targeting Protein Motif: A Laboratory Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Brandon Pei Hui; Foong, Lian Chee; Tam, Sheh May; Lee, Vivian; Hwang, Siaw San

    2018-01-01

    Structures and functions of protein motifs are widely included in many biology-based course syllabi. However, little emphasis is placed to link this knowledge to applications in biotechnology to enhance the learning experience. Here, the conserved motifs of nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeats (NBS-LRR) proteins, successfully used for the…

  2. An intracellular motif of GLUT4 regulates fusion of GLUT4-containing vesicles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyward, Catherine A; Pettitt, Trevor R; Leney, Sophie E; Welsh, Gavin I; Tavaré, Jeremy M; Wakelam, Michael J O

    2008-05-20

    Insulin stimulates glucose uptake by adipocytes through increasing translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4 from an intracellular compartment to the plasma membrane. Fusion of GLUT4-containing vesicles at the cell surface is thought to involve phospholipase D activity, generating the signalling lipid phosphatidic acid, although the mechanism of action is not yet clear. Here we report the identification of a putative phosphatidic acid-binding motif in a GLUT4 intracellular loop. Mutation of this motif causes a decrease in the insulin-induced exposure of GLUT4 at the cell surface of 3T3-L1 adipocytes via an effect on vesicle fusion. The potential phosphatidic acid-binding motif identified in this study is unique to GLUT4 among the sugar transporters, therefore this motif may provide a unique mechanism for regulating insulin-induced translocation by phospholipase D signalling.

  3. Role of NH2-terminal hydrophobic motif in the subcellular localization of ATP-binding cassette protein subfamily D: Common features in eukaryotic organisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Asaka; Asahina, Kota; Okamoto, Takumi; Kawaguchi, Kosuke; Kostsin, Dzmitry G.; Kashiwayama, Yoshinori; Takanashi, Kojiro; Yazaki, Kazufumi; Imanaka, Tsuneo; Morita, Masashi

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • ABCD proteins classifies based on with or without NH 2 -terminal hydrophobic segment. • The ABCD proteins with the segment are targeted peroxisomes. • The ABCD proteins without the segment are targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum. • The role of the segment in organelle targeting is conserved in eukaryotic organisms. - Abstract: In mammals, four ATP-binding cassette (ABC) proteins belonging to subfamily D have been identified. ABCD1–3 possesses the NH 2 -terminal hydrophobic region and are targeted to peroxisomes, while ABCD4 lacking the region is targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Based on hydropathy plot analysis, we found that several eukaryotes have ABCD protein homologs lacking the NH 2 -terminal hydrophobic segment (H0 motif). To investigate whether the role of the NH 2 -terminal H0 motif in subcellular localization is conserved across species, we expressed ABCD proteins from several species (metazoan, plant and fungi) in fusion with GFP in CHO cells and examined their subcellular localization. ABCD proteins possessing the NH 2 -terminal H0 motif were localized to peroxisomes, while ABCD proteins lacking this region lost this capacity. In addition, the deletion of the NH 2 -terminal H0 motif of ABCD protein resulted in their localization to the ER. These results suggest that the role of the NH 2 -terminal H0 motif in organelle targeting is widely conserved in living organisms

  4. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) and photobiomodulation (PBM - 660nm) in a dog with chronic gingivostomatitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abreu Villela, Paula; Souza, Naiá de Carvalho de; Baia, Juliana Durigan; Gioso, Marco Antonio; Aranha, Ana Cecília Corrêa; de Freitas, Patrícia Moreira

    2017-12-01

    Chronic gingivostomatitis in dogs is an inflammatory syndrome of the oral cavity, which treatment and control of concomitant periodontitis allow healing in most of the cases. In the presence of recurrent lesions, invasive methods are necessary to treat lesions and pain. As a conservative adjuvant method, photobiomodulation (PBM) with low power laser is able to promote reduction of tissue pain and tissue inflammation besides increasing vascularization and healing, restoring the normal function of the irradiated organ in a shorter time. In veterinary medicine, there is no standardization of technique for its use in oral tissue for treating gingivostomatitis in dogs. In the present case, a dog was submitted to aPDT (7.2J/point, 3min/point, 180J/cm 2 ) and PBM (1.6J/point, 40s/point, 25J/cm 2 ), using a semiconductor diode laser, with wavelength of 660nm, spot size of ​​0.04cm 2 and output power of 40mW. The established protocol proved to be effective as coadjutant treatment for chronic gingivostomatitis, restoring the integrity of dog's affected mucosa and gingiva. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Non-canonical binding interactions of the RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains of P34 protein modulate binding within the 5S ribonucleoprotein particle (5S RNP).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamina, Anyango D; Williams, Noreen

    2017-01-01

    RNA binding proteins are involved in many aspects of RNA metabolism. In Trypanosoma brucei, our laboratory has identified two trypanosome-specific RNA binding proteins P34 and P37 that are involved in the maturation of the 60S subunit during ribosome biogenesis. These proteins are part of the T. brucei 5S ribonucleoprotein particle (5S RNP) and P34 binds to 5S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and ribosomal protein L5 through its N-terminus and its RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains. We generated truncated P34 proteins to determine these domains' interactions with 5S rRNA and L5. Our analyses demonstrate that RRM1 of P34 mediates the majority of binding with 5S rRNA and the N-terminus together with RRM1 contribute the most to binding with L5. We determined that the consensus ribonucleoprotein (RNP) 1 and 2 sequences, characteristic of canonical RRM domains, are not fully conserved in the RRM domains of P34. However, the aromatic amino acids previously described to mediate base stacking interactions with their RNA target are conserved in both of the RRM domains of P34. Surprisingly, mutation of these aromatic residues did not disrupt but instead enhanced 5S rRNA binding. However, we identified four arginine residues located in RRM1 of P34 that strongly impact L5 binding. These mutational analyses of P34 suggest that the binding site for 5S rRNA and L5 are near each other and specific residues within P34 regulate the formation of the 5S RNP. These studies show the unique way that the domains of P34 mediate binding with the T. brucei 5S RNP.

  6. MEGARA Optics: stain removal in PBM2Y prisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aguirre-Aguirre, D; Izazaga-Pérez, R; Carrasco, E; Villalobos-Mendoza, B; De Paz, A Gil; Gallego, J; Iglesias, J

    2017-01-01

    MEGARA is the new integral-field and multi-object optical spectrograph for the GTC. For medium and high resolution, the dispersive elements are volume phase holographic gratings, sandwiched between two flat windows and two prisms of high optical precision. The prisms are made of Ohara PBM2Y optical glass. After the prisms polishing process, some stains appeared on the surfaces. For this, in this work is shown the comparative study of five different products (muriatic acid, paint remover, sodium hydroxide, aqua regia and rare earth liquid polish) used for trying to eliminate the stains of the HR MEGARA prisms. It was found that by polishing with the hands the affected area, and using a towel like a kind of pad, and polish during five minutes using rare earth, the stains disappear completely affecting only a 5% the rms of the surface quality. Not so the use of the other products that did not show any apparent result. (paper)

  7. Large-scale discovery of promoter motifs in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas A Down

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available A key step in understanding gene regulation is to identify the repertoire of transcription factor binding motifs (TFBMs that form the building blocks of promoters and other regulatory elements. Identifying these experimentally is very laborious, and the number of TFBMs discovered remains relatively small, especially when compared with the hundreds of transcription factor genes predicted in metazoan genomes. We have used a recently developed statistical motif discovery approach, NestedMICA, to detect candidate TFBMs from a large set of Drosophila melanogaster promoter regions. Of the 120 motifs inferred in our initial analysis, 25 were statistically significant matches to previously reported motifs, while 87 appeared to be novel. Analysis of sequence conservation and motif positioning suggested that the great majority of these discovered motifs are predictive of functional elements in the genome. Many motifs showed associations with specific patterns of gene expression in the D. melanogaster embryo, and we were able to obtain confident annotation of expression patterns for 25 of our motifs, including eight of the novel motifs. The motifs are available through Tiffin, a new database of DNA sequence motifs. We have discovered many new motifs that are overrepresented in D. melanogaster promoter regions, and offer several independent lines of evidence that these are novel TFBMs. Our motif dictionary provides a solid foundation for further investigation of regulatory elements in Drosophila, and demonstrates techniques that should be applicable in other species. We suggest that further improvements in computational motif discovery should narrow the gap between the set of known motifs and the total number of transcription factors in metazoan genomes.

  8. Efficient motif finding algorithms for large-alphabet inputs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlovic Vladimir

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We consider the problem of identifying motifs, recurring or conserved patterns, in the biological sequence data sets. To solve this task, we present a new deterministic algorithm for finding patterns that are embedded as exact or inexact instances in all or most of the input strings. Results The proposed algorithm (1 improves search efficiency compared to existing algorithms, and (2 scales well with the size of alphabet. On a synthetic planted DNA motif finding problem our algorithm is over 10× more efficient than MITRA, PMSPrune, and RISOTTO for long motifs. Improvements are orders of magnitude higher in the same setting with large alphabets. On benchmark TF-binding site problems (FNP, CRP, LexA we observed reduction in running time of over 12×, with high detection accuracy. The algorithm was also successful in rapidly identifying protein motifs in Lipocalin, Zinc metallopeptidase, and supersecondary structure motifs for Cadherin and Immunoglobin families. Conclusions Our algorithm reduces computational complexity of the current motif finding algorithms and demonstrate strong running time improvements over existing exact algorithms, especially in important and difficult cases of large-alphabet sequences.

  9. An intracellular motif of GLUT4 regulates fusion of GLUT4-containing vesicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Welsh Gavin I

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Insulin stimulates glucose uptake by adipocytes through increasing translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4 from an intracellular compartment to the plasma membrane. Fusion of GLUT4-containing vesicles at the cell surface is thought to involve phospholipase D activity, generating the signalling lipid phosphatidic acid, although the mechanism of action is not yet clear. Results Here we report the identification of a putative phosphatidic acid-binding motif in a GLUT4 intracellular loop. Mutation of this motif causes a decrease in the insulin-induced exposure of GLUT4 at the cell surface of 3T3-L1 adipocytes via an effect on vesicle fusion. Conclusion The potential phosphatidic acid-binding motif identified in this study is unique to GLUT4 among the sugar transporters, therefore this motif may provide a unique mechanism for regulating insulin-induced translocation by phospholipase D signalling.

  10. CompariMotif: quick and easy comparisons of sequence motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Richard J; Davey, Norman E; Shields, Denis C

    2008-05-15

    CompariMotif is a novel tool for making motif-motif comparisons, identifying and describing similarities between regular expression motifs. CompariMotif can identify a number of different relationships between motifs, including exact matches, variants of degenerate motifs and complex overlapping motifs. Motif relationships are scored using shared information content, allowing the best matches to be easily identified in large comparisons. Many input and search options are available, enabling a list of motifs to be compared to itself (to identify recurring motifs) or to datasets of known motifs. CompariMotif can be run online at http://bioware.ucd.ie/ and is freely available for academic use as a set of open source Python modules under a GNU General Public License from http://bioinformatics.ucd.ie/shields/software/comparimotif/

  11. The calmodulin-binding, short linear motif, NSCaTE is conserved in L-type channel ancestors of vertebrate Cav1.2 and Cav1.3 channels.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Taiakina

    Full Text Available NSCaTE is a short linear motif of (xWxxx(I or Lxxxx, composed of residues with a high helix-forming propensity within a mostly disordered N-terminus that is conserved in L-type calcium channels from protostome invertebrates to humans. NSCaTE is an optional, lower affinity and calcium-sensitive binding site for calmodulin (CaM which competes for CaM binding with a more ancient, C-terminal IQ domain on L-type channels. CaM bound to N- and C- terminal tails serve as dual detectors to changing intracellular Ca(2+ concentrations, promoting calcium-dependent inactivation of L-type calcium channels. NSCaTE is absent in some arthropod species, and is also lacking in vertebrate L-type isoforms, Cav1.1 and Cav1.4 channels. The pervasiveness of a methionine just downstream from NSCaTE suggests that L-type channels could generate alternative N-termini lacking NSCaTE through the choice of translational start sites. Long N-terminus with an NSCaTE motif in L-type calcium channel homolog LCav1 from pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis has a faster calcium-dependent inactivation than a shortened N-termini lacking NSCaTE. NSCaTE effects are present in low concentrations of internal buffer (0.5 mM EGTA, but disappears in high buffer conditions (10 mM EGTA. Snail and mammalian NSCaTE have an alpha-helical propensity upon binding Ca(2+-CaM and can saturate both CaM N-terminal and C-terminal domains in the absence of a competing IQ motif. NSCaTE evolved in ancestors of the first animals with internal organs for promoting a more rapid, calcium-sensitive inactivation of L-type channels.

  12. A mutation in the glutamate-rich region of RNA-binding motif protein 20 causes dilated cardiomyopathy through missplicing of titin and impaired Frank-Starling mechanism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beqqali, Abdelaziz; Bollen, I. A. E.; Rasmussen, T. B.

    2016-01-01

    Mutations in the RS-domain of RNA-binding motif protein 20 (RBM20) have recently been identified to segregate with aggressive forms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Loss of RBM20 in rats results in missplicing of the sarcomeric gene titin (TTN). The functional and physiological consequen......Mutations in the RS-domain of RNA-binding motif protein 20 (RBM20) have recently been identified to segregate with aggressive forms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Loss of RBM20 in rats results in missplicing of the sarcomeric gene titin (TTN). The functional and physiological...... consequences of RBM20 mutations outside the mutational hotspot of RBM20 have not been explored to date. In this study, we investigated the pathomechanism of DCM caused by a novel RBM20 mutation in human cardiomyocytes. We identified a family with DCM carrying a mutation (RBM20(E913K/+)) in a glutamate...... to the early onset, and malignant course of DCM caused by RBM20 mutations. Altogether, our results demonstrate that heterozygous loss of RBM20 suffices to profoundly impair myocyte biomechanics by its disturbance of TTN splicing....

  13. Argo_CUDA: Exhaustive GPU based approach for motif discovery in large DNA datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vishnevsky, Oleg V; Bocharnikov, Andrey V; Kolchanov, Nikolay A

    2018-02-01

    The development of chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) technology has revolutionized the genetic analysis of the basic mechanisms underlying transcription regulation and led to accumulation of information about a huge amount of DNA sequences. There are a lot of web services which are currently available for de novo motif discovery in datasets containing information about DNA/protein binding. An enormous motif diversity makes their finding challenging. In order to avoid the difficulties, researchers use different stochastic approaches. Unfortunately, the efficiency of the motif discovery programs dramatically declines with the query set size increase. This leads to the fact that only a fraction of top "peak" ChIP-Seq segments can be analyzed or the area of analysis should be narrowed. Thus, the motif discovery in massive datasets remains a challenging issue. Argo_Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) web service is designed to process the massive DNA data. It is a program for the detection of degenerate oligonucleotide motifs of fixed length written in 15-letter IUPAC code. Argo_CUDA is a full-exhaustive approach based on the high-performance GPU technologies. Compared with the existing motif discovery web services, Argo_CUDA shows good prediction quality on simulated sets. The analysis of ChIP-Seq sequences revealed the motifs which correspond to known transcription factor binding sites.

  14. Identification of amino acid residues in protein SRP72 required for binding to a kinked 5e motif of the human signal recognition particle RNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iakhiaeva, Elena; Iakhiaev, Alexei; Zwieb, Christian

    2010-11-13

    Human cells depend critically on the signal recognition particle (SRP) for the sorting and delivery of their proteins. The SRP is a ribonucleoprotein complex which binds to signal sequences of secretory polypeptides as they emerge from the ribosome. Among the six proteins of the eukaryotic SRP, the largest protein, SRP72, is essential for protein targeting and possesses a poorly characterized RNA binding domain. We delineated the minimal region of SRP72 capable of forming a stable complex with an SRP RNA fragment. The region encompassed residues 545 to 585 of the full-length human SRP72 and contained a lysine-rich cluster (KKKKKKKKGK) at postions 552 to 561 as well as a conserved Pfam motif with the sequence PDPXRWLPXXER at positions 572 to 583. We demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis that both regions participated in the formation of a complex with the RNA. In agreement with biochemical data and results from chymotryptic digestion experiments, molecular modeling of SRP72 implied that the invariant W577 was located inside the predicted structure of an RNA binding domain. The 11-nucleotide 5e motif contained within the SRP RNA fragment was shown by comparative electrophoresis on native polyacrylamide gels to conform to an RNA kink-turn. The model of the complex suggested that the conserved A240 of the K-turn, previously identified as being essential for the binding to SRP72, could protrude into a groove of the SRP72 RNA binding domain, similar but not identical to how other K-turn recognizing proteins interact with RNA. The results from the presented experiments provided insights into the molecular details of a functionally important and structurally interesting RNA-protein interaction. A model for how a ligand binding pocket of SRP72 can accommodate a new RNA K-turn in the 5e region of the eukaryotic SRP RNA is proposed.

  15. Pipeline for the Analysis of ChIP-seq Data and New Motif Ranking Procedure

    KAUST Repository

    Ashoor, Haitham

    2011-06-01

    This thesis presents a computational methodology for ab-initio identification of transcription factor binding sites based on ChIP-seq data. This method consists of three main steps, namely ChIP-seq data processing, motif discovery and models selection. A novel method for ranking the models of motifs identified in this process is proposed. This method combines multiple factors in order to rank the provided candidate motifs. It combines the model coverage of the ChIP-seq fragments that contain motifs from which that model is built, the suitable background data made up of shuffled ChIP-seq fragments, and the p-value that resulted from evaluating the model on actual and background data. Two ChIP-seq datasets retrieved from ENCODE project are used to evaluate and demonstrate the ability of the method to predict correct TFBSs with high precision. The first dataset relates to neuron-restrictive silencer factor, NRSF, while the second one corresponds to growth-associated binding protein, GABP. The pipeline system shows high precision prediction for both datasets, as in both cases the top ranked motif closely resembles the known motifs for the respective transcription factors.

  16. A systems wide mass spectrometric based linear motif screen to identify dominant in-vivo interacting proteins for the ubiquitin ligase MDM2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholson, Judith; Scherl, Alex; Way, Luke; Blackburn, Elizabeth A; Walkinshaw, Malcolm D; Ball, Kathryn L; Hupp, Ted R

    2014-06-01

    Linear motifs mediate protein-protein interactions (PPI) that allow expansion of a target protein interactome at a systems level. This study uses a proteomics approach and linear motif sub-stratifications to expand on PPIs of MDM2. MDM2 is a multi-functional protein with over one hundred known binding partners not stratified by hierarchy or function. A new linear motif based on a MDM2 interaction consensus is used to select novel MDM2 interactors based on Nutlin-3 responsiveness in a cell-based proteomics screen. MDM2 binds a subset of peptide motifs corresponding to real proteins with a range of allosteric responses to MDM2 ligands. We validate cyclophilin B as a novel protein with a consensus MDM2 binding motif that is stabilised by Nutlin-3 in vivo, thus identifying one of the few known interactors of MDM2 that is stabilised by Nutlin-3. These data invoke two modes of peptide binding at the MDM2 N-terminus that rely on a consensus core motif to control the equilibrium between MDM2 binding proteins. This approach stratifies MDM2 interacting proteins based on the linear motif feature and provides a new biomarker assay to define clinically relevant Nutlin-3 responsive MDM2 interactors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Different binding motifs of the celiac disease-associated HLA molecules DQ2.5, DQ2.2, and DQ7.5 revealed by relative quantitative proteomics of endogenous peptide repertoires

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bergseng, Elin; Dørum, Siri; Arntzen, Magnus Ø.

    2014-01-01

    Celiac disease is caused by intolerance to cereal gluten proteins, and HLA-DQ molecules are involved in the disease pathogenesis by presentation of gluten peptides to CD4+ T cells. The α- or β-chain sharing HLA molecules DQ2.5, DQ2.2, and DQ7.5 display different risks for the disease...... established binding motifs. The binding motif of DQ2.2 was strikingly different from that of DQ2.5 with position P3 being a major anchor having a preference for threonine and serine. This is notable as three recently identified epitopes of gluten recognized by T cells of DQ2.2 celiac patients harbor serine...... at position P3. This study demonstrates that relative quantitative comparison of endogenous peptides sampled from our protein metabolism by HLA molecules provides clues to understand HLA association with disease....

  18. Purification and functional motifs of the recombinant ATPase of orf virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Fong-Yuan; Chan, Kun-Wei; Wang, Chi-Young; Wong, Min-Liang; Hsu, Wei-Li

    2011-10-01

    Our previous study showed that the recombinant ATPase encoded by the A32L gene of orf virus displayed ATP hydrolysis activity as predicted from its amino acids sequence. This viral ATPase contains four known functional motifs (motifs I-IV) and a novel AYDG motif; they are essential for ATP hydrolysis reaction by binding ATP and magnesium ions. The motifs I and II correspond with the Walker A and B motifs of the typical ATPase, respectively. To examine the biochemical roles of these five conserved motifs, recombinant ATPases of five deletion mutants derived from the Taiping strain were expressed and purified. Their ATPase functions were assayed and compared with those of two wild type strains, Taiping and Nantou isolated in Taiwan. Our results showed that deletions at motifs I-III or IV exhibited lower activity than that of the wild type. Interestingly, deletion of AYDG motif decreased the ATPase activity more significantly than those of motifs I-IV deletions. Divalent ions such as magnesium and calcium were essential for ATPase activity. Moreover, our recombinant proteins of orf virus also demonstrated GTPase activity, though weaker than the original ATPase activity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Context influences on TALE-DNA binding revealed by quantitative profiling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Julia M; Barrera, Luis A; Reyon, Deepak; Sander, Jeffry D; Kellis, Manolis; Joung, J Keith; Bulyk, Martha L

    2015-06-11

    Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) proteins recognize DNA using a seemingly simple DNA-binding code, which makes them attractive for use in genome engineering technologies that require precise targeting. Although this code is used successfully to design TALEs to target specific sequences, off-target binding has been observed and is difficult to predict. Here we explore TALE-DNA interactions comprehensively by quantitatively assaying the DNA-binding specificities of 21 representative TALEs to ∼5,000-20,000 unique DNA sequences per protein using custom-designed protein-binding microarrays (PBMs). We find that protein context features exert significant influences on binding. Thus, the canonical recognition code does not fully capture the complexity of TALE-DNA binding. We used the PBM data to develop a computational model, Specificity Inference For TAL-Effector Design (SIFTED), to predict the DNA-binding specificity of any TALE. We provide SIFTED as a publicly available web tool that predicts potential genomic off-target sites for improved TALE design.

  20. Context influences on TALE–DNA binding revealed by quantitative profiling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Julia M.; Barrera, Luis A.; Reyon, Deepak; Sander, Jeffry D.; Kellis, Manolis; Joung, J Keith; Bulyk, Martha L.

    2015-01-01

    Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) proteins recognize DNA using a seemingly simple DNA-binding code, which makes them attractive for use in genome engineering technologies that require precise targeting. Although this code is used successfully to design TALEs to target specific sequences, off-target binding has been observed and is difficult to predict. Here we explore TALE–DNA interactions comprehensively by quantitatively assaying the DNA-binding specificities of 21 representative TALEs to ∼5,000–20,000 unique DNA sequences per protein using custom-designed protein-binding microarrays (PBMs). We find that protein context features exert significant influences on binding. Thus, the canonical recognition code does not fully capture the complexity of TALE–DNA binding. We used the PBM data to develop a computational model, Specificity Inference For TAL-Effector Design (SIFTED), to predict the DNA-binding specificity of any TALE. We provide SIFTED as a publicly available web tool that predicts potential genomic off-target sites for improved TALE design. PMID:26067805

  1. One motif to bind them: A small-XXX-small motif affects transmembrane domain 1 oligomerization, function, localization, and cross-talk between two yeast GPCRs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lock, Antonia; Forfar, Rachel; Weston, Cathryn; Bowsher, Leo; Upton, Graham J G; Reynolds, Christopher A; Ladds, Graham; Dixon, Ann M

    2014-12-01

    G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of cell-surface receptors in mammals and facilitate a range of physiological responses triggered by a variety of ligands. GPCRs were thought to function as monomers, however it is now accepted that GPCR homo- and hetero-oligomers also exist and influence receptor properties. The Schizosaccharomyces pombe GPCR Mam2 is a pheromone-sensing receptor involved in mating and has previously been shown to form oligomers in vivo. The first transmembrane domain (TMD) of Mam2 contains a small-XXX-small motif, overrepresented in membrane proteins and well-known for promoting helix-helix interactions. An ortholog of Mam2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ste2, contains an analogous small-XXX-small motif which has been shown to contribute to receptor homo-oligomerization, localization and function. Here we have used experimental and computational techniques to characterize the role of the small-XXX-small motif in function and assembly of Mam2 for the first time. We find that disruption of the motif via mutagenesis leads to reduction of Mam2 TMD1 homo-oligomerization and pheromone-responsive cellular signaling of the full-length protein. It also impairs correct targeting to the plasma membrane. Mutation of the analogous motif in Ste2 yielded similar results, suggesting a conserved mechanism for assembly. Using co-expression of the two fungal receptors in conjunction with computational models, we demonstrate a functional change in G protein specificity and propose that this is brought about through hetero-dimeric interactions of Mam2 with Ste2 via the complementary small-XXX-small motifs. This highlights the potential of these motifs to affect a range of properties that can be investigated in other GPCRs. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. SSTRAP: A computational model for genomic motif discovery ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Computational methods can potentially provide high-quality prediction of biological molecules such as DNA binding sites and Transcription factors and therefore reduce the time needed for experimental verification and challenges associated with experimental methods. These biological molecules or motifs have significant ...

  3. Arabidopsis AtbHLH112 regulates the expression of genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance by binding to their E-box and GCG-box motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yujia; Ji, Xiaoyu; Nie, Xianguang; Qu, Min; Zheng, Lei; Tan, Zilong; Zhao, Huimin; Huo, Lin; Liu, Shengnan; Zhang, Bing; Wang, Yucheng

    2015-08-01

    Plant basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play essential roles in abiotic stress tolerance. However, most bHLHs have not been functionally characterized. Here, we characterized the functional role of a bHLH transcription factor from Arabidopsis, AtbHLH112, in response to abiotic stress. AtbHLH112 is a nuclear-localized protein, and its nuclear localization is induced by salt, drought and abscisic acid (ABA). In addition, AtbHLH112 serves as a transcriptional activator, with the activation domain located at its N-terminus. In addition to binding to the E-box motifs of stress-responsive genes, AtbHLH112 binds to a novel motif with the sequence 'GG[GT]CC[GT][GA][TA]C' (GCG-box). Gain- and loss-of-function analyses showed that the transcript level of AtbHLH112 is positively correlated with salt and drought tolerance. AtbHLH112 mediates stress tolerance by increasing the expression of P5CS genes and reducing the expression of P5CDH and ProDH genes to increase proline levels. AtbHLH112 also increases the expression of POD and SOD genes to improve reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging ability. We present a model suggesting that AtbHLH112 is a transcriptional activator that regulates the expression of genes via binding to their GCG- or E-boxes to mediate physiological responses, including proline biosynthesis and ROS scavenging pathways, to enhance stress tolerance. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  4. Relaxed selection against accidental binding of transcription factors with conserved chromatin contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babbitt, G A

    2010-10-15

    The spurious (or nonfunctional) binding of transcription factors (TF) to the wrong locations on DNA presents a formidable challenge to genomes given the relatively low ceiling for sequence complexity within the short lengths of most binding motifs. The high potential for the occurrence of random motifs and subsequent nonfunctional binding of many transcription factors should theoretically lead to natural selection against the occurrence of spurious motif throughout the genome. However, because of the active role that chromatin can influence over eukaryotic gene regulation, it may also be expected that many supposed spurious binding sites could escape purifying selection if (A) they simply occur in regions of high nucleosome occupancy or (B) their surrounding chromatin was dynamically involved in their identity and function. We compared nucleosome occupancy and the presence/absence of functionally conserved chromatin context to the strength of selection against spurious binding of various TF binding motifs in Saccharomyces yeast. While we find no direct relationship with nucleosome occupancy, we find strong evidence that transcription factors spatially associated with evolutionarily conserved chromatin states are under relaxed selection against accidental binding. Transcription factors (with/without) a conserved chromatin context were found to occur on average, (87.7%/49.3%) of their expected frequencies. Functional binding motifs with conserved chromatin contexts were also significantly shorter in length and more often clustered. These results indicate a role of chromatin context dependency in relaxing selection against spurious binding in nearly half of all TF binding motifs throughout the yeast genome. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Nucleic acid-binding properties of the RRM-containing protein RDM1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamimes, Samia; Bourgeon, Dominique; Stasiak, Alicja Z.; Stasiak, Andrzej; Van Dyck, Eric

    2006-01-01

    RDM1 (RAD52 Motif 1) is a vertebrate protein involved in the cellular response to the anti-cancer drug cisplatin. In addition to an RNA recognition motif, RDM1 contains a small amino acid motif, named RD motif, which it shares with the recombination and repair protein, RAD52. RDM1 binds to single- and double-stranded DNA, and recognizes DNA distortions induced by cisplatin adducts in vitro. Here, we have performed an in-depth analysis of the nucleic acid-binding properties of RDM1 using gel-shift assays and electron microscopy. We show that RDM1 possesses acidic pH-dependent DNA-binding activity and that it binds RNA as well as DNA, and we present evidence from competition gel-shift experiments that RDM1 may be capable of discrimination between the two nucleic acids. Based on reported studies of RAD52, we have generated an RDM1 variant mutated in its RD motif. We find that the L 119 GF → AAA mutation affects the mode of RDM1 binding to single-stranded DNA

  6. Factoring local sequence composition in motif significance analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Patrick; Keich, Uri

    2008-01-01

    We recently introduced a biologically realistic and reliable significance analysis of the output of a popular class of motif finders. In this paper we further improve our significance analysis by incorporating local base composition information. Relying on realistic biological data simulation, as well as on FDR analysis applied to real data, we show that our method is significantly better than the increasingly popular practice of using the normal approximation to estimate the significance of a finder's output. Finally we turn to leveraging our reliable significance analysis to improve the actual motif finding task. Specifically, endowing a variant of the Gibbs Sampler with our improved significance analysis we demonstrate that de novo finders can perform better than has been perceived. Significantly, our new variant outperforms all the finders reviewed in a recently published comprehensive analysis of the Harbison genome-wide binding location data. Interestingly, many of these finders incorporate additional information such as nucleosome positioning and the significance of binding data.

  7. Solution structure of a DNA mimicking motif of an RNA aptamer against transcription factor AML1 Runt domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nomura, Yusuke; Tanaka, Yoichiro; Fukunaga, Jun-ichi; Fujiwara, Kazuya; Chiba, Manabu; Iibuchi, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Taku; Nakamura, Yoshikazu; Kawai, Gota; Kozu, Tomoko; Sakamoto, Taiichi

    2013-12-01

    AML1/RUNX1 is an essential transcription factor involved in the differentiation of hematopoietic cells. AML1 binds to the Runt-binding double-stranded DNA element (RDE) of target genes through its N-terminal Runt domain. In a previous study, we obtained RNA aptamers against the AML1 Runt domain by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment and revealed that RNA aptamers exhibit higher affinity for the Runt domain than that for RDE and possess the 5'-GCGMGNN-3' and 5'-N'N'CCAC-3' conserved motif (M: A or C; N and N' form Watson-Crick base pairs) that is important for Runt domain binding. In this study, to understand the structural basis of recognition of the Runt domain by the aptamer motif, the solution structure of a 22-mer RNA was determined using nuclear magnetic resonance. The motif contains the AH(+)-C mismatch and base triple and adopts an unusual backbone structure. Structural analysis of the aptamer motif indicated that the aptamer binds to the Runt domain by mimicking the RDE sequence and structure. Our data should enhance the understanding of the structural basis of DNA mimicry by RNA molecules.

  8. Identification of amino acid residues in protein SRP72 required for binding to a kinked 5e motif of the human signal recognition particle RNA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zwieb Christian

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Human cells depend critically on the signal recognition particle (SRP for the sorting and delivery of their proteins. The SRP is a ribonucleoprotein complex which binds to signal sequences of secretory polypeptides as they emerge from the ribosome. Among the six proteins of the eukaryotic SRP, the largest protein, SRP72, is essential for protein targeting and possesses a poorly characterized RNA binding domain. Results We delineated the minimal region of SRP72 capable of forming a stable complex with an SRP RNA fragment. The region encompassed residues 545 to 585 of the full-length human SRP72 and contained a lysine-rich cluster (KKKKKKKKGK at postions 552 to 561 as well as a conserved Pfam motif with the sequence PDPXRWLPXXER at positions 572 to 583. We demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis that both regions participated in the formation of a complex with the RNA. In agreement with biochemical data and results from chymotryptic digestion experiments, molecular modeling of SRP72 implied that the invariant W577 was located inside the predicted structure of an RNA binding domain. The 11-nucleotide 5e motif contained within the SRP RNA fragment was shown by comparative electrophoresis on native polyacrylamide gels to conform to an RNA kink-turn. The model of the complex suggested that the conserved A240 of the K-turn, previously identified as being essential for the binding to SRP72, could protrude into a groove of the SRP72 RNA binding domain, similar but not identical to how other K-turn recognizing proteins interact with RNA. Conclusions The results from the presented experiments provided insights into the molecular details of a functionally important and structurally interesting RNA-protein interaction. A model for how a ligand binding pocket of SRP72 can accommodate a new RNA K-turn in the 5e region of the eukaryotic SRP RNA is proposed.

  9. Peptide-binding motif prediction by using phage display library for SasaUBA*0301, a resistance haplotype of MHC class I molecule from Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhao, Heng; Hermsen, Trudi; Stet, Rene J M

    2008-01-01

    The structure of the peptide-binding specificity of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I has been analyzed extensively in human and mouse. For fish, there are no crystallographic models of MHC molecules, neither are there data on the peptide-binding specificity. In this study, we descri...... and there is a significant association between MHC polymorphism and the disease resistance. Therefore, our study might contribute to designing a peptide vaccine against this viral disease....... class I molecule might have a very similar binding motif at the C-terminus compared with a known mouse class I molecule H2-Kb which has L, or I, V, M at p8. Previous work showed that Atlantic Salmon carrying the allele SasaUBA*0301 are resistant to infectious Salmon aneamia virus...

  10. MotifNet: a web-server for network motif analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smoly, Ilan Y; Lerman, Eugene; Ziv-Ukelson, Michal; Yeger-Lotem, Esti

    2017-06-15

    Network motifs are small topological patterns that recur in a network significantly more often than expected by chance. Their identification emerged as a powerful approach for uncovering the design principles underlying complex networks. However, available tools for network motif analysis typically require download and execution of computationally intensive software on a local computer. We present MotifNet, the first open-access web-server for network motif analysis. MotifNet allows researchers to analyze integrated networks, where nodes and edges may be labeled, and to search for motifs of up to eight nodes. The output motifs are presented graphically and the user can interactively filter them by their significance, number of instances, node and edge labels, and node identities, and view their instances. MotifNet also allows the user to distinguish between motifs that are centered on specific nodes and motifs that recur in distinct parts of the network. MotifNet is freely available at http://netbio.bgu.ac.il/motifnet . The website was implemented using ReactJs and supports all major browsers. The server interface was implemented in Python with data stored on a MySQL database. estiyl@bgu.ac.il or michaluz@cs.bgu.ac.il. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  11. Utilização de um sistema de gerenciamento de benefícios farmacêuticos (PBM para a caracterização do perfil de prescrição e aquisição de antibióticos Use of Pharmacy Banafits Management (PBM system to describe the profile of antibiotic prescription and purchase

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Paula Cunha S. Lima

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available No Brasil o PBM (Pharmacy Benefits Management é de utilização relativamente nova, podendo-se classificá-lo como um sistema de gerenciamento de saúde que administra benefícios na compra e venda de medicamentos. Considerando que o surgimento de bactérias resistentes está relacionado à prescrição inapropriada de antibióticos ou ao uso de antibióticos de baixa atividade, este estudo avaliou se o sistema PBM pode fornecer informações úteis sobre os perfis de prescrição e aquisição de antibióticos de efeitos sistêmicos, a partir da base de dados de uma empresa de PBM brasileira, referente a um grupo formado por 6 525 metalúrgicos de uma empresa da região de Campinas, SP, e seus dependentes, cobrindo o período de janeiro a abril de 2005. Observou-se que 7,7% de todos os medicamentos adquiridos eram antibióticos sistêmicos, numa média 2,4 antibióticos e ao custo de R$ 51,80 por receita. A amoxicilina foi o fármaco mais prescrito e em 92,7% dos casos o usuário adquiriu o medicamento até um dia após a consulta médica. A partir das listas das especialidades farmacêuticas adquiridas (por unidade de venda, dos laboratórios fabricantes, dos antibióticos que compunham cada produto, das datas de emissão das receitas e da dispensação, foi possível concluir que o sistema permite extrair informações relevantes sobre o tema enfocado.Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM, a system that manages benefits in the purchase and sale of drugs, is of relatively recent implementation in Brazil. Taking into account that the development of bacterial resistance is related to the inadequate prescription of antibiotics or to the use of low activity antibiotics, this study sought to assess the capability of PBM to provide useful information on the profiles of prescription and purchase of systemic antibiotics. The data used for this purpose were collected from the database of a Brazilian PBM company and related to a group of 6 525 metalworkers

  12. Predicting peptides binding to MHC class II molecules using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng Lin

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Peptides binding to Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC class II molecules are crucial for initiation and regulation of immune responses. Predicting peptides that bind to a specific MHC molecule plays an important role in determining potential candidates for vaccines. The binding groove in class II MHC is open at both ends, allowing peptides longer than 9-mer to bind. Finding the consensus motif facilitating the binding of peptides to a MHC class II molecule is difficult because of different lengths of binding peptides and varying location of 9-mer binding core. The level of difficulty increases when the molecule is promiscuous and binds to a large number of low affinity peptides. In this paper, we propose two approaches using multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA for predicting peptides binding to MHC class II molecules. One uses the information from both binders and non-binders for self-discovery of motifs. The other, in addition, uses information from experimentally determined motifs for guided-discovery of motifs. Results The proposed methods are intended for finding peptides binding to MHC class II I-Ag7 molecule – a promiscuous binder to a large number of low affinity peptides. Cross-validation results across experiments on two motifs derived for I-Ag7 datasets demonstrate better generalization abilities and accuracies of the present method over earlier approaches. Further, the proposed method was validated and compared on two publicly available benchmark datasets: (1 an ensemble of qualitative HLA-DRB1*0401 peptide data obtained from five different sources, and (2 quantitative peptide data obtained for sixteen different alleles comprising of three mouse alleles and thirteen HLA alleles. The proposed method outperformed earlier methods on most datasets, indicating that it is well suited for finding peptides binding to MHC class II molecules. Conclusion We present two MOEA-based algorithms for finding motifs

  13. RNAcontext: a new method for learning the sequence and structure binding preferences of RNA-binding proteins.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hilal Kazan

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Metazoan genomes encode hundreds of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs. These proteins regulate post-transcriptional gene expression and have critical roles in numerous cellular processes including mRNA splicing, export, stability and translation. Despite their ubiquity and importance, the binding preferences for most RBPs are not well characterized. In vitro and in vivo studies, using affinity selection-based approaches, have successfully identified RNA sequence associated with specific RBPs; however, it is difficult to infer RBP sequence and structural preferences without specifically designed motif finding methods. In this study, we introduce a new motif-finding method, RNAcontext, designed to elucidate RBP-specific sequence and structural preferences with greater accuracy than existing approaches. We evaluated RNAcontext on recently published in vitro and in vivo RNA affinity selected data and demonstrate that RNAcontext identifies known binding preferences for several control proteins including HuR, PTB, and Vts1p and predicts new RNA structure preferences for SF2/ASF, RBM4, FUSIP1 and SLM2. The predicted preferences for SF2/ASF are consistent with its recently reported in vivo binding sites. RNAcontext is an accurate and efficient motif finding method ideally suited for using large-scale RNA-binding affinity datasets to determine the relative binding preferences of RBPs for a wide range of RNA sequences and structures.

  14. Analysis of a conserved RGE/RGD motif in HCV E2 in mediating entry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rong Lijun

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV encodes two transmembrane glycoproteins E1 and E2 which form a heterodimer. E1 is believed to mediate fusion while E2 has been shown to bind cellular receptors. It is clear that HCV uses a multi-receptor complex to gain entry into susceptible cells, however key elements of this complex remain elusive. In this study, the role of a highly conserved RGE/RGD motif of HCV E2 glycoprotein in viral entry was examined. The effect of each substitution mutation in this motif was tested by challenging susceptible cell lines with mutant HCV E1E2 pseudotyped viruses generated using a lentiviral system (HCVpp. In addition to assaying infectivity, producer cell expression and HCVpp incorporation of HCV E2 proteins, CD81 binding profiles, and conformation of mutants were examined. Results Based on these characteristics, mutants either displayed wt characteristics (high infectivity [≥ 90% of wt HCVpp], CD81 binding, E1E2 expression, and incorporation into viral particles and proper conformation or very low infectivity (≤ 20% of wt HCVpp. Only amino acid substitutions of the 3rd position (D or E resulted in wt characteristics as long as the negative charge was maintained or a neutral alanine was introduced. A change in charge to a positive lysine, disrupted HCVpp infectivity at this position. Conclusion Although most amino acid substitutions within this conserved motif displayed greatly reduced HCVpp infectivity, they retained soluble CD81 binding, proper E2 conformation, and incorporation into HCVpp. Our results suggest that although RGE/D is a well-defined integrin binding motif, in this case the role of these three hyperconserved amino acids does not appear to be integrin binding. As the extent of conservation of this region extends well beyond these three amino acids, we speculate that this region may play an important role in the structure of HCV E2 or in mediating the interaction with other factor(s during

  15. BayesMotif: de novo protein sorting motif discovery from impure datasets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Jianjun; Zhang, Fan

    2010-01-18

    Protein sorting is the process that newly synthesized proteins are transported to their target locations within or outside of the cell. This process is precisely regulated by protein sorting signals in different forms. A major category of sorting signals are amino acid sub-sequences usually located at the N-terminals or C-terminals of protein sequences. Genome-wide experimental identification of protein sorting signals is extremely time-consuming and costly. Effective computational algorithms for de novo discovery of protein sorting signals is needed to improve the understanding of protein sorting mechanisms. We formulated the protein sorting motif discovery problem as a classification problem and proposed a Bayesian classifier based algorithm (BayesMotif) for de novo identification of a common type of protein sorting motifs in which a highly conserved anchor is present along with a less conserved motif regions. A false positive removal procedure is developed to iteratively remove sequences that are unlikely to contain true motifs so that the algorithm can identify motifs from impure input sequences. Experiments on both implanted motif datasets and real-world datasets showed that the enhanced BayesMotif algorithm can identify anchored sorting motifs from pure or impure protein sequence dataset. It also shows that the false positive removal procedure can help to identify true motifs even when there is only 20% of the input sequences containing true motif instances. We proposed BayesMotif, a novel Bayesian classification based algorithm for de novo discovery of a special category of anchored protein sorting motifs from impure datasets. Compared to conventional motif discovery algorithms such as MEME, our algorithm can find less-conserved motifs with short highly conserved anchors. Our algorithm also has the advantage of easy incorporation of additional meta-sequence features such as hydrophobicity or charge of the motifs which may help to overcome the limitations of

  16. EEVD motif of heat shock cognate protein 70 contributes to bacterial uptake by trophoblast giant cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Suk

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The uptake of abortion-inducing pathogens by trophoblast giant (TG cells is a key event in infectious abortion. However, little is known about phagocytic functions of TG cells against the pathogens. Here we show that heat shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70 contributes to bacterial uptake by TG cells and the EEVD motif of Hsc70 plays an important role in this. Methods Brucella abortus and Listeria monocytogenes were used as the bacterial antigen in this study. Recombinant proteins containing tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR domains were constructed and confirmation of the binding capacity to Hsc70 was assessed by ELISA. The recombinant TPR proteins were used for investigation of the effect of TPR proteins on bacterial uptake by TG cells and on pregnancy in mice. Results The monoclonal antibody that inhibits bacterial uptake by TG cells reacted with the EEVD motif of Hsc70. Bacterial TPR proteins bound to the C-terminal of Hsc70 through its EEVD motif and this binding inhibited bacterial uptake by TG cells. Infectious abortion was also prevented by blocking the EEVD motif of Hsc70. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that surface located Hsc70 on TG cells mediates the uptake of pathogenic bacteria and proteins containing the TPR domain inhibit the function of Hsc70 by binding to its EEVD motif. These molecules may be useful in the development of methods for preventing infectious abortion.

  17. Novel and deviant Walker A ATP-binding motifs in bacteriophage large terminase-DNA packaging proteins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, Michael S.; Rao, Venigalla B.

    2004-01-01

    Bacteriophage terminases constitute a very interesting class of viral-coded multifunctional ATPase 'motors' that apparently drive directional translocation of DNA into an empty viral capsid. A common Walker A motif and other conserved signatures of a critical ATPase catalytic center are identified in the N-terminal half of numerous large terminase proteins. However, several terminases, including the well-characterized λ and SPP1 terminases, seem to lack the classic Walker A in the N-terminus. Using sequence alignment approaches, we discovered the presence of deviant Walker A motifs in these and many other phage terminases. One deviation, the presence of a lysine at the beginning of P-loop, may represent a 3D equivalent of the universally conserved lysine in the Walker A GKT/S signature. This and other novel putative Walker A motifs that first came to light through this study help define the ATPase centers of phage and viral terminases as well as elicit important insights into the molecular functioning of this fundamental motif in biological systems

  18. The ARTT motif and a unified structural understanding of substraterecognition in ADP ribosylating bacterial toxins and eukaryotic ADPribosyltransferases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, S.; Tainer, J.A.

    2001-08-01

    ADP-ribosylation is a widely occurring and biologically critical covalent chemical modification process in pathogenic mechanisms, intracellular signaling systems, DNA repair, and cell division. The reaction is catalyzed by ADP-ribosyltransferases, which transfer the ADP-ribose moiety of NAD to a target protein with nicotinamide release. A family of bacterial toxins and eukaryotic enzymes has been termed the mono-ADP-ribosyltransferases, in distinction to the poly-ADP-ribosyltransferases, which catalyze the addition of multiple ADP-ribose groups to the carboxyl terminus of eukaryotic nucleoproteins. Despite the limited primary sequence homology among the different ADP-ribosyltransferases, a central cleft bearing NAD-binding pocket formed by the two perpendicular b-sheet core has been remarkably conserved between bacterial toxins and eukaryotic mono- and poly-ADP-ribosyltransferases. The majority of bacterial toxins and eukaryotic mono-ADP-ribosyltransferases are characterized by conserved His and catalytic Glu residues. In contrast, Diphtheria toxin, Pseudomonas exotoxin A, and eukaryotic poly-ADP-ribosyltransferases are characterized by conserved Arg and catalytic Glu residues. The NAD-binding core of a binary toxin and a C3-like toxin family identified an ARTT motif (ADP-ribosylating turn-turn motif) that is implicated in substrate specificity and recognition by structural and mutagenic studies. Here we apply structure-based sequence alignment and comparative structural analyses of all known structures of ADP-ribosyltransfeases to suggest that this ARTT motif is functionally important in many ADP-ribosylating enzymes that bear a NAD binding cleft as characterized by conserved Arg and catalytic Glu residues. Overall, structure-based sequence analysis reveals common core structures and conserved active sites of ADP-ribosyltransferases to support similar NAD binding mechanisms but differing mechanisms of target protein binding via sequence variations within the ARTT

  19. SiteBinder: an improved approach for comparing multiple protein structural motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sehnal, David; Vařeková, Radka Svobodová; Huber, Heinrich J; Geidl, Stanislav; Ionescu, Crina-Maria; Wimmerová, Michaela; Koča, Jaroslav

    2012-02-27

    There is a paramount need to develop new techniques and tools that will extract as much information as possible from the ever growing repository of protein 3D structures. We report here on the development of a software tool for the multiple superimposition of large sets of protein structural motifs. Our superimposition methodology performs a systematic search for the atom pairing that provides the best fit. During this search, the RMSD values for all chemically relevant pairings are calculated by quaternion algebra. The number of evaluated pairings is markedly decreased by using PDB annotations for atoms. This approach guarantees that the best fit will be found and can be applied even when sequence similarity is low or does not exist at all. We have implemented this methodology in the Web application SiteBinder, which is able to process up to thousands of protein structural motifs in a very short time, and which provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Our benchmarking analysis has shown the robustness, efficiency, and versatility of our methodology and its implementation by the successful superimposition of 1000 experimentally determined structures for each of 32 eukaryotic linear motifs. We also demonstrate the applicability of SiteBinder using three case studies. We first compared the structures of 61 PA-IIL sugar binding sites containing nine different sugars, and we found that the sugar binding sites of PA-IIL and its mutants have a conserved structure despite their binding different sugars. We then superimposed over 300 zinc finger central motifs and revealed that the molecular structure in the vicinity of the Zn atom is highly conserved. Finally, we superimposed 12 BH3 domains from pro-apoptotic proteins. Our findings come to support the hypothesis that there is a structural basis for the functional segregation of BH3-only proteins into activators and enablers.

  20. OSR1 regulates a subset of inward rectifier potassium channels via a binding motif variant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Clinton A; An, Sung-Wan; Kankanamalage, Sachith Gallolu; Stippec, Steve; Earnest, Svetlana; Trivedi, Ashesh T; Yang, Jonathan Zijiang; Mirzaei, Hamid; Huang, Chou-Long; Cobb, Melanie H

    2018-04-10

    The with-no-lysine (K) (WNK) signaling pathway to STE20/SPS1-related proline- and alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) and oxidative stress-responsive 1 (OSR1) kinase is an important mediator of cell volume and ion transport. SPAK and OSR1 associate with upstream kinases WNK 1-4, substrates, and other proteins through their C-terminal domains which interact with linear R-F-x-V/I sequence motifs. In this study we find that SPAK and OSR1 also interact with similar affinity with a motif variant, R-x-F-x-V/I. Eight of 16 human inward rectifier K + channels have an R-x-F-x-V motif. We demonstrate that two of these channels, Kir2.1 and Kir2.3, are activated by OSR1, while Kir4.1, which does not contain the motif, is not sensitive to changes in OSR1 or WNK activity. Mutation of the motif prevents activation of Kir2.3 by OSR1. Both siRNA knockdown of OSR1 and chemical inhibition of WNK activity disrupt NaCl-induced plasma membrane localization of Kir2.3. Our results suggest a mechanism by which WNK-OSR1 enhance Kir2.1 and Kir2.3 channel activity by increasing their plasma membrane localization. Regulation of members of the inward rectifier K + channel family adds functional and mechanistic insight into the physiological impact of the WNK pathway.

  1. Exon silencing by UAGG motifs in response to neuronal excitation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping An

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Alternative pre-mRNA splicing plays fundamental roles in neurons by generating functional diversity in proteins associated with the communication and connectivity of the synapse. The CI cassette of the NMDA R1 receptor is one of a variety of exons that show an increase in exon skipping in response to cell excitation, but the molecular nature of this splicing responsiveness is not yet understood. Here we investigate the molecular basis for the induced changes in splicing of the CI cassette exon in primary rat cortical cultures in response to KCl-induced depolarization using an expression assay with a tight neuron-specific readout. In this system, exon silencing in response to neuronal excitation was mediated by multiple UAGG-type silencing motifs, and transfer of the motifs to a constitutive exon conferred a similar responsiveness by gain of function. Biochemical analysis of protein binding to UAGG motifs in extracts prepared from treated and mock-treated cortical cultures showed an increase in nuclear hnRNP A1-RNA binding activity in parallel with excitation. Evidence for the role of the NMDA receptor and calcium signaling in the induced splicing response was shown by the use of specific antagonists, as well as cell-permeable inhibitors of signaling pathways. Finally, a wider role for exon-skipping responsiveness is shown to involve additional exons with UAGG-related silencing motifs, and transcripts involved in synaptic functions. These results suggest that, at the post-transcriptional level, excitable exons such as the CI cassette may be involved in strategies by which neurons mount adaptive responses to hyperstimulation.

  2. The AT-Hook motif as a versatile minor groove anchor for promoting DNA binding of transcription factor fragments? ?Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Peptide synthesis, full experimental procedures and analytical data of the peptides and products obtained. See DOI: 10.1039/c5sc01415h Click here for additional data file.

    OpenAIRE

    Rodr?guez, J?ssica; Mosquera, Jes?s; Couceiro, Jose R.; V?zquez, M. Eugenio; Mascare?as, Jos? L.

    2015-01-01

    We report the development of chimeric DNA binding peptides comprising a DNA binding fragment of natural transcription factors (the basic region of a bZIP protein or a monomeric zinc finger module) and an AT-Hook peptide motif. The resulting peptide conjugates display high DNA affinity and excellent sequence selectivity. Furthermore, the AT-Hook motif also favors the cell internalization of the conjugates.

  3. Peptide binding motifs associated with MHC molecules common in Chinese rhesus macaques are analogous to those of human HLA supertypes, and include HLA-B27-like alleles

    OpenAIRE

    Mothé, Bianca R.; Southwood, Scott; Sidney, John; English, A. Michelle; Wriston, Amanda; Hoof, Ilka; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Hunt, Donald F.; Sette, Alessandro

    2013-01-01

    Chinese rhesus macaques are of particular interest in SIV/HIV research as these animals have prolonged kinetics of disease progression to AIDS, compared to their Indian counterparts, suggesting that they may be a better model for HIV. Nevertheless, the specific mechanism(s) accounting for these kinetics remains unclear. The study of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules, including their MHC:peptide binding motifs, provides valuable information for measuring cellular immune response...

  4. De-novo discovery of differentially abundant transcription factor binding sites including their positional preference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keilwagen, Jens; Grau, Jan; Paponov, Ivan A; Posch, Stefan; Strickert, Marc; Grosse, Ivo

    2011-02-10

    Transcription factors are a main component of gene regulation as they activate or repress gene expression by binding to specific binding sites in promoters. The de-novo discovery of transcription factor binding sites in target regions obtained by wet-lab experiments is a challenging problem in computational biology, which has not been fully solved yet. Here, we present a de-novo motif discovery tool called Dispom for finding differentially abundant transcription factor binding sites that models existing positional preferences of binding sites and adjusts the length of the motif in the learning process. Evaluating Dispom, we find that its prediction performance is superior to existing tools for de-novo motif discovery for 18 benchmark data sets with planted binding sites, and for a metazoan compendium based on experimental data from micro-array, ChIP-chip, ChIP-DSL, and DamID as well as Gene Ontology data. Finally, we apply Dispom to find binding sites differentially abundant in promoters of auxin-responsive genes extracted from Arabidopsis thaliana microarray data, and we find a motif that can be interpreted as a refined auxin responsive element predominately positioned in the 250-bp region upstream of the transcription start site. Using an independent data set of auxin-responsive genes, we find in genome-wide predictions that the refined motif is more specific for auxin-responsive genes than the canonical auxin-responsive element. In general, Dispom can be used to find differentially abundant motifs in sequences of any origin. However, the positional distribution learned by Dispom is especially beneficial if all sequences are aligned to some anchor point like the transcription start site in case of promoter sequences. We demonstrate that the combination of searching for differentially abundant motifs and inferring a position distribution from the data is beneficial for de-novo motif discovery. Hence, we make the tool freely available as a component of the open

  5. Linker length dependent binding of a focal adhesion kinase derived peptide to the Src SH3-SH2 domains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindfors, Hanna E; Venkata, Bharat Somireddy; Drijfhout, Jan W; Ubbink, Marcellus

    2011-02-18

    The interaction between a peptide encompassing the SH3 and SH2 binding motifs of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and the Src SH3-SH2 domains has been investigated with NMR spectroscopy and calorimetry. The binding to both motifs is anti-cooperative. Reduction of the long linker connecting the motifs does not lead to cooperativity. Short linkers that do not allow simultaneous intramolecular binding of the peptide to both motifs cause peptide-mediated dimerisation, even with a linker of only three amino acids. The role of the SH3 binding motif is discussed in view of the independent nature of the SH interactions. Copyright © 2011 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Two CGTCA motifs and a GHF1/Pit1 binding site mediate cAMP-dependent protein kinase A regulation of human growth hormone gene expression in rat anterior pituitary GC cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepard, A R; Zhang, W; Eberhardt, N L

    1994-01-21

    We established the cis-acting elements which mediate cAMP responsiveness of the human growth hormone (hGH) gene in transiently transfected rat anterior pituitary tumor GC cells. Analysis of the intact hGH gene or hGH 5'-flanking DNA (5'-FR) coupled to the hGh cDNA or chloramphenicol acetyltransferase or luciferase genes, indicated that cAMP primarily stimulated hGH promoter activity. Cotransfection of a protein kinase A inhibitory protein cDNA demonstrated that the cAMP response was mediated by protein kinase A. Mutational analysis of the hGH promoter identified two core cAMP response element motifs (CGTCA) located at nucleotides -187/-183 (distal cAMP response element; dCRE) and -99/-95 (proximal cAMP response element; pCRE) and a pituitary-specific transcription factor (GHF1/Pit1) binding site at nucleotides -123/-112 (dGHF1) which were required for cAMP responsiveness. GHF1 was not a limiting factor, since overexpression of GHF1 in cotransfections increased basal but not forskolin induction levels. Gel shift analyses indicated that similar, ubiquitous, thermostable protein(s) specifically bound the pCRE and dCRE motifs. The CGTCA motif-binding factors were cAMP response element binding protein (CREB)/activating transcription factor-1 (ATF-1)-related, since the DNA-protein complex was competed by unlabeled CREB consensus oligonucleotide, specifically supershifted by antisera to CREB and ATF-1 but not ATF-2, and was bound by purified CREB with the same relative binding affinity (pCRE < dCRE < CREB) and mobility as the GC nuclear extract. UV cross-linking and Southwestern blot analyses revealed multiple DNA-protein interactions of which approximately 100- and approximately 45-kDa proteins were predominant; the approximately 45-kDa protein may represent CREB. These results indicate that CREB/ATF-1-related factors act coordinately with the cell-specific factor GHF1 to mediate cAMP-dependent regulation of hGH-1 gene transcription in anterior pituitary somatotrophs.

  7. A speedup technique for (l, d-motif finding algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dinh Hieu

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The discovery of patterns in DNA, RNA, and protein sequences has led to the solution of many vital biological problems. For instance, the identification of patterns in nucleic acid sequences has resulted in the determination of open reading frames, identification of promoter elements of genes, identification of intron/exon splicing sites, identification of SH RNAs, location of RNA degradation signals, identification of alternative splicing sites, etc. In protein sequences, patterns have proven to be extremely helpful in domain identification, location of protease cleavage sites, identification of signal peptides, protein interactions, determination of protein degradation elements, identification of protein trafficking elements, etc. Motifs are important patterns that are helpful in finding transcriptional regulatory elements, transcription factor binding sites, functional genomics, drug design, etc. As a result, numerous papers have been written to solve the motif search problem. Results Three versions of the motif search problem have been proposed in the literature: Simple Motif Search (SMS, (l, d-motif search (or Planted Motif Search (PMS, and Edit-distance-based Motif Search (EMS. In this paper we focus on PMS. Two kinds of algorithms can be found in the literature for solving the PMS problem: exact and approximate. An exact algorithm identifies the motifs always and an approximate algorithm may fail to identify some or all of the motifs. The exact version of PMS problem has been shown to be NP-hard. Exact algorithms proposed in the literature for PMS take time that is exponential in some of the underlying parameters. In this paper we propose a generic technique that can be used to speedup PMS algorithms. Conclusions We present a speedup technique that can be used on any PMS algorithm. We have tested our speedup technique on a number of algorithms. These experimental results show that our speedup technique is indeed very

  8. Monitoring lysin motif-ligand interactions via tryptophan analog fluorescence spectroscopy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Petrovic, Dejan M.; Leenhouts, Kees; van Roosmalen, Maarten L.; KleinJan, Fenneke; Broos, Jaap

    2012-01-01

    The lysin motif (LysM) is a peptidoglycan binding protein domain found in a wide range of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Various techniques have been used to study the LysM-ligand interaction, but a sensitive spectroscopic method to directly monitor this interaction has not been reported. Here a

  9. Specificity and affinity motifs for Grb2 SH2-ligand interactions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kessels, Helmut W. H. G.; Ward, Alister C.; Schumacher, Ton N. M.

    2002-01-01

    Protein-protein interactions are often mediated by the recognition of short continuous amino acid stretches on target proteins by specific binding domains. Affinity-based selection strategies have successfully been used to define recognition motifs for a large series of such protein domains.

  10. Identification of coupling DNA motif pairs on long-range chromatin interactions in human K562 cells

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun; Li, Yue; Peng, Chengbin

    2015-01-01

    Motivation: The protein-DNA interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs, also known as DNA motifs) are critical activities in gene transcription. The identification of the DNA motifs is a vital task for downstream analysis. Unfortunately, the long-range coupling information between different DNA motifs is still lacking. To fill the void, as the first-of-its-kind study, we have identified the coupling DNA motif pairs on long-range chromatin interactions in human. Results: The coupling DNA motif pairs exhibit substantially higher DNase accessibility than the background sequences. Half of the DNA motifs involved are matched to the existing motif databases, although nearly all of them are enriched with at least one gene ontology term. Their motif instances are also found statistically enriched on the promoter and enhancer regions. Especially, we introduce a novel measurement called motif pairing multiplicity which is defined as the number of motifs that are paired with a given motif on chromatin interactions. Interestingly, we observe that motif pairing multiplicity is linked to several characteristics such as regulatory region type, motif sequence degeneracy, DNase accessibility and pairing genomic distance. Taken into account together, we believe the coupling DNA motif pairs identified in this study can shed lights on the gene transcription mechanism under long-range chromatin interactions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  11. Identification of coupling DNA motif pairs on long-range chromatin interactions in human K562 cells

    KAUST Repository

    Wong, Ka-Chun

    2015-09-27

    Motivation: The protein-DNA interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs, also known as DNA motifs) are critical activities in gene transcription. The identification of the DNA motifs is a vital task for downstream analysis. Unfortunately, the long-range coupling information between different DNA motifs is still lacking. To fill the void, as the first-of-its-kind study, we have identified the coupling DNA motif pairs on long-range chromatin interactions in human. Results: The coupling DNA motif pairs exhibit substantially higher DNase accessibility than the background sequences. Half of the DNA motifs involved are matched to the existing motif databases, although nearly all of them are enriched with at least one gene ontology term. Their motif instances are also found statistically enriched on the promoter and enhancer regions. Especially, we introduce a novel measurement called motif pairing multiplicity which is defined as the number of motifs that are paired with a given motif on chromatin interactions. Interestingly, we observe that motif pairing multiplicity is linked to several characteristics such as regulatory region type, motif sequence degeneracy, DNase accessibility and pairing genomic distance. Taken into account together, we believe the coupling DNA motif pairs identified in this study can shed lights on the gene transcription mechanism under long-range chromatin interactions. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  12. DIVERSITY in binding, regulation, and evolution revealed from high-throughput ChIP.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitra, Sneha; Biswas, Anushua; Narlikar, Leelavati

    2018-04-23

    Genome-wide in vivo protein-DNA interactions are routinely mapped using high-throughput chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). ChIP-reported regions are typically investigated for enriched sequence-motifs, which are likely to model the DNA-binding specificity of the profiled protein and/or of co-occurring proteins. However, simple enrichment analyses can miss insights into the binding-activity of the protein. Note that ChIP reports regions making direct contact with the protein as well as those binding through intermediaries. For example, consider a ChIP experiment targeting protein X, which binds DNA at its cognate sites, but simultaneously interacts with four other proteins. Each of these proteins also binds to its own specific cognate sites along distant parts of the genome, a scenario consistent with the current view of transcriptional hubs and chromatin loops. Since ChIP will pull down all X-associated regions, the final reported data will be a union of five distinct sets of regions, each containing binding sites of one of the five proteins, respectively. Characterizing all five different motifs and the corresponding sets is important to interpret the ChIP experiment and ultimately, the role of X in regulation. We present diversity which attempts exactly this: it partitions the data so that each partition can be characterized with its own de novo motif. Diversity uses a Bayesian approach to identify the optimal number of motifs and the associated partitions, which together explain the entire dataset. This is in contrast to standard motif finders, which report motifs individually enriched in the data, but do not necessarily explain all reported regions. We show that the different motifs and associated regions identified by diversity give insights into the various complexes that may be forming along the chromatin, something that has so far not been attempted from ChIP data. Webserver at http://diversity.ncl.res.in/; standalone (Mac OS X/Linux) from https

  13. Cu(II) Binding to the Peptide Ala-His-His, a Chimera of the Canonical Cu(II)-Binding Motifs Xxx-His and Xxx-Zzz-His.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Paulina; Vileno, Bertrand; Bossak, Karolina; El Khoury, Youssef; Hellwig, Petra; Bal, Wojciech; Hureau, Christelle; Faller, Peter

    2017-12-18

    Peptides and proteins with the N-terminal motifs NH 2 -Xxx-His and NH 2 -Xxx-Zzz-His form well-established Cu(II) complexes. The canonical peptides are Gly-His-Lys and Asp-Ala-His-Lys (from the wound healing factor and human serum albumin, respectively). Cu(II) is bound to NH 2 -Xxx-His via three nitrogens from the peptide and an external ligand in the equatorial plane (called 3N form here). In contrast, Cu(II) is bound to NH 2 -Xxx-Zzz-His via four nitrogens from the peptide in the equatorial plane (called 4N form here). These two motifs are not mutually exclusive, as the peptides with the sequence NH 2 -Xxx-His-His contain both of them. However, this chimera has never been fully explored. In this work, we use a multispectroscopic approach to analyze the Cu(II) binding to the chimeric peptide Ala-His-His (AHH). AHH is capable of forming the 3N- and 4N-type complexes in a pH dependent manner. The 3N form predominates at pH ∼ 4-6.5 and the 4N form at ∼ pH 6.5-10. NMR experiments showed that at pH 8.5, where Cu(II) is almost exclusively bound in the 4N form, the Cu(II)-exchange between AHH or the amidated AHH-NH 2 is fast, in comparison to the nonchimeric 4N form (AAH). Together, the results show that the chimeric AHH can access both Cu(II) coordination types, that minor changes in the second (or further) coordination sphere can impact considerably the equilibrium between the forms, and that Cu kinetic exchange is fast even when Cu-AHH is mainly in the 4N form.

  14. Structural and Histone Binding Ability Characterizations of Human PWWP Domains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Hong; Zeng, Hong; Lam, Robert; Tempel, Wolfram; Amaya, Maria F.; Xu, Chao; Dombrovski, Ludmila; Qiu, Wei; Wang, Yanming; Min, Jinrong (Toronto); (Penn)

    2013-09-25

    The PWWP domain was first identified as a structural motif of 100-130 amino acids in the WHSC1 protein and predicted to be a protein-protein interaction domain. It belongs to the Tudor domain 'Royal Family', which consists of Tudor, chromodomain, MBT and PWWP domains. While Tudor, chromodomain and MBT domains have long been known to bind methylated histones, PWWP was shown to exhibit histone binding ability only until recently. The PWWP domain has been shown to be a DNA binding domain, but sequence analysis and previous structural studies show that the PWWP domain exhibits significant similarity to other 'Royal Family' members, implying that the PWWP domain has the potential to bind histones. In order to further explore the function of the PWWP domain, we used the protein family approach to determine the crystal structures of the PWWP domains from seven different human proteins. Our fluorescence polarization binding studies show that PWWP domains have weak histone binding ability, which is also confirmed by our NMR titration experiments. Furthermore, we determined the crystal structures of the BRPF1 PWWP domain in complex with H3K36me3, and HDGF2 PWWP domain in complex with H3K79me3 and H4K20me3. PWWP proteins constitute a new family of methyl lysine histone binders. The PWWP domain consists of three motifs: a canonical {beta}-barrel core, an insertion motif between the second and third {beta}-strands and a C-terminal {alpha}-helix bundle. Both the canonical {beta}-barrel core and the insertion motif are directly involved in histone binding. The PWWP domain has been previously shown to be a DNA binding domain. Therefore, the PWWP domain exhibits dual functions: binding both DNA and methyllysine histones.

  15. Motif finding in DNA sequences based on skipping nonconserved positions in background Markov chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiaoyan; Sze, Sing-Hoi

    2011-05-01

    One strategy to identify transcription factor binding sites is through motif finding in upstream DNA sequences of potentially co-regulated genes. Despite extensive efforts, none of the existing algorithms perform very well. We consider a string representation that allows arbitrary ignored positions within the nonconserved portion of single motifs, and use O(2(l)) Markov chains to model the background distributions of motifs of length l while skipping these positions within each Markov chain. By focusing initially on positions that have fixed nucleotides to define core occurrences, we develop an algorithm to identify motifs of moderate lengths. We compare the performance of our algorithm to other motif finding algorithms on a few benchmark data sets, and show that significant improvement in accuracy can be obtained when the sites are sufficiently conserved within a given sample, while comparable performance is obtained when the site conservation rate is low. A software program (PosMotif ) and detailed results are available online at http://faculty.cse.tamu.edu/shsze/posmotif.

  16. GNG Motifs Can Replace a GGG Stretch during G-Quadruplex Formation in a Context Dependent Manner.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kohal Das

    Full Text Available G-quadruplexes are one of the most commonly studied non-B DNA structures. Generally, these structures are formed using a minimum of 4, three guanine tracts, with connecting loops ranging from one to seven. Recent studies have reported deviation from this general convention. One such deviation is the involvement of bulges in the guanine tracts. In this study, guanines along with bulges, also referred to as GNG motifs have been extensively studied using recently reported HOX11 breakpoint fragile region I as a model template. By strategic mutagenesis approach we show that the contribution from continuous G-tracts may be dispensible during G-quadruplex formation when such motifs are flanked by GNGs. Importantly, the positioning and number of GNG/GNGNG can also influence the formation of G-quadruplexes. Further, we assessed three genomic regions from HIF1 alpha, VEGF and SHOX gene for G-quadruplex formation using GNG motifs. We show that HIF1 alpha sequence harbouring GNG motifs can fold into intramolecular G-quadruplex. In contrast, GNG motifs in mutant VEGF sequence could not participate in structure formation, suggesting that the usage of GNG is context dependent. Importantly, we show that when two continuous stretches of guanines are flanked by two independent GNG motifs in a naturally occurring sequence (SHOX, it can fold into an intramolecular G-quadruplex. Finally, we show the specific binding of G-quadruplex binding protein, Nucleolin and G-quadruplex antibody, BG4 to SHOX G-quadruplex. Overall, our study provides novel insights into the role of GNG motifs in G-quadruplex structure formation which may have both physiological and pathological implications.

  17. Dissecting protein loops with a statistical scalpel suggests a functional implication of some structural motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regad, Leslie; Martin, Juliette; Camproux, Anne-Claude

    2011-06-20

    One of the strategies for protein function annotation is to search particular structural motifs that are known to be shared by proteins with a given function. Here, we present a systematic extraction of structural motifs of seven residues from protein loops and we explore their correspondence with functional sites. Our approach is based on the structural alphabet HMM-SA (Hidden Markov Model - Structural Alphabet), which allows simplification of protein structures into uni-dimensional sequences, and advanced pattern statistics adapted to short sequences. Structural motifs of interest are selected by looking for structural motifs significantly over-represented in SCOP superfamilies in protein loops. We discovered two types of structural motifs significantly over-represented in SCOP superfamilies: (i) ubiquitous motifs, shared by several superfamilies and (ii) superfamily-specific motifs, over-represented in few superfamilies. A comparison of ubiquitous words with known small structural motifs shows that they contain well-described motifs as turn, niche or nest motifs. A comparison between superfamily-specific motifs and biological annotations of Swiss-Prot reveals that some of them actually correspond to functional sites involved in the binding sites of small ligands, such as ATP/GTP, NAD(P) and SAH/SAM. Our findings show that statistical over-representation in SCOP superfamilies is linked to functional features. The detection of over-represented motifs within structures simplified by HMM-SA is therefore a promising approach for prediction of functional sites and annotation of uncharacterized proteins.

  18. Dissecting protein loops with a statistical scalpel suggests a functional implication of some structural motifs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Juliette

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One of the strategies for protein function annotation is to search particular structural motifs that are known to be shared by proteins with a given function. Results Here, we present a systematic extraction of structural motifs of seven residues from protein loops and we explore their correspondence with functional sites. Our approach is based on the structural alphabet HMM-SA (Hidden Markov Model - Structural Alphabet, which allows simplification of protein structures into uni-dimensional sequences, and advanced pattern statistics adapted to short sequences. Structural motifs of interest are selected by looking for structural motifs significantly over-represented in SCOP superfamilies in protein loops. We discovered two types of structural motifs significantly over-represented in SCOP superfamilies: (i ubiquitous motifs, shared by several superfamilies and (ii superfamily-specific motifs, over-represented in few superfamilies. A comparison of ubiquitous words with known small structural motifs shows that they contain well-described motifs as turn, niche or nest motifs. A comparison between superfamily-specific motifs and biological annotations of Swiss-Prot reveals that some of them actually correspond to functional sites involved in the binding sites of small ligands, such as ATP/GTP, NAD(P and SAH/SAM. Conclusions Our findings show that statistical over-representation in SCOP superfamilies is linked to functional features. The detection of over-represented motifs within structures simplified by HMM-SA is therefore a promising approach for prediction of functional sites and annotation of uncharacterized proteins.

  19. Sequence similarity between the erythrocyte binding domain 1 of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein and the V3 loop of HIV-1 strain MN reveals binding residues for the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garry Robert F

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The surface glycoprotein (SU, gp120 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV must bind to a chemokine receptor, CCR5 or CXCR4, to invade CD4+ cells. Plasmodium vivax uses the Duffy Binding Protein (DBP to bind the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC and invade reticulocytes. Results Variable loop 3 (V3 of HIV-1 SU and domain 1 of the Plasmodium vivax DBP share a sequence similarity. The site of amino acid sequence similarity was necessary, but not sufficient, for DARC binding and contained a consensus heparin binding site essential for DARC binding. Both HIV-1 and P. vivax can be blocked from binding to their chemokine receptors by the chemokine, RANTES and its analog AOP-RANTES. Site directed mutagenesis of the heparin binding motif in members of the DBP family, the P. knowlesi alpha, beta and gamma proteins abrogated their binding to erythrocytes. Positively charged residues within domain 1 are required for binding of P. vivax and P. knowlesi erythrocyte binding proteins. Conclusion A heparin binding site motif in members of the DBP family may form part of a conserved erythrocyte receptor binding pocket.

  20. Crystal structure of the G3BP2 NTF2-like domain in complex with a canonical FGDF motif peptide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristensen, Ole

    2015-11-06

    The crystal structure of the NTF2-like domain of the human Ras GTPase SH3 Binding Protein (G3BP), isoform 2, was determined at a resolution of 2.75 Å in complex with a peptide containing a FGDF sequence motif. The overall structure of the protein is highly similar to the homodimeric N-terminal domains of the G3BP1 and Rasputin proteins. Recently, a subset of G3BP interacting proteins was recognized to share a common sequence motif, FGDF. The most studied binding partners, USP10 and viral nsP3, interfere with essential G3BP functions related to assembly of cellular stress granules. Reported molecular modeling suggested that FGDF-motif containing peptides bind in an extended conformation into a hydrophobic groove on the surface of the G3BP NTF2-like domain in a manner similar to the known binding of FxFG nucleoporin repeats. The results in this paper provide evidence for a different binding mode. The FGDF peptide binds and changes conformation of the protruding N-terminal residues by providing hydrophobic interactions to a symmetry related molecule that facilitated crystallization of the G3BP2 isoform. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Competitor analogs for defined T cell antigens: peptides incorporating a putative binding motif and polyproline or polyglycine spacers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maryanski, J L; Verdini, A S; Weber, P C; Salemme, F R; Corradin, G

    1990-01-12

    We describe a new approach for modeling antigenic peptides recognized by T cells. Peptide A24 170-182 can compete with other antigenic peptides that are recognized by H-2kd-restricted cytolytic T cells, presumably by binding to the Kd molecule. By comparing substituted A24 peptides as competitors in a functional competition assay, the A24 residues Tyr-171, Thr-178, and Leu-179 were identified as possible contact residues for Kd. A highly active competitor peptide analog was synthesized in which Tyr was separated from the Thr-Leu pair by a pentaproline spacer. The choice of proline allowed the prediction of a probable conformation for the analog when bound to the Kd molecule. The simplest conformation of the A24 peptide that allows the same spacing and orientation of the motif as in the analog would be a nearly extended polypeptide chain incorporating a single 3(10) helical turn or similar structural kink.

  2. A ΩXaV motif in the Rift Valley fever virus NSs protein is essential for degrading p62, forming nuclear filaments and virulence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cyr, Normand; de la Fuente, Cynthia; Lecoq, Lauriane; Guendel, Irene; Chabot, Philippe R; Kehn-Hall, Kylene; Omichinski, James G

    2015-05-12

    Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a single-stranded RNA virus capable of inducing fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. A key component of RVFV virulence is its ability to form nuclear filaments through interactions between the viral nonstructural protein NSs and the host general transcription factor TFIIH. Here, we identify an interaction between a ΩXaV motif in NSs and the p62 subunit of TFIIH. This motif in NSs is similar to ΩXaV motifs found in nucleotide excision repair (NER) factors and transcription factors known to interact with p62. Structural and biophysical studies demonstrate that NSs binds to p62 in a similar manner as these other factors. Functional studies in RVFV-infected cells show that the ΩXaV motif is required for both nuclear filament formation and degradation of p62. Consistent with the fact that the RVFV can be distinguished from other Bunyaviridae-family viruses due to its ability to form nuclear filaments in infected cells, the motif is absent in the NSs proteins of other Bunyaviridae-family viruses. Taken together, our studies demonstrate that p62 binding to NSs through the ΩXaV motif is essential for degrading p62, forming nuclear filaments and enhancing RVFV virulence. In addition, these results show how the RVFV incorporates a simple motif into the NSs protein that enables it to functionally mimic host cell proteins that bind the p62 subunit of TFIIH.

  3. A novel D458V mutation in the SANS PDZ binding motif causes atypical Usher syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalay, E; de Brouwer, A P M; Caylan, R; Nabuurs, S B; Wollnik, B; Karaguzel, A; Heister, J G A M; Erdol, H; Cremers, F P M; Cremers, C W R J; Brunner, H G; Kremer, H

    2005-12-01

    Homozygosity mapping and linkage analysis in a Turkish family with autosomal recessive prelingual sensorineural hearing loss revealed a 15-cM critical region at 17q25.1-25.3 flanked by the polymorphic markers D17S1807 and D17S1806. The maximum two-point lod score was 4.07 at theta=0.0 for the marker D17S801. The linkage interval contains the Usher syndrome 1G gene (USH1G) that is mutated in patients with Usher syndrome (USH) type 1g and encodes the SANS protein. Mutation analysis of USH1G led to the identification of a homozygous missense mutation D458V at the -3 position of the PDZ binding motif of SANS. This mutation was also present homozygously in one out of 64 additional families from Turkey with autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss and heterozygously in one out of 498 control chromosomes. By molecular modeling, we provide evidence that this mutation impairs the interaction of SANS with harmonin. Ophthalmologic examination and vestibular evaluation of patients from both families revealed mild retinitis pigmentosa and normal vestibular function. These results suggest that these patients suffer from atypical USH.

  4. Memetic algorithms for de novo motif-finding in biomedical sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bi, Chengpeng

    2012-09-01

    The objectives of this study are to design and implement a new memetic algorithm for de novo motif discovery, which is then applied to detect important signals hidden in various biomedical molecular sequences. In this paper, memetic algorithms are developed and tested in de novo motif-finding problems. Several strategies in the algorithm design are employed that are to not only efficiently explore the multiple sequence local alignment space, but also effectively uncover the molecular signals. As a result, there are a number of key features in the implementation of the memetic motif-finding algorithm (MaMotif), including a chromosome replacement operator, a chromosome alteration-aware local search operator, a truncated local search strategy, and a stochastic operation of local search imposed on individual learning. To test the new algorithm, we compare MaMotif with a few of other similar algorithms using simulated and experimental data including genomic DNA, primary microRNA sequences (let-7 family), and transmembrane protein sequences. The new memetic motif-finding algorithm is successfully implemented in C++, and exhaustively tested with various simulated and real biological sequences. In the simulation, it shows that MaMotif is the most time-efficient algorithm compared with others, that is, it runs 2 times faster than the expectation maximization (EM) method and 16 times faster than the genetic algorithm-based EM hybrid. In both simulated and experimental testing, results show that the new algorithm is compared favorably or superior to other algorithms. Notably, MaMotif is able to successfully discover the transcription factors' binding sites in the chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-Seq) data, correctly uncover the RNA splicing signals in gene expression, and precisely find the highly conserved helix motif in the transmembrane protein sequences, as well as rightly detect the palindromic segments in the primary micro

  5. How to find a leucine in a haystack? Structure, ligand recognition and regulation of leucine-aspartic acid (LD) motifs

    KAUST Repository

    Alam, Tanvir

    2014-05-29

    LD motifs (leucine-aspartic acidmotifs) are short helical protein-protein interaction motifs that have emerged as key players in connecting cell adhesion with cell motility and survival. LD motifs are required for embryogenesis, wound healing and the evolution of multicellularity. LD motifs also play roles in disease, such as in cancer metastasis or viral infection. First described in the paxillin family of scaffolding proteins, LD motifs and similar acidic LXXLL interaction motifs have been discovered in several other proteins, whereas 16 proteins have been reported to contain LDBDs (LD motif-binding domains). Collectively, structural and functional analyses have revealed a surprising multivalency in LD motif interactions and a wide diversity in LDBD architectures. In the present review, we summarize the molecular basis for function, regulation and selectivity of LD motif interactions that has emerged from more than a decade of research. This overview highlights the intricate multi-level regulation and the inherently noisy and heterogeneous nature of signalling through short protein-protein interaction motifs. © 2014 Biochemical Society.

  6. How to find a leucine in a haystack? Structure, ligand recognition and regulation of leucine-aspartic acid (LD) motifs

    KAUST Repository

    Alam, Tanvir; Alazmi, Meshari; Gao, Xin; Arold, Stefan T.

    2014-01-01

    LD motifs (leucine-aspartic acidmotifs) are short helical protein-protein interaction motifs that have emerged as key players in connecting cell adhesion with cell motility and survival. LD motifs are required for embryogenesis, wound healing and the evolution of multicellularity. LD motifs also play roles in disease, such as in cancer metastasis or viral infection. First described in the paxillin family of scaffolding proteins, LD motifs and similar acidic LXXLL interaction motifs have been discovered in several other proteins, whereas 16 proteins have been reported to contain LDBDs (LD motif-binding domains). Collectively, structural and functional analyses have revealed a surprising multivalency in LD motif interactions and a wide diversity in LDBD architectures. In the present review, we summarize the molecular basis for function, regulation and selectivity of LD motif interactions that has emerged from more than a decade of research. This overview highlights the intricate multi-level regulation and the inherently noisy and heterogeneous nature of signalling through short protein-protein interaction motifs. © 2014 Biochemical Society.

  7. Biogenic and Synthetic Peptides with Oppositely Charged Amino Acids as Binding Sites for Mineralization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemloh, Marie-Louise; Altintoprak, Klara; Wege, Christina; Weiss, Ingrid M; Rothenstein, Dirk

    2017-01-28

    Proteins regulate diverse biological processes by the specific interaction with, e.g., nucleic acids, proteins and inorganic molecules. The generation of inorganic hybrid materials, such as shell formation in mollusks, is a protein-controlled mineralization process. Moreover, inorganic-binding peptides are attractive for the bioinspired mineralization of non-natural inorganic functional materials for technical applications. However, it is still challenging to identify mineral-binding peptide motifs from biological systems as well as for technical systems. Here, three complementary approaches were combined to analyze protein motifs consisting of alternating positively and negatively charged amino acids: (i) the screening of natural biomineralization proteins; (ii) the selection of inorganic-binding peptides derived from phage display; and (iii) the mineralization of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-based templates. A respective peptide motif displayed on the TMV surface had a major impact on the SiO₂ mineralization. In addition, similar motifs were found in zinc oxide- and zirconia-binding peptides indicating a general binding feature. The comparative analysis presented here raises new questions regarding whether or not there is a common design principle based on acidic and basic amino acids for peptides interacting with minerals.

  8. GPUmotif: an ultra-fast and energy-efficient motif analysis program using graphics processing units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zandevakili, Pooya; Hu, Ming; Qin, Zhaohui

    2012-01-01

    Computational detection of TF binding patterns has become an indispensable tool in functional genomics research. With the rapid advance of new sequencing technologies, large amounts of protein-DNA interaction data have been produced. Analyzing this data can provide substantial insight into the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation. However, the massive amount of sequence data presents daunting challenges. In our previous work, we have developed a novel algorithm called Hybrid Motif Sampler (HMS) that enables more scalable and accurate motif analysis. Despite much improvement, HMS is still time-consuming due to the requirement to calculate matching probabilities position-by-position. Using the NVIDIA CUDA toolkit, we developed a graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated motif analysis program named GPUmotif. We proposed a "fragmentation" technique to hide data transfer time between memories. Performance comparison studies showed that commonly-used model-based motif scan and de novo motif finding procedures such as HMS can be dramatically accelerated when running GPUmotif on NVIDIA graphics cards. As a result, energy consumption can also be greatly reduced when running motif analysis using GPUmotif. The GPUmotif program is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpumotif/

  9. GPUmotif: an ultra-fast and energy-efficient motif analysis program using graphics processing units.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pooya Zandevakili

    Full Text Available Computational detection of TF binding patterns has become an indispensable tool in functional genomics research. With the rapid advance of new sequencing technologies, large amounts of protein-DNA interaction data have been produced. Analyzing this data can provide substantial insight into the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation. However, the massive amount of sequence data presents daunting challenges. In our previous work, we have developed a novel algorithm called Hybrid Motif Sampler (HMS that enables more scalable and accurate motif analysis. Despite much improvement, HMS is still time-consuming due to the requirement to calculate matching probabilities position-by-position. Using the NVIDIA CUDA toolkit, we developed a graphics processing unit (GPU-accelerated motif analysis program named GPUmotif. We proposed a "fragmentation" technique to hide data transfer time between memories. Performance comparison studies showed that commonly-used model-based motif scan and de novo motif finding procedures such as HMS can be dramatically accelerated when running GPUmotif on NVIDIA graphics cards. As a result, energy consumption can also be greatly reduced when running motif analysis using GPUmotif. The GPUmotif program is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpumotif/

  10. Canonical Bcl-2 motifs of the Na+/K+ pump revealed by the BH3 mimetic chelerythrine: early signal transducers of apoptosis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauf, Peter K; Heiny, Judith; Meller, Jarek; Lepera, Michael A; Koikov, Leonid; Alter, Gerald M; Brown, Thomas L; Adragna, Norma C

    2013-01-01

    Chelerythrine [CET], a protein kinase C [PKC] inhibitor, is a prop-apoptotic BH3-mimetic binding to BH1-like motifs of Bcl-2 proteins. CET action was examined on PKC phosphorylation-dependent membrane transporters (Na+/K+ pump/ATPase [NKP, NKA], Na+-K+-2Cl+ [NKCC] and K+-Cl- [KCC] cotransporters, and channel-supported K+ loss) in human lens epithelial cells [LECs]. K+ loss and K+ uptake, using Rb+ as congener, were measured by atomic absorption/emission spectrophotometry with NKP and NKCC inhibitors, and Cl- replacement by NO3ˉ to determine KCC. 3H-Ouabain binding was performed on a pig renal NKA in the presence and absence of CET. Bcl-2 protein and NKA sequences were aligned and motifs identified and mapped using PROSITE in conjunction with BLAST alignments and analysis of conservation and structural similarity based on prediction of secondary and crystal structures. CET inhibited NKP and NKCC by >90% (IC50 values ~35 and ~15 μM, respectively) without significant KCC activity change, and stimulated K+ loss by ~35% at 10-30 μM. Neither ATP levels nor phosphorylation of the NKA α1 subunit changed. 3H-ouabain was displaced from pig renal NKA only at 100 fold higher CET concentrations than the ligand. Sequence alignments of NKA with BH1- and BH3-like motifs containing pro-survival Bcl-2 and BclXl proteins showed more than one BH1-like motif within NKA for interaction with CET or with BH3 motifs. One NKA BH1-like motif (ARAAEILARDGPN) was also found in all P-type ATPases. Also, NKA possessed a second motif similar to that near the BH3 region of Bcl-2. Findings support the hypothesis that CET inhibits NKP by binding to BH1-like motifs and disrupting the α1 subunit catalytic activity through conformational changes. By interacting with Bcl-2 proteins through their complementary BH1- or BH3-like-motifs, NKP proteins may be sensors of normal and pathological cell functions, becoming important yet unrecognized signal transducers in the initial phases of apoptosis. CET

  11. The Crc and Hfq proteins of Pseudomonas putida cooperate in catabolite repression and formation of ribonucleic acid complexes with specific target motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Renata; Hernández-Arranz, Sofía; La Rosa, Ruggero; Yuste, Luis; Madhushani, Anjana; Shingler, Victoria; Rojo, Fernando

    2015-01-01

    The Crc protein is a global regulator that has a key role in catabolite repression and optimization of metabolism in Pseudomonads. Crc inhibits gene expression post-transcriptionally, preventing translation of mRNAs bearing an AAnAAnAA motif [the catabolite activity (CA) motif] close to the translation start site. Although Crc was initially believed to bind RNA by itself, this idea was recently challenged by results suggesting that a protein co-purifying with Crc, presumably the Hfq protein, could account for the detected RNA-binding activity. Hfq is an abundant protein that has a central role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Herein, we show that the Pseudomonas putida Hfq protein can recognize the CA motifs of RNAs through its distal face and that Crc facilitates formation of a more stable complex at these targets. Crc was unable to bind RNA in the absence of Hfq. However, pull-down assays showed that Crc and Hfq can form a co-complex with RNA containing a CA motif in vitro. Inactivation of the hfq or the crc gene impaired catabolite repression to a similar extent. We propose that Crc and Hfq cooperate in catabolite repression, probably through forming a stable co-complex with RNAs containing CA motifs to result in inhibition of translation initiation. © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Identification of the Raptor-binding motif on Arabidopsis S6 kinase and its use as a TOR signaling suppressor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Son, Ora; Kim, Sunghan; Hur, Yoon-Sun; Cheon, Choong-Ill, E-mail: ccheon@sookmyung.ac.kr

    2016-03-25

    TOR (target of rapamycin) kinase signaling plays central role as a regulator of growth and proliferation in all eukaryotic cells and its key signaling components and effectors are also conserved in plants. Unlike the mammalian and yeast counterparts, however, we found through yeast two-hybrid analysis that multiple regions of the Arabidopsis Raptor (regulatory associated protein of TOR) are required for binding to its substrate. We also identified that a 44-amino acid region at the N-terminal end of Arabidopsis ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (AtS6K1) specifically interacted with AtRaptor1, indicating that this region may contain a functional equivalent of the TOS (TOR-Signaling) motif present in the mammalian TOR substrates. Transient over-expression of this 44-amino acid fragment in Arabidopsis protoplasts resulted in significant decrease in rDNA transcription, demonstrating a feasibility of developing a new plant-specific TOR signaling inhibitor based upon perturbation of the Raptor-substrate interaction. - Highlights: • Multiple regions on the Arabidopsis Raptor protein were found to be involved in substrate binding. • N-terminal end of the Arabidopsis ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (AtS6K1) was responsible for interacting with AtRaptor1. • The Raptor-interacting fragment of AtS6K1 could be utilized as an effective inhibitor of plant TOR signaling.

  13. Identification of the Raptor-binding motif on Arabidopsis S6 kinase and its use as a TOR signaling suppressor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Son, Ora; Kim, Sunghan; Hur, Yoon-Sun; Cheon, Choong-Ill

    2016-01-01

    TOR (target of rapamycin) kinase signaling plays central role as a regulator of growth and proliferation in all eukaryotic cells and its key signaling components and effectors are also conserved in plants. Unlike the mammalian and yeast counterparts, however, we found through yeast two-hybrid analysis that multiple regions of the Arabidopsis Raptor (regulatory associated protein of TOR) are required for binding to its substrate. We also identified that a 44-amino acid region at the N-terminal end of Arabidopsis ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (AtS6K1) specifically interacted with AtRaptor1, indicating that this region may contain a functional equivalent of the TOS (TOR-Signaling) motif present in the mammalian TOR substrates. Transient over-expression of this 44-amino acid fragment in Arabidopsis protoplasts resulted in significant decrease in rDNA transcription, demonstrating a feasibility of developing a new plant-specific TOR signaling inhibitor based upon perturbation of the Raptor-substrate interaction. - Highlights: • Multiple regions on the Arabidopsis Raptor protein were found to be involved in substrate binding. • N-terminal end of the Arabidopsis ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (AtS6K1) was responsible for interacting with AtRaptor1. • The Raptor-interacting fragment of AtS6K1 could be utilized as an effective inhibitor of plant TOR signaling.

  14. Functional structural motifs for protein-ligand, protein-protein, and protein-nucleic acid interactions and their connection to supersecondary structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinjo, Akira R; Nakamura, Haruki

    2013-01-01

    Protein functions are mediated by interactions between proteins and other molecules. One useful approach to analyze protein functions is to compare and classify the structures of interaction interfaces of proteins. Here, we describe the procedures for compiling a database of interface structures and efficiently comparing the interface structures. To do so requires a good understanding of the data structures of the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Therefore, we also provide a detailed account of the PDB exchange dictionary necessary for extracting data that are relevant for analyzing interaction interfaces and secondary structures. We identify recurring structural motifs by classifying similar interface structures, and we define a coarse-grained representation of supersecondary structures (SSS) which represents a sequence of two or three secondary structure elements including their relative orientations as a string of four to seven letters. By examining the correspondence between structural motifs and SSS strings, we show that no SSS string has particularly high propensity to be found interaction interfaces in general, indicating any SSS can be used as a binding interface. When individual structural motifs are examined, there are some SSS strings that have high propensity for particular groups of structural motifs. In addition, it is shown that while the SSS strings found in particular structural motifs for nonpolymer and protein interfaces are as abundant as in other structural motifs that belong to the same subunit, structural motifs for nucleic acid interfaces exhibit somewhat stronger preference for SSS strings. In regard to protein folds, many motif-specific SSS strings were found across many folds, suggesting that SSS may be a useful description to investigate the universality of ligand binding modes.

  15. Automated classification of RNA 3D motifs and the RNA 3D Motif Atlas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrov, Anton I.; Zirbel, Craig L.; Leontis, Neocles B.

    2013-01-01

    The analysis of atomic-resolution RNA three-dimensional (3D) structures reveals that many internal and hairpin loops are modular, recurrent, and structured by conserved non-Watson–Crick base pairs. Structurally similar loops define RNA 3D motifs that are conserved in homologous RNA molecules, but can also occur at nonhomologous sites in diverse RNAs, and which often vary in sequence. To further our understanding of RNA motif structure and sequence variability and to provide a useful resource for structure modeling and prediction, we present a new method for automated classification of internal and hairpin loop RNA 3D motifs and a new online database called the RNA 3D Motif Atlas. To classify the motif instances, a representative set of internal and hairpin loops is automatically extracted from a nonredundant list of RNA-containing PDB files. Their structures are compared geometrically, all-against-all, using the FR3D program suite. The loops are clustered into motif groups, taking into account geometric similarity and structural annotations and making allowance for a variable number of bulged bases. The automated procedure that we have implemented identifies all hairpin and internal loop motifs previously described in the literature. All motif instances and motif groups are assigned unique and stable identifiers and are made available in the RNA 3D Motif Atlas (http://rna.bgsu.edu/motifs), which is automatically updated every four weeks. The RNA 3D Motif Atlas provides an interactive user interface for exploring motif diversity and tools for programmatic data access. PMID:23970545

  16. The RXL motif of the African cassava mosaic virus Rep protein is necessary for rereplication of yeast DNA and viral infection in plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hipp, Katharina; Rau, Peter; Schäfer, Benjamin [Institut für Biomaterialien und biomolekulare Systeme, Abteilung für Molekularbiologie und Virologie der Pflanzen, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, D-70550 Stuttgart (Germany); Gronenborn, Bruno [Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Jeske, Holger, E-mail: holger.jeske@bio.uni-stuttgart.de [Institut für Biomaterialien und biomolekulare Systeme, Abteilung für Molekularbiologie und Virologie der Pflanzen, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, D-70550 Stuttgart (Germany)

    2014-08-15

    Geminiviruses, single-stranded DNA plant viruses, encode a replication-initiator protein (Rep) that is indispensable for virus replication. A potential cyclin interaction motif (RXL) in the sequence of African cassava mosaic virus Rep may be an alternative link to cell cycle controls to the known interaction with plant homologs of retinoblastoma protein (pRBR). Mutation of this motif abrogated rereplication in fission yeast induced by expression of wildtype Rep suggesting that Rep interacts via its RXL motif with one or several yeast proteins. The RXL motif is essential for viral infection of Nicotiana benthamiana plants, since mutation of this motif in infectious clones prevented any symptomatic infection. The cell-cycle link (Clink) protein of a nanovirus (faba bean necrotic yellows virus) was investigated that activates the cell cycle by binding via its LXCXE motif to pRBR. Expression of wildtype Clink and a Clink mutant deficient in pRBR-binding did not trigger rereplication in fission yeast. - Highlights: • A potential cyclin interaction motif is conserved in geminivirus Rep proteins. • In ACMV Rep, this motif (RXL) is essential for rereplication of fission yeast DNA. • Mutating RXL abrogated viral infection completely in Nicotiana benthamiana. • Expression of a nanovirus Clink protein in yeast did not induce rereplication. • Plant viruses may have evolved multiple routes to exploit host DNA synthesis.

  17. The RXL motif of the African cassava mosaic virus Rep protein is necessary for rereplication of yeast DNA and viral infection in plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hipp, Katharina; Rau, Peter; Schäfer, Benjamin; Gronenborn, Bruno; Jeske, Holger

    2014-01-01

    Geminiviruses, single-stranded DNA plant viruses, encode a replication-initiator protein (Rep) that is indispensable for virus replication. A potential cyclin interaction motif (RXL) in the sequence of African cassava mosaic virus Rep may be an alternative link to cell cycle controls to the known interaction with plant homologs of retinoblastoma protein (pRBR). Mutation of this motif abrogated rereplication in fission yeast induced by expression of wildtype Rep suggesting that Rep interacts via its RXL motif with one or several yeast proteins. The RXL motif is essential for viral infection of Nicotiana benthamiana plants, since mutation of this motif in infectious clones prevented any symptomatic infection. The cell-cycle link (Clink) protein of a nanovirus (faba bean necrotic yellows virus) was investigated that activates the cell cycle by binding via its LXCXE motif to pRBR. Expression of wildtype Clink and a Clink mutant deficient in pRBR-binding did not trigger rereplication in fission yeast. - Highlights: • A potential cyclin interaction motif is conserved in geminivirus Rep proteins. • In ACMV Rep, this motif (RXL) is essential for rereplication of fission yeast DNA. • Mutating RXL abrogated viral infection completely in Nicotiana benthamiana. • Expression of a nanovirus Clink protein in yeast did not induce rereplication. • Plant viruses may have evolved multiple routes to exploit host DNA synthesis

  18. The NS1 polypeptide of the murine parvovirus minute virus of mice binds to DNA sequences containing the motif [ACCA]2-3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotmore, S F; Christensen, J; Nüesch, J P; Tattersall, P

    1995-03-01

    A DNA fragment containing the minute virus of mice 3' replication origin was specifically coprecipitated in immune complexes containing the virally coded NS1, but not the NS2, polypeptide. Antibodies directed against the amino- or carboxy-terminal regions of NS1 precipitated the NS1-origin complexes, but antibodies directed against NS1 amino acids 284 to 459 blocked complex formation. Using affinity-purified histidine-tagged NS1 preparations, we have shown that the specific protein-DNA interaction is of moderate affinity, being stable in 0.1 M salt but rapidly lost at higher salt concentrations. In contrast, generalized (or nonspecific) DNA binding by NS1 could be demonstrated only in low salt. Addition of ATP or gamma S-ATP enhanced specific DNA binding by wild-type NS1 severalfold, but binding was lost under conditions which favored ATP hydrolysis. NS1 molecules with mutations in a critical lysine residue (amino acid 405) in the consensus ATP-binding site bound to the origin, but this binding could not be enhanced by ATP addition. DNase I protection assays carried out with wild-type NS1 in the presence of gamma S-ATP gave footprints which extended over 43 nucleotides on both DNA strands, from the middle of the origin bubble sequence to a position some 14 bp beyond the nick site. The DNA-binding site for NS1 was mapped to a 22-bp fragment from the middle of the 3' replication origin which contains the sequence ACCAACCA. This conforms to a reiterated motif (ACCA)2-3, which occurs, in more or less degenerate form, at many sites throughout the minute virus of mice genome (J. W. Bodner, Virus Genes 2:167-182, 1989). Insertion of a single copy of the sequence (ACCA)3 was shown to be sufficient to confer NS1 binding on an otherwise unrecognized plasmid fragment. The functions of NS1 in the viral life cycle are reevaluated in the light of this result.

  19. A peptide affinity column for the identification of integrin alpha IIb-binding proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daxecker, Heide; Raab, Markus; Bernard, Elise; Devocelle, Marc; Treumann, Achim; Moran, Niamh

    2008-03-01

    To understand the regulation of integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3), a critical platelet adhesion molecule, we have developed a peptide affinity chromatography method using the known integrin regulatory motif, LAMWKVGFFKR. Using standard Fmoc chemistry, this peptide was synthesized onto a Toyopearl AF-Amino-650 M resin on a 6-aminohexanoic acid (Ahx) linker. Peptide density was controlled by acetylation of 83% of the Ahx amino groups. Four recombinant human proteins (CIB1, PP1, ICln and RN181), previously identified as binding to this integrin regulatory motif, were specifically retained by the column containing the integrin peptide but not by a column presenting an irrelevant peptide. Hemoglobin, creatine kinase, bovine serum albumin, fibrinogen and alpha-tubulin failed to bind under the chosen conditions. Immunodetection methods confirmed the binding of endogenous platelet proteins, including CIB1, PP1, ICln RN181, AUP-1 and beta3-integrin, from a detergent-free platelet lysate. Thus, we describe a reproducible method that facilitates the reliable extraction of specific integrin-binding proteins from complex biological matrices. This methodology may enable the sensitive and specific identification of proteins that interact with linear, membrane-proximal peptide motifs such as the integrin regulatory motif LAMWKVGFFKR.

  20. Mutation of CD2AP and SH3KBP1 Binding Motif in Alphavirus nsP3 Hypervariable Domain Results in Attenuated Virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutso, Margit; Morro, Ainhoa Moliner; Smedberg, Cecilia; Kasvandik, Sergo; Aquilimeba, Muriel; Teppor, Mona; Tarve, Liisi; Lulla, Aleksei; Lulla, Valeria; Saul, Sirle; Thaa, Bastian; McInerney, Gerald M; Merits, Andres; Varjak, Margus

    2018-04-27

    Infection by Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) of the Old World alphaviruses (family Togaviridae) in humans can cause arthritis and arthralgia. The virus encodes four non-structural proteins (nsP) (nsP1, nsp2, nsP3 and nsP4) that act as subunits of the virus replicase. These proteins also interact with numerous host proteins and some crucial interactions are mediated by the unstructured C-terminal hypervariable domain (HVD) of nsP3. In this study, a human cell line expressing EGFP tagged with CHIKV nsP3 HVD was established. Using quantitative proteomics, it was found that CHIKV nsP3 HVD can bind cytoskeletal proteins, including CD2AP, SH3KBP1, CAPZA1, CAPZA2 and CAPZB. The interaction with CD2AP was found to be most evident; its binding site was mapped to the second SH3 ligand-like element in nsP3 HVD. Further assessment indicated that CD2AP can bind to nsP3 HVDs of many different New and Old World alphaviruses. Mutation of the short binding element hampered the ability of the virus to establish infection. The mutation also abolished ability of CD2AP to co-localise with nsP3 and replication complexes of CHIKV; the same was observed for Semliki Forest virus (SFV) harbouring a similar mutation. Similar to CD2AP, its homolog SH3KBP1 also bound the identified motif in CHIKV and SFV nsP3.

  1. Identification of the Raptor-binding motif on Arabidopsis S6 kinase and its use as a TOR signaling suppressor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Son, Ora; Kim, Sunghan; Hur, Yoon-Sun; Cheon, Choong-Ill

    2016-03-25

    TOR (target of rapamycin) kinase signaling plays central role as a regulator of growth and proliferation in all eukaryotic cells and its key signaling components and effectors are also conserved in plants. Unlike the mammalian and yeast counterparts, however, we found through yeast two-hybrid analysis that multiple regions of the Arabidopsis Raptor (regulatory associated protein of TOR) are required for binding to its substrate. We also identified that a 44-amino acid region at the N-terminal end of Arabidopsis ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (AtS6K1) specifically interacted with AtRaptor1, indicating that this region may contain a functional equivalent of the TOS (TOR-Signaling) motif present in the mammalian TOR substrates. Transient over-expression of this 44-amino acid fragment in Arabidopsis protoplasts resulted in significant decrease in rDNA transcription, demonstrating a feasibility of developing a new plant-specific TOR signaling inhibitor based upon perturbation of the Raptor-substrate interaction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Molecular Properties of Globin Channels and Pores: Role of Cholesterol in Ligand Binding and Movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gene A Morrill

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Globins contain one or more cavities that control or affect such functions as ligand movement and ligand binding. Here we report that the extended globin family [cytoglobin (Cygb; neuroglobin (Ngb; myoglobin (Mb; hemoglobin (Hb subunits Hba(α and Hbb(β] contain either a transmembrane (TM helix or pore-lining region as well as internal cavities. Protein motif/domain analyses indicate that Ngb and Hbb each contain 5 cholesterol-binding (CRAC/CARC domains and 1 caveolin binding motif, whereas the Cygb dimer has 6 cholesterol-binding domains but lacks caveolin-binding motifs. Mb and Hba each exhibit 2 cholesterol-binding domains and also lack caveolin-binding motifs. The Hb αβ-tetramer contains 14 cholesterol-binding domains. Computer algorithms indicate that Cygb and Ngb cavities display multiple partitions and C-terminal pore-lining regions, whereas Mb has three major cavities plus a C-terminal pore-lining region. The Hb tetramer exhibits a large internal cavity but the subunits differ in that they contain a C-terminal TM helix (Hba and pore-lining region (Hbb. The cavities include 43 of 190 Cygb residues, 38 of 151 of Ngb residues, 55 of 154 Mb residues and 137 of 688 residues in the Hb tetramer. Each cavity complex includes 6 to 8 residues of the TM helix or pore-lining region and CRAC/CARC domains exist within all cavities. Erythrocyte Hb αβ-tetramers are largely cytosolic but also bind to a membrane anion exchange protein, band 3, which contains a large internal cavity and 12 TM helices (5 being pore-lining regions. The Hba TM helix may be the erythrocyte membrane band 3 attachment site. Band 3 contributes 4 caveolin binding motifs and 10 CRAC/CARC domains. Cholesterol binding may create lipid-disordered phases that alter globin cavities and facilitate ligand movement, permitting ion channel formation and conformational changes that orchestrate anion and ligand (O2, CO2, NO movement within the large internal cavities and

  3. TFII-I regulates target genes in the PI-3K and TGF-β signaling pathways through a novel DNA binding motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segura-Puimedon, Maria; Borralleras, Cristina; Pérez-Jurado, Luis A; Campuzano, Victoria

    2013-09-25

    General transcription factor (TFII-I) is a multi-functional protein involved in the transcriptional regulation of critical developmental genes, encoded by the GTF2I gene located on chromosome 7q11.23. Haploinsufficiency at GTF2I has been shown to play a major role in the neurodevelopmental features of Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS). Identification of genes regulated by TFII-I is thus critical to detect molecular determinants of WBS as well as to identify potential new targets for specific pharmacological interventions, which are currently absent. We performed a microarray screening for transcriptional targets of TFII-I in cortex and embryonic cells from Gtf2i mutant and wild-type mice. Candidate genes with altered expression were verified using real-time PCR. A novel motif shared by deregulated genes was found and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays in embryonic fibroblasts were used to document in vitro TFII-I binding to this motif in the promoter regions of deregulated genes. Interestingly, the PI3K and TGFβ signaling pathways were over-represented among TFII-I-modulated genes. In this study we have found a highly conserved DNA element, common to a set of genes regulated by TFII-I, and identified and validated novel in vivo neuronal targets of this protein affecting the PI3K and TGFβ signaling pathways. Overall, our data further contribute to unravel the complexity and variability of the different genetic programs orchestrated by TFII-I. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. A generalized allosteric mechanism for cis-regulated cyclic nucleotide binding domains.

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    Alexandr P Kornev

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Cyclic nucleotides (cAMP and cGMP regulate multiple intracellular processes and are thus of a great general interest for molecular and structural biologists. To study the allosteric mechanism of different cyclic nucleotide binding (CNB domains, we compared cAMP-bound and cAMP-free structures (PKA, Epac, and two ionic channels using a new bioinformatics method: local spatial pattern alignment. Our analysis highlights four major conserved structural motifs: 1 the phosphate binding cassette (PBC, which binds the cAMP ribose-phosphate, 2 the "hinge," a flexible helix, which contacts the PBC, 3 the beta(2,3 loop, which provides precise positioning of an invariant arginine from the PBC, and 4 a conserved structural element consisting of an N-terminal helix, an eight residue loop and the A-helix (N3A-motif. The PBC and the hinge were included in the previously reported allosteric model, whereas the definition of the beta(2,3 loop and the N3A-motif as conserved elements is novel. The N3A-motif is found in all cis-regulated CNB domains, and we present a model for an allosteric mechanism in these domains. Catabolite gene activator protein (CAP represents a trans-regulated CNB domain family: it does not contain the N3A-motif, and its long range allosteric interactions are substantially different from the cis-regulated CNB domains.

  5. Nephronectin is Correlated with Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer and Promotes Metastasis via its Integrin-Binding Motifs

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    Tonje S. Steigedal

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Most cancer patients with solid tumors who succumb to their illness die of metastatic disease. While early detection and improved treatment have led to reduced mortality, even for those with metastatic cancer, some patients still respond poorly to treatment. Understanding the mechanisms of metastasis is important to improve prognostication, to stratify patients for treatment, and to identify new targets for therapy. We have shown previously that expression of nephronectin (NPNT is correlated with metastatic propensity in breast cancer cell lines. In the present study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the expression pattern and distribution of NPNT in breast cancer tissue from 842 patients by immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarrays from a historic cohort. Several patterns of NPNT staining were observed. An association between granular cytoplasmic staining (in <10% of tumor cells and poor prognosis was found. We suggest that granular cytoplasmic staining may represent NPNT-positive exosomes. We found that NPNT promotes adhesion and anchorage-independent growth via its integrin-binding and enhancer motifs and that enforced expression in breast tumor cells promotes their colonization of the lungs. We propose that NPNT may be a novel prognostic marker in a subgroup of breast cancer patients.

  6. Sequence-specific DNA binding activity of the cross-brace zinc finger motif of the piggyBac transposase

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morellet, Nelly; Li, Xianghong; Wieninger, Silke A; Taylor, Jennifer L; Bischerour, Julien; Moriau, Séverine; Lescop, Ewen; Bardiaux, Benjamin; Mathy, Nathalie; Assrir, Nadine; Bétermier, Mireille; Nilges, Michael; Hickman, Alison B; Dyda, Fred; Craig, Nancy L; Guittet, Eric

    2018-01-01

    Abstract The piggyBac transposase (PB) is distinguished by its activity and utility in genome engineering, especially in humans where it has highly promising therapeutic potential. Little is known, however, about the structure–function relationships of the different domains of PB. Here, we demonstrate in vitro and in vivo that its C-terminal Cysteine-Rich Domain (CRD) is essential for DNA breakage, joining and transposition and that it binds to specific DNA sequences in the left and right transposon ends, and to an additional unexpectedly internal site at the left end. Using NMR, we show that the CRD adopts the specific fold of the cross-brace zinc finger protein family. We determine the interaction interfaces between the CRD and its target, the 5′-TGCGT-3′/3′-ACGCA-5′ motifs found in the left, left internal and right transposon ends, and use NMR results to propose docking models for the complex, which are consistent with our site-directed mutagenesis data. Our results provide support for a model of the PB/DNA interactions in the context of the transpososome, which will be useful for the rational design of PB mutants with increased activity. PMID:29385532

  7. Sequence alignment reveals possible MAPK docking motifs on HIV proteins.

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    Perry Evans

    Full Text Available Over the course of HIV infection, virus replication is facilitated by the phosphorylation of HIV proteins by human ERK1 and ERK2 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs. MAPKs are known to phosphorylate their substrates by first binding with them at a docking site. Docking site interactions could be viable drug targets because the sequences guiding them are more specific than phosphorylation consensus sites. In this study we use multiple bioinformatics tools to discover candidate MAPK docking site motifs on HIV proteins known to be phosphorylated by MAPKs, and we discuss the possibility of targeting docking sites with drugs. Using sequence alignments of HIV proteins of different subtypes, we show that MAPK docking patterns previously described for human proteins appear on the HIV matrix, Tat, and Vif proteins in a strain dependent manner, but are absent from HIV Rev and appear on all HIV Nef strains. We revise the regular expressions of previously annotated MAPK docking patterns in order to provide a subtype independent motif that annotates all HIV proteins. One revision is based on a documented human variant of one of the substrate docking motifs, and the other reduces the number of required basic amino acids in the standard docking motifs from two to one. The proposed patterns are shown to be consistent with in silico docking between ERK1 and the HIV matrix protein. The motif usage on HIV proteins is sufficiently different from human proteins in amino acid sequence similarity to allow for HIV specific targeting using small-molecule drugs.

  8. An integrative and applicable phylogenetic footprinting framework for cis-regulatory motifs identification in prokaryotic genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bingqiang; Zhang, Hanyuan; Zhou, Chuan; Li, Guojun; Fennell, Anne; Wang, Guanghui; Kang, Yu; Liu, Qi; Ma, Qin

    2016-08-09

    Phylogenetic footprinting is an important computational technique for identifying cis-regulatory motifs in orthologous regulatory regions from multiple genomes, as motifs tend to evolve slower than their surrounding non-functional sequences. Its application, however, has several difficulties for optimizing the selection of orthologous data and reducing the false positives in motif prediction. Here we present an integrative phylogenetic footprinting framework for accurate motif predictions in prokaryotic genomes (MP(3)). The framework includes a new orthologous data preparation procedure, an additional promoter scoring and pruning method and an integration of six existing motif finding algorithms as basic motif search engines. Specifically, we collected orthologous genes from available prokaryotic genomes and built the orthologous regulatory regions based on sequence similarity of promoter regions. This procedure made full use of the large-scale genomic data and taxonomy information and filtered out the promoters with limited contribution to produce a high quality orthologous promoter set. The promoter scoring and pruning is implemented through motif voting by a set of complementary predicting tools that mine as many motif candidates as possible and simultaneously eliminate the effect of random noise. We have applied the framework to Escherichia coli k12 genome and evaluated the prediction performance through comparison with seven existing programs. This evaluation was systematically carried out at the nucleotide and binding site level, and the results showed that MP(3) consistently outperformed other popular motif finding tools. We have integrated MP(3) into our motif identification and analysis server DMINDA, allowing users to efficiently identify and analyze motifs in 2,072 completely sequenced prokaryotic genomes. The performance evaluation indicated that MP(3) is effective for predicting regulatory motifs in prokaryotic genomes. Its application may enhance

  9. Role of the EHD2 unstructured loop in dimerization, protein binding and subcellular localization.

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    Kriti Bahl

    Full Text Available The C-terminal Eps 15 Homology Domain proteins (EHD1-4 play important roles in regulating endocytic trafficking. EHD2 is the only family member whose crystal structure has been solved, and it contains an unstructured loop consisting of two proline-phenylalanine (PF motifs: KPFRKLNPF. In contrast, despite EHD2 having nearly 70% amino acid identity with its paralogs, EHD1, EHD3 and EHD4, the latter proteins contain a single KPF or RPF motif, but no NPF motif. In this study, we sought to define the precise role of each PF motif in EHD2's homo-dimerization, binding with the protein partners, and subcellular localization. To test the role of the NPF motif, we generated an EHD2 NPF-to-NAF mutant to mimic the homologous sequences of EHD1 and EHD3. We demonstrated that this mutant lost both its ability to dimerize and bind to Syndapin2. However, it continued to localize primarily to the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. On the other hand, EHD2 NPF-to-APA mutants displayed normal dimerization and Syndapin2 binding, but exhibited markedly increased nuclear localization and reduced association with the plasma membrane. We then hypothesized that the single PF motif of EHD1 (that aligns with the KPF of EHD2 might be responsible for both binding and localization functions of EHD1. Indeed, the EHD1 RPF motif was required for dimerization, interaction with MICAL-L1 and Syndapin2, as well as localization to tubular recycling endosomes. Moreover, recycling assays demonstrated that EHD1 RPF-to-APA was incapable of supporting normal receptor recycling. Overall, our data suggest that the EHD2 NPF phenylalanine residue is crucial for EHD2 localization to the plasma membrane, whereas the proline residue is essential for EHD2 dimerization and binding. These studies support the recently proposed model in which the EHD2 N-terminal region may regulate the availability of the unstructured loop for interactions with neighboring EHD2 dimers, thus promoting

  10. Canonical Bcl-2 Motifs of the Na+/K+ Pump Revealed by the BH3 Mimetic Chelerythrine: Early Signal Transducers of Apoptosis?

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    Peter K. Lauf

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims: Chelerythrine [CET], a protein kinase C [PKC] inhibitor, is a prop-apoptotic BH3-mimetic binding to BH1-like motifs of Bcl-2 proteins. CET action was examined on PKC phosphorylation-dependent membrane transporters (Na+/K+ pump/ATPase [NKP, NKA], Na+-K+-2Cl+ [NKCC] and K+-Cl- [KCC] cotransporters, and channel-supported K+ loss in human lens epithelial cells [LECs]. Methods: K+ loss and K+ uptake, using Rb+ as congener, were measured by atomic absorption/emission spectrophotometry with NKP and NKCC inhibitors, and Cl- replacement by NO3ˉ to determine KCC. 3H-Ouabain binding was performed on a pig renal NKA in the presence and absence of CET. Bcl-2 protein and NKA sequences were aligned and motifs identified and mapped using PROSITE in conjunction with BLAST alignments and analysis of conservation and structural similarity based on prediction of secondary and crystal structures. Results: CET inhibited NKP and NKCC by >90% (IC50 values ∼35 and ∼15 µM, respectively without significant KCC activity change, and stimulated K+ loss by ∼35% at 10-30 µM. Neither ATP levels nor phosphorylation of the NKA α1 subunit changed. 3H-ouabain was displaced from pig renal NKA only at 100 fold higher CET concentrations than the ligand. Sequence alignments of NKA with BH1- and BH3-like motifs containing pro-survival Bcl-2 and BclXl proteins showed more than one BH1-like motif within NKA for interaction with CET or with BH3 motifs. One NKA BH1-like motif (ARAAEILARDGPN was also found in all P-type ATPases. Also, NKA possessed a second motif similar to that near the BH3 region of Bcl-2. Conclusion: Findings support the hypothesis that CET inhibits NKP by binding to BH1-like motifs and disrupting the α1 subunit catalytic activity through conformational changes. By interacting with Bcl-2 proteins through their complementary BH1- or BH3-like-motifs, NKP proteins may be sensors of normal and pathological cell functions, becoming important yet

  11. Analysis of the PDZ binding specificities of Influenza A Virus NS1 proteins

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    Nagasaka Kazunori

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Influenza A virus non-structural protein 1 (NS1 is a multifunctional virulence factor with several protein-protein interaction domains, involved in preventing apoptosis of the infected cell and in evading the interferon response. In addition, the majority of influenza A virus NS1 proteins have a class I PDZ-binding motif at the C-terminus, and this itself has been shown to be a virulence determinant. In the majority of human influenza NS1 proteins the consensus motif is RSxV: in avian NS1 it is ESxV. Of the few human strains that have the avian motif, all were from very high mortality outbreaks of the disease. Previous work has shown that minor differences in PDZ-binding motifs can have major effects on the spectrum of cellular proteins targeted. In this study we analyse the effect of these differences upon the binding of Influenza A virus NS1 protein to a range of cellular proteins involved in polarity and signal transduction.

  12. Mutation of CD2AP and SH3KBP1 Binding Motif in Alphavirus nsP3 Hypervariable Domain Results in Attenuated Virus

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    Margit Mutso

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Infection by Chikungunya virus (CHIKV of the Old World alphaviruses (family Togaviridae in humans can cause arthritis and arthralgia. The virus encodes four non-structural proteins (nsP (nsP1, nsp2, nsP3 and nsP4 that act as subunits of the virus replicase. These proteins also interact with numerous host proteins and some crucial interactions are mediated by the unstructured C-terminal hypervariable domain (HVD of nsP3. In this study, a human cell line expressing EGFP tagged with CHIKV nsP3 HVD was established. Using quantitative proteomics, it was found that CHIKV nsP3 HVD can bind cytoskeletal proteins, including CD2AP, SH3KBP1, CAPZA1, CAPZA2 and CAPZB. The interaction with CD2AP was found to be most evident; its binding site was mapped to the second SH3 ligand-like element in nsP3 HVD. Further assessment indicated that CD2AP can bind to nsP3 HVDs of many different New and Old World alphaviruses. Mutation of the short binding element hampered the ability of the virus to establish infection. The mutation also abolished ability of CD2AP to co-localise with nsP3 and replication complexes of CHIKV; the same was observed for Semliki Forest virus (SFV harbouring a similar mutation. Similar to CD2AP, its homolog SH3KBP1 also bound the identified motif in CHIKV and SFV nsP3.

  13. Fox-2 Splicing Factor Binds to a Conserved Intron Motif to PromoteInclusion of Protein 4.1R Alternative Exon 16

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponthier, Julie L.; Schluepen, Christina; Chen, Weiguo; Lersch,Robert A.; Gee, Sherry L.; Hou, Victor C.; Lo, Annie J.; Short, Sarah A.; Chasis, Joel A.; Winkelmann, John C.; Conboy, John G.

    2006-03-01

    Activation of protein 4.1R exon 16 (E16) inclusion during erythropoiesis represents a physiologically important splicing switch that increases 4.1R affinity for spectrin and actin. Previous studies showed that negative regulation of E16 splicing is mediated by the binding of hnRNP A/B proteins to silencer elements in the exon and that downregulation of hnRNP A/B proteins in erythroblasts leads to activation of E16 inclusion. This paper demonstrates that positive regulation of E16 splicing can be mediated by Fox-2 or Fox-1, two closely related splicing factors that possess identical RNA recognition motifs. SELEX experiments with human Fox-1 revealed highly selective binding to the hexamer UGCAUG. Both Fox-1 and Fox-2 were able to bind the conserved UGCAUG elements in the proximal intron downstream of E16, and both could activate E16 splicing in HeLa cell co-transfection assays in a UGCAUG-dependent manner. Conversely, knockdown of Fox-2 expression, achieved with two different siRNA sequences resulted in decreased E16 splicing. Moreover, immunoblot experiments demonstrate mouse erythroblasts express Fox-2, but not Fox-1. These findings suggest that Fox-2 is a physiological activator of E16 splicing in differentiating erythroid cells in vivo. Recent experiments show that UGCAUG is present in the proximal intron sequence of many tissue-specific alternative exons, and we propose that the Fox family of splicing enhancers plays an important role in alternative splicing switches during differentiation in metazoan organisms.

  14. Crystal structure of the botulinum neurotoxin type G binding domain: insight into cell surface binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stenmark, Pål; Dong, Min; Dupuy, Jérôme; Chapman, Edwin R; Stevens, Raymond C

    2010-04-16

    Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) typically bind the neuronal cell surface via dual interactions with both protein receptors and gangliosides. We present here the 1.9-A X-ray structure of the BoNT serotype G (BoNT/G) receptor binding domain (residues 868-1297) and a detailed view of protein receptor and ganglioside binding regions. The ganglioside binding motif (SxWY) has a conserved structure compared to the corresponding regions in BoNT serotype A and BoNT serotype B (BoNT/B), but several features of interactions with the hydrophilic face of the ganglioside are absent at the opposite side of the motif in the BoNT/G ganglioside binding cleft. This may significantly reduce the affinity between BoNT/G and gangliosides. BoNT/G and BoNT/B share the protein receptor synaptotagmin (Syt) I/II. The Syt binding site has a conserved hydrophobic plateau located centrally in the proposed protein receptor binding interface (Tyr1189, Phe1202, Ala1204, Pro1205, and Phe1212). Interestingly, only 5 of 14 residues that are important for binding between Syt-II and BoNT/B are conserved in BoNT/G, suggesting that the means by which BoNT/G and BoNT/B bind Syt diverges more than previously appreciated. Indeed, substitution of Syt-II Phe47 and Phe55 with alanine residues had little effect on the binding of BoNT/G, but strongly reduced the binding of BoNT/B. Furthermore, an extended solvent-exposed hydrophobic loop, located between the Syt binding site and the ganglioside binding cleft, may serve as a third membrane association and binding element to contribute to high-affinity binding to the neuronal membrane. While BoNT/G and BoNT/B are homologous to each other and both utilize Syt-I/Syt-II as their protein receptor, the precise means by which these two toxin serotypes bind to Syt appears surprisingly divergent. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. Multiple ETS family proteins regulate PF4 gene expression by binding to the same ETS binding site.

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    Yoshiaki Okada

    Full Text Available In previous studies on the mechanism underlying megakaryocyte-specific gene expression, several ETS motifs were found in each megakaryocyte-specific gene promoter. Although these studies suggested that several ETS family proteins regulate megakaryocyte-specific gene expression, only a few ETS family proteins have been identified. Platelet factor 4 (PF4 is a megakaryocyte-specific gene and its promoter includes multiple ETS motifs. We had previously shown that ETS-1 binds to an ETS motif in the PF4 promoter. However, the functions of the other ETS motifs are still unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate a novel functional ETS motif in the PF4 promoter and identify proteins binding to the motif. In electrophoretic mobility shift assays and a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, FLI-1, ELF-1, and GABP bound to the -51 ETS site. Expression of FLI-1, ELF-1, and GABP activated the PF4 promoter in HepG2 cells. Mutation of a -51 ETS site attenuated FLI-1-, ELF-1-, and GABP-mediated transactivation of the promoter. siRNA analysis demonstrated that FLI-1, ELF-1, and GABP regulate PF4 gene expression in HEL cells. Among these three proteins, only FLI-1 synergistically activated the promoter with GATA-1. In addition, only FLI-1 expression was increased during megakaryocytic differentiation. Finally, the importance of the -51 ETS site for the activation of the PF4 promoter during physiological megakaryocytic differentiation was confirmed by a novel reporter gene assay using in vitro ES cell differentiation system. Together, these data suggest that FLI-1, ELF-1, and GABP regulate PF4 gene expression through the -51 ETS site in megakaryocytes and implicate the differentiation stage-specific regulation of PF4 gene expression by multiple ETS factors.

  16. Suppression of HPV-16 late L1 5′-splice site SD3632 by binding of hnRNP D proteins and hnRNP A2/B1 to upstream AUAGUA RNA motifs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaoze; Johansson, Cecilia; Glahder, Jacob; Mossberg, Ann-Kristin; Schwartz, Stefan

    2013-01-01

    Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) 5′-splice site SD3632 is used exclusively to produce late L1 mRNAs. We identified a 34-nt splicing inhibitory element located immediately upstream of HPV-16 late 5′-splice site SD3632. Two AUAGUA motifs located in these 34 nt inhibited SD3632. Two nucleotide substitutions in each of the HPV-16 specific AUAGUA motifs alleviated splicing inhibition and induced late L1 mRNA production from episomal forms of the HPV-16 genome in primary human keratinocytes. The AUAGUA motifs bind specifically not only to the heterogeneous nuclear RNP (hnRNP) D family of RNA-binding proteins including hnRNP D/AUF, hnRNP DL and hnRNP AB but also to hnRNP A2/B1. Knock-down of these proteins induced HPV-16 late L1 mRNA expression, and overexpression of hnRNP A2/B1, hnRNP AB, hnRNP DL and the two hnRNP D isoforms hnRNP D37 and hnRNP D40 further suppressed L1 mRNA expression. This inhibition may allow HPV-16 to hide from the immune system and establish long-term persistent infections with enhanced risk at progressing to cancer. There is an inverse correlation between expression of hnRNP D proteins and hnRNP A2/B1 and HPV-16 L1 production in the cervical epithelium, as well as in cervical cancer, supporting the conclusion that hnRNP D proteins and A2/B1 inhibit HPV-16 L1 mRNA production. PMID:24013563

  17. Ada To X-Window Bindings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souleles, Dean

    1993-01-01

    Ada to X-Window Bindings computer program developed to provide Ada programmers with complete interfaces to Xt Intrinsics and OSF Motif toolkits. Provides "Ada view" of some mostly C-language programming libraries. Package of software written in Ada and C languages.

  18. Disparate requirements for the Walker A and B ATPase motifs ofhuman RAD51D in homologous recombination

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    Wiese, Claudia; Hinz, John M.; Tebbs, Robert S.; Nham, Peter B.; Urbin, Salustra S.; Collins, David W.; Thompson, Larry H.; Schild, David

    2006-04-21

    In vertebrates, homologous recombinational repair (HRR) requires RAD51 and five RAD51 paralogs (XRCC2, XRCC3, RAD51B, RAD51C, and RAD51D) that all contain conserved Walker A and B ATPase motifs. In human RAD51D we examined the requirement for these motifs in interactions with XRCC2 and RAD51C, and for survival of cells in response to DNA interstrand crosslinks. Ectopic expression of wild type human RAD51D or mutants having a non-functional A or B motif was used to test for complementation of a rad51d knockout hamster CHO cell line. Although A-motif mutants complement very efficiently, B-motif mutants do not. Consistent with these results, experiments using the yeast two- and three-hybrid systems show that the interactions between RAD51D and its XRCC2 and RAD51C partners also require a functional RAD51D B motif, but not motif A. Similarly, hamster Xrcc2 is unable to bind to the non-complementing human RAD51D B-motif mutants in co-immunoprecipitation assays. We conclude that a functional Walker B motif, but not A motif, is necessary for RAD51D's interactions with other paralogs and for efficient HRR. We present a model in which ATPase sites are formed in a bipartite manner between RAD51D and other RAD51 paralogs.

  19. A ligand peptide motif selected from a cancer patient is a receptor-interacting site within human interleukin-11.

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    Marina Cardó-Vila

    Full Text Available Interleukin-11 (IL-11 is a pleiotropic cytokine approved by the FDA against chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia. From a combinatorial selection in a cancer patient, we isolated an IL-11-like peptide mapping to domain I of the IL-11 (sequence CGRRAGGSC. Although this motif has ligand attributes, it is not within the previously characterized interacting sites. Here we design and validate in-tandem binding assays, site-directed mutagenesis and NMR spectroscopy to show (i the peptide mimics a receptor-binding site within IL-11, (ii the binding of CGRRAGGSC to the IL-11R alpha is functionally relevant, (iii Arg4 and Ser8 are the key residues mediating the interaction, and (iv the IL-11-like motif induces cell proliferation through STAT3 activation. These structural and functional results uncover an as yet unrecognized receptor-binding site in human IL-11. Given that IL-11R alpha has been proposed as a target in human cancer, our results provide clues for the rational design of targeted drugs.

  20. Motif-role-fingerprints: the building-blocks of motifs, clustering-coefficients and transitivities in directed networks.

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    Mark D McDonnell

    Full Text Available Complex networks are frequently characterized by metrics for which particular subgraphs are counted. One statistic from this category, which we refer to as motif-role fingerprints, differs from global subgraph counts in that the number of subgraphs in which each node participates is counted. As with global subgraph counts, it can be important to distinguish between motif-role fingerprints that are 'structural' (induced subgraphs and 'functional' (partial subgraphs. Here we show mathematically that a vector of all functional motif-role fingerprints can readily be obtained from an arbitrary directed adjacency matrix, and then converted to structural motif-role fingerprints by multiplying that vector by a specific invertible conversion matrix. This result demonstrates that a unique structural motif-role fingerprint exists for any given functional motif-role fingerprint. We demonstrate a similar result for the cases of functional and structural motif-fingerprints without node roles, and global subgraph counts that form the basis of standard motif analysis. We also explicitly highlight that motif-role fingerprints are elemental to several popular metrics for quantifying the subgraph structure of directed complex networks, including motif distributions, directed clustering coefficient, and transitivity. The relationships between each of these metrics and motif-role fingerprints also suggest new subtypes of directed clustering coefficients and transitivities. Our results have potential utility in analyzing directed synaptic networks constructed from neuronal connectome data, such as in terms of centrality. Other potential applications include anomaly detection in networks, identification of similar networks and identification of similar nodes within networks. Matlab code for calculating all stated metrics following calculation of functional motif-role fingerprints is provided as S1 Matlab File.

  1. The Drosophila hnRNP F/H Homolog Glorund Uses Two Distinct RNA-Binding Modes to Diversify Target Recognition

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    Tamayo, Joel V.; Teramoto, Takamasa; Chatterjee, Seema; Hall, Traci M. Tanaka; Gavis, Elizabeth R. (Princeton); (NIH)

    2017-04-01

    The Drosophila hnRNP F/H homolog, Glorund (Glo), regulates nanos mRNA translation by interacting with a structured UA-rich motif in the nanos 3' untranslated region. Glo regulates additional RNAs, however, and mammalian homologs bind G-tract sequences to regulate alternative splicing, suggesting that Glo also recognizes G-tract RNA. To gain insight into how Glo recognizes both structured UA-rich and G-tract RNAs, we used mutational analysis guided by crystal structures of Glo’s RNA-binding domains and identified two discrete RNA-binding surfaces that allow Glo to recognize both RNA motifs. By engineering Glo variants that favor a single RNA-binding mode, we show that a subset of Glo’s functions in vivo is mediated solely by the G-tract binding mode, whereas regulation of nanos requires both recognition modes. Our findings suggest a molecular mechanism for the evolution of dual RNA motif recognition in Glo that may be applied to understanding the functional diversity of other RNA-binding proteins.

  2. Functional motifs responsible for human metapneumovirus M2-2-mediated innate immune evasion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yu; Deng, Xiaoling; Deng, Junfang; Zhou, Jiehua; Ren, Yuping; Liu, Shengxuan; Prusak, Deborah J; Wood, Thomas G; Bao, Xiaoyong

    2016-12-01

    Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a major cause of lower respiratory infection in young children. Repeated infections occur throughout life, but its immune evasion mechanisms are largely unknown. We recently found that hMPV M2-2 protein elicits immune evasion by targeting mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS), an antiviral signaling molecule. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying such inhibition are not known. Our mutagenesis studies revealed that PDZ-binding motifs, 29-DEMI-32 and 39-KEALSDGI-46, located in an immune inhibitory region of M2-2, are responsible for M2-2-mediated immune evasion. We also found both motifs prevent TRAF5 and TRAF6, the MAVS downstream adaptors, to be recruited to MAVS, while the motif 39-KEALSDGI-46 also blocks TRAF3 migrating to MAVS. In parallel, these TRAFs are important in activating transcription factors NF-kB and/or IRF-3 by hMPV. Our findings collectively demonstrate that M2-2 uses its PDZ motifs to launch the hMPV immune evasion through blocking the interaction of MAVS and its downstream TRAFs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. A CACGTG motif of the Antirrhinum majus chalcone synthase promoter is recognized by an evolutionarily conserved nuclear protein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Staiger, D.; Kaulen, H.; Schell, J.

    1989-01-01

    In the chalcone synthase gene of Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon), 150 base pairs of the 5' flanking region contain cis-acting signals for UV light-induced expression. A nuclear factor, designated CG-1, specifically recognizes a hexameric motif with internal dyad symmetry, CACGTG, located within this light-responsive sequence. Binding of CG-1 is influenced by C-methylation of the CpG dinucleotide in the recognition sequence. CG-1 is a factor found in a variety of dicotyledonous plant species including Nicotiana tabacum, A. majus, Petunia hybrida, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Glycine max. CACGTG motifs contained within trans-acting factor recognition sites in various other plant promoters can interact with CG-1. In addition, the binding site of the human adenovirus major late transcription factor USF can compete for CG-1 binding to the chalcone synthase promoter. This suggests an evolutionary conservation of trans-acting factor recognition sites involved in divergent mechanisms of gene control. (author)

  4. Amphipathic motifs in BAR domains are essential for membrane curvature sensing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bhatia, Vikram K; Madsen, Kenneth L; Bolinger, Pierre-Yves

    2009-01-01

    BAR (Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs) domains and amphipathic alpha-helices (AHs) are believed to be sensors of membrane curvature thus facilitating the assembly of protein complexes on curved membranes. Here, we used quantitative fluorescence microscopy to compare the binding of both motifs on single...... nanosized liposomes of different diameters and therefore membrane curvature. Characterization of members of the three BAR domain families showed surprisingly that the crescent-shaped BAR dimer with its positively charged concave face is not able to sense membrane curvature. Mutagenesis on BAR domains showed...... that membrane curvature sensing critically depends on the N-terminal AH and furthermore that BAR domains sense membrane curvature through hydrophobic insertion in lipid packing defects and not through electrostatics. Consequently, amphipathic motifs, such as AHs, that are often associated with BAR domains...

  5. T-cell memory responses elicited by yellow fever vaccine are targeted to overlapping epitopes containing multiple HLA-I and -II binding motifs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andréa Barbosa de Melo

    Full Text Available The yellow fever vaccines (YF-17D-204 and 17DD are considered to be among the safest vaccines and the presence of neutralizing antibodies is correlated with protection, although other immune effector mechanisms are known to be involved. T-cell responses are known to play an important role modulating antibody production and the killing of infected cells. However, little is known about the repertoire of T-cell responses elicited by the YF-17DD vaccine in humans. In this report, a library of 653 partially overlapping 15-mer peptides covering the envelope (Env and nonstructural (NS proteins 1 to 5 of the vaccine was utilized to perform a comprehensive analysis of the virus-specific CD4(+ and CD8(+ T-cell responses. The T-cell responses were screened ex-vivo by IFN-γ ELISPOT assays using blood samples from 220 YF-17DD vaccinees collected two months to four years after immunization. Each peptide was tested in 75 to 208 separate individuals of the cohort. The screening identified sixteen immunodominant antigens that elicited activation of circulating memory T-cells in 10% to 33% of the individuals. Biochemical in-vitro binding assays and immunogenetic and immunogenicity studies indicated that each of the sixteen immunogenic 15-mer peptides contained two or more partially overlapping epitopes that could bind with high affinity to molecules of different HLAs. The prevalence of the immunogenicity of a peptide in the cohort was correlated with the diversity of HLA-II alleles that they could bind. These findings suggest that overlapping of HLA binding motifs within a peptide enhances its T-cell immunogenicity and the prevalence of the response in the population. In summary, the results suggests that in addition to factors of the innate immunity, "promiscuous" T-cell antigens might contribute to the high efficacy of the yellow fever vaccines.

  6. LDsplit: screening for cis-regulatory motifs stimulating meiotic recombination hotspots by analysis of DNA sequence polymorphisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Peng; Wu, Min; Guo, Jing; Kwoh, Chee Keong; Przytycka, Teresa M; Zheng, Jie

    2014-02-17

    As a fundamental genomic element, meiotic recombination hotspot plays important roles in life sciences. Thus uncovering its regulatory mechanisms has broad impact on biomedical research. Despite the recent identification of the zinc finger protein PRDM9 and its 13-mer binding motif as major regulators for meiotic recombination hotspots, other regulators remain to be discovered. Existing methods for finding DNA sequence motifs of recombination hotspots often rely on the enrichment of co-localizations between hotspots and short DNA patterns, which ignore the cross-individual variation of recombination rates and sequence polymorphisms in the population. Our objective in this paper is to capture signals encoded in genetic variations for the discovery of recombination-associated DNA motifs. Recently, an algorithm called "LDsplit" has been designed to detect the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and proximal meiotic recombination hotspots. The association is measured by the difference of population recombination rates at a hotspot between two alleles of a candidate SNP. Here we present an open source software tool of LDsplit, with integrative data visualization for recombination hotspots and their proximal SNPs. Applying LDsplit on SNPs inside an established 7-mer motif bound by PRDM9 we observed that SNP alleles preserving the original motif tend to have higher recombination rates than the opposite alleles that disrupt the motif. Running on SNP windows around hotspots each containing an occurrence of the 7-mer motif, LDsplit is able to guide the established motif finding algorithm of MEME to recover the 7-mer motif. In contrast, without LDsplit the 7-mer motif could not be identified. LDsplit is a software tool for the discovery of cis-regulatory DNA sequence motifs stimulating meiotic recombination hotspots by screening and narrowing down to hotspot associated SNPs. It is the first computational method that utilizes the genetic variation of

  7. A CRE/AP-1-like motif is essential for induced syncytin-2 expression and fusion in human trophoblast-like model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chirine Toufaily

    Full Text Available Syncytin-2 is encoded by the envelope gene of Endogenous Retrovirus-FRD (ERVFRD-1 and plays a critical role in fusion of placental trophoblasts leading to the formation of the multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast. Its expression is consequently regulated in a strict manner. In the present study, we have identified a forskolin-responsive region located between positions -300 to -150 in the Syncytin-2 promoter region. This 150 bp region in the context of a minimal promoter mediated an 80-fold induction of promoter activity following forskolin stimulation. EMSA analyses with competition experiments with nuclear extracts from forskolin-stimulated BeWo cells demonstrated that the -211 to -177 region specifically bound two forskolin-induced complexes, one of them containing a CRE/AP-1-like motif. Site-directed mutagenesis of the CRE/AP-1 binding site in the context of the Syncytin-2 promoter or a heterologous promoter showed that this motif was mostly essential for forskolin-induced promoter activity. Transfection experiments with dominant negative mutants and constitutively activated CREB expression vectors in addition to Chromatin Immunoprecipitation suggested that a CREB family member, CREB2 was binding and acting through the CRE/AP-1 motif. We further demonstrated the binding of JunD to this same motif. Similar to forskolin and soluble cAMP, CREB2 and JunD overexpression induced Syncytin-2 promoter activity in a CRE/AP-1-dependent manner and Syncytin-2 expression. In addition, BeWo cell fusion was induced by both CREB2 and JunD overexpression, while being repressed following silencing of either gene. These results thereby demonstrate that induced expression of Syncytin-2 is highly dependent on the interaction of bZIP-containing transcription factors to a CRE/AP-1 motif and that this element is important for the regulation of Syncytin-2 expression, which results in the formation of the peripheral syncytiotrophoblast layer.

  8. Disparate requirements for the Walker A and B ATPase motifs of human RAD51D in homologous recombination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiese, Claudia; Hinz, John M; Tebbs, Robert S; Nham, Peter B; Urbin, Salustra S; Collins, David W; Thompson, Larry H; Schild, David

    2006-01-01

    In vertebrates, homologous recombinational repair (HRR) requires RAD51 and five RAD51 paralogs (XRCC2, XRCC3, RAD51B, RAD51C and RAD51D) that all contain conserved Walker A and B ATPase motifs. In human RAD51D we examined the requirement for these motifs in interactions with XRCC2 and RAD51C, and for survival of cells in response to DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). Ectopic expression of wild-type human RAD51D or mutants having a non-functional A or B motif was used to test for complementation of a rad51d knockout hamster CHO cell line. Although A-motif mutants complement very efficiently, B-motif mutants do not. Consistent with these results, experiments using the yeast two- and three-hybrid systems show that the interactions between RAD51D and its XRCC2 and RAD51C partners also require a functional RAD51D B motif, but not motif A. Similarly, hamster Xrcc2 is unable to bind to the non-complementing human RAD51D B-motif mutants in co-immunoprecipitation assays. We conclude that a functional Walker B motif, but not A motif, is necessary for RAD51D's interactions with other paralogs and for efficient HRR. We present a model in which ATPase sites are formed in a bipartite manner between RAD51D and other RAD51 paralogs.

  9. Deciphering common recognition principles of nucleoside mono/di and tri-phosphates binding in diverse proteins via structural matching of their binding sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhagavat, Raghu; Srinivasan, Narayanaswamy; Chandra, Nagasuma

    2017-09-01

    Nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) ligands are of high biological importance and are essential for all life forms. A pre-requisite for them to participate in diverse biochemical processes is their recognition by diverse proteins. It is thus of great interest to understand the basis for such recognition in different proteins. Towards this, we have used a structural bioinformatics approach and analyze structures of 4677 NTP complexes available in Protein Data Bank (PDB). Binding sites were extracted and compared exhaustively using PocketMatch, a sensitive in-house site comparison algorithm, which resulted in grouping the entire dataset into 27 site-types. Each of these site-types represent a structural motif comprised of two or more residue conservations, derived using another in-house tool for superposing binding sites, PocketAlign. The 27 site-types could be grouped further into 9 super-types by considering partial similarities in the sites, which indicated that the individual site-types comprise different combinations of one or more site features. A scan across PDB using the 27 structural motifs determined the motifs to be specific to NTP binding sites, and a computational alanine mutagenesis indicated that residues identified to be highly conserved in the motifs are also most contributing to binding. Alternate orientations of the ligand in several site-types were observed and rationalized, indicating the possibility of some residues serving as anchors for NTP recognition. The presence of multiple site-types and the grouping of multiple folds into each site-type is strongly suggestive of convergent evolution. Knowledge of determinants obtained from this study will be useful for detecting function in unknown proteins. Proteins 2017; 85:1699-1712. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. A Parzen window-based approach for the detection of locally enriched transcription factor binding sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandenbon, Alexis; Kumagai, Yutaro; Teraguchi, Shunsuke; Amada, Karlou Mar; Akira, Shizuo; Standley, Daron M

    2013-01-21

    Identification of cis- and trans-acting factors regulating gene expression remains an important problem in biology. Bioinformatics analyses of regulatory regions are hampered by several difficulties. One is that binding sites for regulatory proteins are often not significantly over-represented in the set of DNA sequences of interest, because of high levels of false positive predictions, and because of positional restrictions on functional binding sites with regard to the transcription start site. We have developed a novel method for the detection of regulatory motifs based on their local over-representation in sets of regulatory regions. The method makes use of a Parzen window-based approach for scoring local enrichment, and during evaluation of significance it takes into account GC content of sequences. We show that the accuracy of our method compares favourably to that of other methods, and that our method is capable of detecting not only generally over-represented regulatory motifs, but also locally over-represented motifs that are often missed by standard motif detection approaches. Using a number of examples we illustrate the validity of our approach and suggest applications, such as the analysis of weaker binding sites. Our approach can be used to suggest testable hypotheses for wet-lab experiments. It has potential for future analyses, such as the prediction of weaker binding sites. An online application of our approach, called LocaMo Finder (Local Motif Finder), is available at http://sysimm.ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp/tfbs/locamo/.

  11. Frequency patterns of T-cell exposed motifs in immunoglobulin heavy chain peptides presented by MHCs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert D. Bremel

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Immunoglobulins are highly diverse protein sequences that are processed and presented to T-cells by B-cells and other antigen presenting cells. We examined a large dataset of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable regions (IGHV to assess the diversity of T-cell exposed motifs (TCEM. TCEM comprise those amino acids in a MHC-bound peptide which face outwards, surrounded by the MHC histotope, and which engage the T-cell receptor. Within IGHV there is a distinct pattern of predicted MHC class II binding and a very high frequency of re-use of the TCEMs. The re-use frequency indicates that only a limited number of different cognate T-cells are required to engage many different clonal B-cells. The amino acids in each outward-facing TCEM are intercalated with the amino acids of inward-facing MHC groove-exposed motifs (GEM. Different GEM may have differing, allele-specific, MHC binding affinities. The intercalation of TCEM and GEM in a peptide allows for a vast combinatorial repertoire of epitopes, each eliciting a different response. Outcome of T-cell receptor binding is determined by overall signal strength, which is a function of the number of responding T-cells and the duration of engagement. Hence, the frequency of T-cell exposed motif re-use appears to be an important determinant of whether a T-cell response is stimulatory or suppressive. The frequency distribution of TCEMs implies that somatic hypermutation is followed by clonal expansion that develop along repeated pathways. The observations of TCEM and GEM derived from immunoglobulins suggest a relatively simple, yet powerful, mechanism to correlate T-cell polyspecificity, through re-use of TCEMs, with a very high degree of specificity achieved by combination with a diversity of GEMs. The frequency profile of TCEMs also points to an economical mechanism for maintaining T-cell memory, recall, and self-discrimination based on an endogenously generated profile of motifs.

  12. A ChIP-Seq benchmark shows that sequence conservation mainly improves detection of strong transcription factor binding sites.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tony Håndstad

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Transcription factors are important controllers of gene expression and mapping transcription factor binding sites (TFBS is key to inferring transcription factor regulatory networks. Several methods for predicting TFBS exist, but there are no standard genome-wide datasets on which to assess the performance of these prediction methods. Also, it is believed that information about sequence conservation across different genomes can generally improve accuracy of motif-based predictors, but it is not clear under what circumstances use of conservation is most beneficial. RESULTS: Here we use published ChIP-seq data and an improved peak detection method to create comprehensive benchmark datasets for prediction methods which use known descriptors or binding motifs to detect TFBS in genomic sequences. We use this benchmark to assess the performance of five different prediction methods and find that the methods that use information about sequence conservation generally perform better than simpler motif-scanning methods. The difference is greater on high-affinity peaks and when using short and information-poor motifs. However, if the motifs are specific and information-rich, we find that simple motif-scanning methods can perform better than conservation-based methods. CONCLUSIONS: Our benchmark provides a comprehensive test that can be used to rank the relative performance of transcription factor binding site prediction methods. Moreover, our results show that, contrary to previous reports, sequence conservation is better suited for predicting strong than weak transcription factor binding sites.

  13. Sequence-specific high mobility group box factors recognize 10-12-base pair minor groove motifs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Beest, M; Dooijes, D; van De Wetering, M

    2000-01-01

    Sequence-specific high mobility group (HMG) box factors bind and bend DNA via interactions in the minor groove. Three-dimensional NMR analyses have provided the structural basis for this interaction. The cognate HMG domain DNA motif is generally believed to span 6-8 bases. However, alignment...

  14. The WSXWS motif in cytokine receptors is a molecular switch involved in receptor activation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dagil, Robert; Knudsen, Maiken J.; Olsen, Johan Gotthardt

    2012-01-01

    The prolactin receptor (PRLR) is activated by binding of prolactin in a 2:1 complex, but the activation mechanism is poorly understood. PRLR has a conserved WSXWS motif generic to cytokine class I receptors. We have determined the nuclear magnetic resonance solution structure of the membrane...

  15. Disruption of Fyn SH3 domain interaction with a proline-rich motif in liver kinase B1 results in activation of AMP-activated protein kinase.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eijiro Yamada

    Full Text Available Fyn-deficient mice display increased AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK activity as a result of Fyn-dependent regulation of Liver Kinase B1 (LKB1 in skeletal muscle. Mutation of Fyn-specific tyrosine sites in LKB1 results in LKB1 export into the cytoplasm and increased AMPK activation site phosphorylation. This study characterizes the structural elements responsible for the physical interaction between Fyn and LKB1. Effects of point mutations in the Fyn SH2/SH3 domains and in the LKB1 proline-rich motif on 1 Fyn and LKB1 binding, 2 LKB1 subcellular localization and 3 AMPK phosphorylation were investigated in C2C12 muscle cells. Additionally, novel LKB1 proline-rich motif mimicking cell permeable peptides were generated to disrupt Fyn/LKB1 binding and investigate the consequences on AMPK activity in both C2C12 cells and mouse skeletal muscle. Mutation of either Fyn SH3 domain or the proline-rich motif of LKB1 resulted in the disruption of Fyn/LKB1 binding, re-localization of 70% of LKB1 signal in the cytoplasm and a 2-fold increase in AMPK phosphorylation. In vivo disruption of the Fyn/LKB1 interaction using LKB1 proline-rich motif mimicking cell permeable peptides recapitulated Fyn pharmacological inhibition. We have pinpointed the structural elements within Fyn and LKB1 that are responsible for their binding, demonstrating the functionality of this interaction in regulating AMPK activity.

  16. Stereochemical determinants of C-terminal specificity in PDZ peptide-binding domains: a novel contribution of the carboxylate-binding loop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amacher, Jeanine F; Cushing, Patrick R; Bahl, Christopher D; Beck, Tobias; Madden, Dean R

    2013-02-15

    PDZ (PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1) binding domains often serve as cellular traffic engineers, controlling the localization and activity of a wide variety of binding partners. As a result, they play important roles in both physiological and pathological processes. However, PDZ binding specificities overlap, allowing multiple PDZ proteins to mediate distinct effects on shared binding partners. For example, several PDZ domains bind the cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), an epithelial ion channel mutated in CF. Among these binding partners, the CFTR-associated ligand (CAL) facilitates post-maturational degradation of the channel and is thus a potential therapeutic target. Using iterative optimization, we previously developed a selective CAL inhibitor peptide (iCAL36). Here, we investigate the stereochemical basis of iCAL36 specificity. The crystal structure of iCAL36 in complex with the CAL PDZ domain reveals stereochemical interactions distributed along the peptide-binding cleft, despite the apparent degeneracy of the CAL binding motif. A critical selectivity determinant that distinguishes CAL from other CFTR-binding PDZ domains is the accommodation of an isoleucine residue at the C-terminal position (P(0)), a characteristic shared with the Tax-interacting protein-1. Comparison of the structures of these two PDZ domains in complex with ligands containing P(0) Leu or Ile residues reveals two distinct modes of accommodation for β-branched C-terminal side chains. Access to each mode is controlled by distinct residues in the carboxylate-binding loop. These studies provide new insights into the primary sequence determinants of binding motifs, which in turn control the scope and evolution of PDZ interactomes.

  17. Positive evolutionary selection of an HD motif on Alzheimer precursor protein orthologues suggests a functional role.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miklós, István; Zádori, Zoltán

    2012-02-01

    HD amino acid duplex has been found in the active center of many different enzymes. The dyad plays remarkably different roles in their catalytic processes that usually involve metal coordination. An HD motif is positioned directly on the amyloid beta fragment (Aβ) and on the carboxy-terminal region of the extracellular domain (CAED) of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP) and a taxonomically well defined group of APP orthologues (APPOs). In human Aβ HD is part of a presumed, RGD-like integrin-binding motif RHD; however, neither RHD nor RXD demonstrates reasonable conservation in APPOs. The sequences of CAEDs and the position of the HD are not particularly conserved either, yet we show with a novel statistical method using evolutionary modeling that the presence of HD on CAEDs cannot be the result of neutral evolutionary forces (pHD motif is underrepresented in the proteomes of all species of the animal kingdom. Position migration can be explained by high probability occurrence of multiple copies of HD on intermediate sequences, from which only one is kept by selective evolutionary forces, in a similar way as in the case of the "transcription binding site turnover." CAED of all APP orthologues and homologues are predicted to bind metal ions including Amyloid-like protein 1 (APLP1) and Amyloid-like protein 2 (APLP2). Our results suggest that HDs on the CAEDs are most probably key components of metal-binding domains, which facilitate and/or regulate inter- or intra-molecular interactions in a metal ion-dependent or metal ion concentration-dependent manner. The involvement of naturally occurring mutations of HD (Tottori (D7N) and English (H6R) mutations) in early onset Alzheimer's disease gives additional support to our finding that HD has an evolutionary preserved function on APPOs.

  18. Characterization of a Smad motif similar to Drosophila mad in the mouse Msx 1 promoter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez Martinez, Cristina E; Binato, Renata; Gonzalez, Sayonara; Pereira, Monica; Robert, Benoit; Abdelhay, Eliana

    2002-03-01

    Mouse Msx 1 gene, orthologous of the Drosophila msh, is involved in several developmental processes. BMP family members are major proteins in the regulation of Msx 1 expression. BMP signaling activates Smad 1/5/8 proteins, which associate to Smad 4 before translocating to the nucleus. Analysis of Msx 1 promoter revealed the presence of three elements similar to the consensus established for Mad, the Smad 1 Drosophila counterpart. Notably, such an element was identified in an enhancer important for Msx 1 regulation. Gel shift analysis demonstrated that proteins from 13.5 dpc embryo associate to this enhancer. Remarkably, supershift assays showed that Smad proteins are present in the complex. Purified Smad 1 and 4 also bind to this fragment. We demonstrate that functional binding sites in this enhancer are confined to the Mad motif and flanking region. Our data suggest that this Mad motif may be functional in response to BMP signaling. ©2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

  19. Galectin-1-asialofetuin interaction is inhibited by peptides containing the tyr-xxx-tyr motif acting on the glycoprotein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wéber, Edit; Hetényi, Anasztázia; Váczi, Balázs; Szolnoki, Eva; Fajka-Boja, Roberta; Tubak, Vilmos; Monostori, Eva; Martinek, Tamás A

    2010-01-25

    Galectin-1 (Gal-1), a ubiquitous beta-galactoside-binding protein expressed by various normal and pathological tissues, has been implicated in cancer and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases in consequence of its regulatory role in adhesion, cell viability, proliferation, and angiogenesis. The functions of Gal-1 depend on its affinity for beta-galactoside-containing glycoconjugates; accordingly, the inhibition of sugar binding blocks its functions, hence promising potential therapeutic tools. The Tyr-Xxx-Tyr peptide motifs have been reported to be glycomimetic sequences, mainly on the basis of their inhibitory effect on the Gal-1-asialofetuin (ASF) interaction. However, the results regarding the efficacy of the Tyr-Xxx-Tyr motif as a glycomimetic inhibitor are still controversial. The present STD and trNOE NMR experiments reveal that the Tyr-Xxx-Tyr peptides studied do not bind to Gal-1, whereas their binding to ASF is clearly detected. (15)N,(1)H HSQC titrations with (15)N-labeled Gal-1 confirm the absence of any peptide-Gal-1 interaction. These data indicate that the Tyr-Xxx-Tyr peptides tested in this work are not glycomimetics as they interact with ASF via an unrevealed molecular linkage.

  20. The Drosophila hnRNP F/H Homolog Glorund Uses Two Distinct RNA-Binding Modes to Diversify Target Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamayo, Joel V; Teramoto, Takamasa; Chatterjee, Seema; Hall, Traci M Tanaka; Gavis, Elizabeth R

    2017-04-04

    The Drosophila hnRNP F/H homolog, Glorund (Glo), regulates nanos mRNA translation by interacting with a structured UA-rich motif in the nanos 3' untranslated region. Glo regulates additional RNAs, however, and mammalian homologs bind G-tract sequences to regulate alternative splicing, suggesting that Glo also recognizes G-tract RNA. To gain insight into how Glo recognizes both structured UA-rich and G-tract RNAs, we used mutational analysis guided by crystal structures of Glo's RNA-binding domains and identified two discrete RNA-binding surfaces that allow Glo to recognize both RNA motifs. By engineering Glo variants that favor a single RNA-binding mode, we show that a subset of Glo's functions in vivo is mediated solely by the G-tract binding mode, whereas regulation of nanos requires both recognition modes. Our findings suggest a molecular mechanism for the evolution of dual RNA motif recognition in Glo that may be applied to understanding the functional diversity of other RNA-binding proteins. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The Drosophila hnRNP F/H Homolog Glorund Uses Two Distinct RNA-Binding Modes to Diversify Target Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joel V. Tamayo

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The Drosophila hnRNP F/H homolog, Glorund (Glo, regulates nanos mRNA translation by interacting with a structured UA-rich motif in the nanos 3′ untranslated region. Glo regulates additional RNAs, however, and mammalian homologs bind G-tract sequences to regulate alternative splicing, suggesting that Glo also recognizes G-tract RNA. To gain insight into how Glo recognizes both structured UA-rich and G-tract RNAs, we used mutational analysis guided by crystal structures of Glo’s RNA-binding domains and identified two discrete RNA-binding surfaces that allow Glo to recognize both RNA motifs. By engineering Glo variants that favor a single RNA-binding mode, we show that a subset of Glo’s functions in vivo is mediated solely by the G-tract binding mode, whereas regulation of nanos requires both recognition modes. Our findings suggest a molecular mechanism for the evolution of dual RNA motif recognition in Glo that may be applied to understanding the functional diversity of other RNA-binding proteins.

  2. Systematic discovery of regulatory motifs in Fusarium graminearum by comparing four Fusarium genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kistler Corby

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Fusarium graminearum (Fg, a major fungal pathogen of cultivated cereals, is responsible for billions of dollars in agriculture losses. There is a growing interest in understanding the transcriptional regulation of this organism, especially the regulation of genes underlying its pathogenicity. The generation of whole genome sequence assemblies for Fg and three closely related Fusarium species provides a unique opportunity for such a study. Results Applying comparative genomics approaches, we developed a computational pipeline to systematically discover evolutionarily conserved regulatory motifs in the promoter, downstream and the intronic regions of Fg genes, based on the multiple alignments of sequenced Fusarium genomes. Using this method, we discovered 73 candidate regulatory motifs in the promoter regions. Nearly 30% of these motifs are highly enriched in promoter regions of Fg genes that are associated with a specific functional category. Through comparison to Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Sp, we observed conservation of transcription factors (TFs, their binding sites and the target genes regulated by these TFs related to pathways known to respond to stress conditions or phosphate metabolism. In addition, this study revealed 69 and 39 conserved motifs in the downstream regions and the intronic regions, respectively, of Fg genes. The top intronic motif is the splice donor site. For the downstream regions, we noticed an intriguing absence of the mammalian and Sc poly-adenylation signals among the list of conserved motifs. Conclusion This study provides the first comprehensive list of candidate regulatory motifs in Fg, and underscores the power of comparative genomics in revealing functional elements among related genomes. The conservation of regulatory pathways among the Fusarium genomes and the two yeast species reveals their functional significance, and provides new insights in their

  3. Multiple TPR motifs characterize the Fanconi anemia FANCG protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Eric; van de Vrugt, Henri J; de Vries, Yne; de Winter, Johan P; Arwert, Fré; Joenje, Hans

    2004-01-05

    The genome protection pathway that is defective in patients with Fanconi anemia (FA) is controlled by at least eight genes, including BRCA2. A key step in the pathway involves the monoubiquitylation of FANCD2, which critically depends on a multi-subunit nuclear 'core complex' of at least six FANC proteins (FANCA, -C, -E, -F, -G, and -L). Except for FANCL, which has WD40 repeats and a RING finger domain, no significant domain structure has so far been recognized in any of the core complex proteins. By using a homology search strategy comparing the human FANCG protein sequence with its ortholog sequences in Oryzias latipes (Japanese rice fish) and Danio rerio (zebrafish) we identified at least seven tetratricopeptide repeat motifs (TPRs) covering a major part of this protein. TPRs are degenerate 34-amino acid repeat motifs which function as scaffolds mediating protein-protein interactions, often found in multiprotein complexes. In four out of five TPR motifs tested (TPR1, -2, -5, and -6), targeted missense mutagenesis disrupting the motifs at the critical position 8 of each TPR caused complete or partial loss of FANCG function. Loss of function was evident from failure of the mutant proteins to complement the cellular FA phenotype in FA-G lymphoblasts, which was correlated with loss of binding to FANCA. Although the TPR4 mutant fully complemented the cells, it showed a reduced interaction with FANCA, suggesting that this TPR may also be of functional importance. The recognition of FANCG as a typical TPR protein predicts this protein to play a key role in the assembly and/or stabilization of the nuclear FA protein core complex.

  4. Phospholipid composition and a polybasic motif determine D6 PROTEIN KINASE polar association with the plasma membrane and tropic responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbosa, Inês C R; Shikata, Hiromasa; Zourelidou, Melina; Heilmann, Mareike; Heilmann, Ingo; Schwechheimer, Claus

    2016-12-15

    Polar transport of the phytohormone auxin through PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux carriers is essential for the spatiotemporal control of plant development. The Arabidopsis thaliana serine/threonine kinase D6 PROTEIN KINASE (D6PK) is polarly localized at the plasma membrane of many cells where it colocalizes with PINs and activates PIN-mediated auxin efflux. Here, we show that the association of D6PK with the basal plasma membrane and PINs is dependent on the phospholipid composition of the plasma membrane as well as on the phosphatidylinositol phosphate 5-kinases PIP5K1 and PIP5K2 in epidermis cells of the primary root. We further show that D6PK directly binds polyacidic phospholipids through a polybasic lysine-rich motif in the middle domain of the kinase. The lysine-rich motif is required for proper PIN3 phosphorylation and for auxin transport-dependent tropic growth. Polybasic motifs are also present at a conserved position in other D6PK-related kinases and required for membrane and phospholipid binding. Thus, phospholipid-dependent recruitment to membranes through polybasic motifs might not only be required for D6PK-mediated auxin transport but also other processes regulated by these, as yet, functionally uncharacterized kinases. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  5. Insertion of tetracysteine motifs into dopamine transporter extracellular domains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deanna M Navaroli

    Full Text Available The neuronal dopamine transporter (DAT is a major determinant of extracellular dopamine (DA levels and is the primary target for a variety of addictive and therapeutic psychoactive drugs. DAT is acutely regulated by protein kinase C (PKC activation and amphetamine exposure, both of which modulate DAT surface expression by endocytic trafficking. In order to use live imaging approaches to study DAT endocytosis, methods are needed to exclusively label the DAT surface pool. The use of membrane impermeant, sulfonated biarsenic dyes holds potential as one such approach, and requires introduction of an extracellular tetracysteine motif (tetraCys; CCPGCC to facilitate dye binding. In the current study, we took advantage of intrinsic proline-glycine (Pro-Gly dipeptides encoded in predicted DAT extracellular domains to introduce tetraCys motifs into DAT extracellular loops 2, 3, and 4. [(3H]DA uptake studies, surface biotinylation and fluorescence microscopy in PC12 cells indicate that tetraCys insertion into the DAT second extracellular loop results in a functional transporter that maintains PKC-mediated downregulation. Introduction of tetraCys into extracellular loops 3 and 4 yielded DATs with severely compromised function that failed to mature and traffic to the cell surface. This is the first demonstration of successful introduction of a tetracysteine motif into a DAT extracellular domain, and may hold promise for use of biarsenic dyes in live DAT imaging studies.

  6. qPMS7: a fast algorithm for finding (ℓ, d-motifs in DNA and protein sequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hieu Dinh

    Full Text Available Detection of rare events happening in a set of DNA/protein sequences could lead to new biological discoveries. One kind of such rare events is the presence of patterns called motifs in DNA/protein sequences. Finding motifs is a challenging problem since the general version of motif search has been proven to be intractable. Motifs discovery is an important problem in biology. For example, it is useful in the detection of transcription factor binding sites and transcriptional regulatory elements that are very crucial in understanding gene function, human disease, drug design, etc. Many versions of the motif search problem have been proposed in the literature. One such is the (ℓ, d-motif search (or Planted Motif Search (PMS. A generalized version of the PMS problem, namely, Quorum Planted Motif Search (qPMS, is shown to accurately model motifs in real data. However, solving the qPMS problem is an extremely difficult task because a special case of it, the PMS Problem, is already NP-hard, which means that any algorithm solving it can be expected to take exponential time in the worse case scenario. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm named qPMS7 that tackles the qPMS problem on real data as well as challenging instances. Experimental results show that our Algorithm qPMS7 is on an average 5 times faster than the state-of-art algorithm. The executable program of Algorithm qPMS7 is freely available on the web at http://pms.engr.uconn.edu/downloads/qPMS7.zip. Our online motif discovery tools that use Algorithm qPMS7 are freely available at http://pms.engr.uconn.edu or http://motifsearch.com.

  7. Machine learning competition in immunology – Prediction of HLA class I binding peptides

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Guang Lan; Ansari, Hifzur Rahman; Bradley, Phil

    2011-01-01

    of peptide binding, therefore, determines the accuracy of the overall method. Computational predictions of peptide binding to HLA, both class I and class II, use a variety of algorithms ranging from binding motifs to advanced machine learning techniques ( [Brusic et al., 2004] and [Lafuente and Reche, 2009...

  8. Photonic crystal borax competitive binding carbohydrate sensing motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Qingzhou; Ward Muscatello, Michelle M; Asher, Sanford A

    2009-05-01

    We developed a photonic crystal sensing method for diol containing species such as carbohydrates based on a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel containing an embedded crystalline colloidal array (CCA). The polymerized CCA (PCCA) diffracts visible light. We show that in the presence of borax the diffraction wavelength shifts as the concentration of glucose changes. The diffraction shifts result from the competitive binding of glucose to borate, which reduces the concentration of borate bound to the PVA diols.

  9. Zinc fingers, zinc clusters, and zinc twists in DNA-binding protein domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vallee, B.L.; Auld, D.S.; Coleman, J.E.

    1991-01-01

    The authors recognize three distinct motifs of DNA-binding zinc proteins: (i) zinc fingers, (ii) zinc clusters, and (iii) zinc twists. Until very recently, x-ray crystallographic or NMR three-dimensional structure analyses of DNA-binding zinc proteins have not been available to serve as standards of reference for the zinc binding sites of these families of proteins. Those of the DNA-binding domains of the fungal transcription factor GAL4 and the rat glucocorticoid receptor are the first to have been determined. Both proteins contain two zinc binding sites, and in both, cysteine residues are the sole zinc ligands. In GAL4, two zinc atoms are bound to six cysteine residues which form a zinc cluster akin to that of metallothionein; the distance between the two zinc atoms of GAL4 is ∼3.5 angstrom. In the glucocorticoid receptor, each zinc atom is bound to four cysteine residues; the interatomic zinc-zinc distance is ∼13 angstrom, and in this instance, a zinc twist is represented by a helical DNA recognition site located between the two zinc atoms. Zinc clusters and zinc twists are here recognized as two distinctive motifs in DNA-binding proteins containing multiple zinc atoms. For native zinc fingers, structural data do not exist as yet; consequently, the interatomic distances between zinc atoms are not known. As further structural data become available, the structural and functional significance of these different motifs in their binding to DNA and other proteins participating in the transmission of the genetic message will become apparent

  10. Insight into Phosphatidylinositol-Dependent Membrane Localization of the Innate Immune Adaptor Protein Toll/Interleukin 1 Receptor Domain-Containing Adaptor Protein

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahesh Chandra Patra

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The toll/interleukin 1 receptor (TIR domain-containing adaptor protein (TIRAP plays an important role in the toll-like receptor (TLR 2, TLR4, TLR7, and TLR9 signaling pathways. TIRAP anchors to phosphatidylinositol (PI 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2 on the plasma membrane and PI (3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3 on the endosomal membrane and assists in recruitment of the myeloid differentiation primary response 88 protein to activated TLRs. To date, the structure and mechanism of TIRAP’s membrane association are only partially understood. Here, we modeled an all-residue TIRAP dimer using homology modeling, threading, and protein–protein docking strategies. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that PIP2 creates a stable microdomain in a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer, providing TIRAP with its physiologically relevant orientation. Computed binding free energy values suggest that the affinity of PI-binding domain (PBD for PIP2 is stronger than that of TIRAP as a whole for PIP2 and that the short PI-binding motif (PBM contributes to the affinity between PBD and PIP2. Four PIP2 molecules can be accommodated by distinct lysine-rich surfaces on the dimeric PBM. Along with the known PI-binding residues (K15, K16, K31, and K32, additional positively charged residues (K34, K35, and R36 showed strong affinity toward PIP2. Lysine-to-alanine mutations at the PI-binding residues abolished TIRAP’s affinity for PIP2; however, K34, K35, and R36 consistently interacted with PIP2 headgroups through hydrogen bond (H-bond and electrostatic interactions. TIRAP exhibited a PIP2-analogous intermolecular contact and binding affinity toward PIP3, aided by an H-bond network involving K34, K35, and R36. The present study extends our understanding of TIRAP’s membrane association, which could be helpful in designing peptide decoys to block TLR2-, TLR4-, TLR7-, and TLR9-mediated autoimmune diseases.

  11. Neurogranin alters the structure and calcium binding properties of calmodulin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Laurel; Chandrasekar, Anuja; Wang, Xu; Putkey, John A; Waxham, M Neal

    2014-05-23

    Neurogranin (Ng) is a member of the IQ motif class of calmodulin (CaM)-binding proteins, and interactions with CaM are its only known biological function. In this report we demonstrate that the binding affinity of Ng for CaM is weakened by Ca(2+) but to a lesser extent (2-3-fold) than that previously suggested from qualitative observations. We also show that Ng induced a >10-fold decrease in the affinity of Ca(2+) binding to the C-terminal domain of CaM with an associated increase in the Ca(2+) dissociation rate. We also discovered a modest, but potentially important, increase in the cooperativity in Ca(2+) binding to the C-lobe of CaM in the presence of Ng, thus sharpening the threshold for the C-domain to become Ca(2+)-saturated. Domain mapping using synthetic peptides indicated that the IQ motif of Ng is a poor mimetic of the intact protein and that the acidic sequence just N-terminal to the IQ motif plays an important role in reproducing Ng-mediated decreases in the Ca(2+) binding affinity of CaM. Using NMR, full-length Ng was shown to make contacts largely with residues in the C-domain of CaM, although contacts were also detected in residues in the N-terminal domain. Together, our results can be consolidated into a model where Ng contacts residues in the N- and C-lobes of both apo- and Ca(2+)-bound CaM and that although Ca(2+) binding weakens Ng interactions with CaM, the most dramatic biochemical effect is the impact of Ng on Ca(2+) binding to the C-terminal lobe of CaM. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  12. The status of research on CFD-PBM simulation of liquid-liquid two-phase flow in extraction columns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Shaowei; Jing Shan; Wu Qiulin; Zhang Qi

    2012-01-01

    Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has gained more and more interest in the chemical engineering researchers and is becoming a useful tool for the chemical engineering research. The research on liquid-liquid two-phase flow CFD simulation in extraction columns is now in its initial stage. There is much work to do for the developing of this research field. The purpose of this article is to review the CFD simulation methods for two-phase flow in extraction column. The population balance model (PBM) is detailedly described in this article because it is the main method used in the two-phase flow CFD simulation currently. Then some examples for the two-phase flow simulation in extraction columns are briefly introduced. The strategy for the research on CFD simulation of two-phase flow in extraction columns is suggested at last. (authors)

  13. Accurate quantification of microRNA via single strand displacement reaction on DNA origami motif.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie Zhu

    Full Text Available DNA origami is an emerging technology that assembles hundreds of staple strands and one single-strand DNA into certain nanopattern. It has been widely used in various fields including detection of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. MicroRNAs (miRNAs play important roles in post-transcriptional gene repression as well as many other biological processes such as cell growth and differentiation. Alterations of miRNAs' expression contribute to many human diseases. However, it is still a challenge to quantitatively detect miRNAs by origami technology. In this study, we developed a novel approach based on streptavidin and quantum dots binding complex (STV-QDs labeled single strand displacement reaction on DNA origami to quantitatively detect the concentration of miRNAs. We illustrated a linear relationship between the concentration of an exemplary miRNA as miRNA-133 and the STV-QDs hybridization efficiency; the results demonstrated that it is an accurate nano-scale miRNA quantifier motif. In addition, both symmetrical rectangular motif and asymmetrical China-map motif were tested. With significant linearity in both motifs, our experiments suggested that DNA Origami motif with arbitrary shape can be utilized in this method. Since this DNA origami-based method we developed owns the unique advantages of simple, time-and-material-saving, potentially multi-targets testing in one motif and relatively accurate for certain impurity samples as counted directly by atomic force microscopy rather than fluorescence signal detection, it may be widely used in quantification of miRNAs.

  14. Accurate Quantification of microRNA via Single Strand Displacement Reaction on DNA Origami Motif

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Jingyu; Li, Weidong; Li, Sheng; Zhu, Hongxin; Yang, Lun; Zhang, Aiping; He, Lin; Li, Can

    2013-01-01

    DNA origami is an emerging technology that assembles hundreds of staple strands and one single-strand DNA into certain nanopattern. It has been widely used in various fields including detection of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in post-transcriptional gene repression as well as many other biological processes such as cell growth and differentiation. Alterations of miRNAs' expression contribute to many human diseases. However, it is still a challenge to quantitatively detect miRNAs by origami technology. In this study, we developed a novel approach based on streptavidin and quantum dots binding complex (STV-QDs) labeled single strand displacement reaction on DNA origami to quantitatively detect the concentration of miRNAs. We illustrated a linear relationship between the concentration of an exemplary miRNA as miRNA-133 and the STV-QDs hybridization efficiency; the results demonstrated that it is an accurate nano-scale miRNA quantifier motif. In addition, both symmetrical rectangular motif and asymmetrical China-map motif were tested. With significant linearity in both motifs, our experiments suggested that DNA Origami motif with arbitrary shape can be utilized in this method. Since this DNA origami-based method we developed owns the unique advantages of simple, time-and-material-saving, potentially multi-targets testing in one motif and relatively accurate for certain impurity samples as counted directly by atomic force microscopy rather than fluorescence signal detection, it may be widely used in quantification of miRNAs. PMID:23990889

  15. Accurate quantification of microRNA via single strand displacement reaction on DNA origami motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jie; Feng, Xiaolu; Lou, Jingyu; Li, Weidong; Li, Sheng; Zhu, Hongxin; Yang, Lun; Zhang, Aiping; He, Lin; Li, Can

    2013-01-01

    DNA origami is an emerging technology that assembles hundreds of staple strands and one single-strand DNA into certain nanopattern. It has been widely used in various fields including detection of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in post-transcriptional gene repression as well as many other biological processes such as cell growth and differentiation. Alterations of miRNAs' expression contribute to many human diseases. However, it is still a challenge to quantitatively detect miRNAs by origami technology. In this study, we developed a novel approach based on streptavidin and quantum dots binding complex (STV-QDs) labeled single strand displacement reaction on DNA origami to quantitatively detect the concentration of miRNAs. We illustrated a linear relationship between the concentration of an exemplary miRNA as miRNA-133 and the STV-QDs hybridization efficiency; the results demonstrated that it is an accurate nano-scale miRNA quantifier motif. In addition, both symmetrical rectangular motif and asymmetrical China-map motif were tested. With significant linearity in both motifs, our experiments suggested that DNA Origami motif with arbitrary shape can be utilized in this method. Since this DNA origami-based method we developed owns the unique advantages of simple, time-and-material-saving, potentially multi-targets testing in one motif and relatively accurate for certain impurity samples as counted directly by atomic force microscopy rather than fluorescence signal detection, it may be widely used in quantification of miRNAs.

  16. Kopi dan Kakao dalam Kreasi Motif Batik Khas Jember

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irfa'ina Rohana Salma

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRAK Batik Jember selama ini identik dengan motif daun tembakau. Visualisasi daun tembakau dalam motif Batik Jember cukup lemah, yaitu kurang berkarakter karena motif yang muncul adalah seperti gambar daun pada umumnya. Oleh karena itu perlu diciptakan desain motif batik khas Jember yang sumber inspirasinya digali dari kekayaan alam lainnya dari Jember yang mempunyai bentuk spesifik dan karakteristik sehingga identitas motif bisa didapatkan dengan lebih kuat. Hasil alam khas Jember tersebut adalah kopi dan kakao. Tujuan penciptaan seni ini adalah untuk menghasilkan motif batik  baru yang mempunyai ciri khas Jember. Metode yang digunakan yaitu pengumpulan data, pengamatan mendalam terhadap objek penciptaan, pengkajian sumber inspirasi, pembuatan desain motif, dan perwujudan menjadi batik. Dari penciptaan seni ini berhasil dikreasikan 6 (enam motif batik yaitu: (1 Motif Uwoh Kopi; (2 Motif Godong Kopi;  (3 Motif Ceplok Kakao; (4 Motif Kakao Raja; (5 Motif Kakao Biru; dan (6 Motif Wiji Mukti. Berdasarkan hasil penilaian “Selera Estetika” diketahui bahwa motif yang paling banyak disukai adalah Motif Uwoh Kopi dan Motif Kakao Raja. Kata kunci: Motif Woh Kopi, Motif Godong Kopi, Motif Ceplok Kakao, Motif Kakao Raja, Motif Kakao Biru, Motif Wiji Mukti ABSTRACTBatik Jember is synonymous with tobacco leaf motif. Tobacco leaf shape is quite weak in the visual appearance characterized as that motif emerges like a picture of leaves in general. Therefore, it is necessary to create a distinctive design motif extracted from other natural resources of Jember that have specific shapes and characteristics that can be obtained as the stronger motif identity. The typical natural resources from Jember are coffee and cocoa. The purpose of the creation of this art is to produce the unique, creative and innovative batik and have specific characteristics of Jember. The method used are data collection, observation of the object, reviewing inspiration sources

  17. The KYxxL motif in Rad17 protein is essential for the interaction with the 9–1–1 complex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fukumoto, Yasunori, E-mail: fukumoto@faculty.chiba-u.jp [Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8675 (Japan); Ikeuchi, Masayoshi; Nakayama, Yuji [Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Kyoto 607-8414 (Japan); Yamaguchi, Naoto, E-mail: nyama@faculty.chiba-u.jp [Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8675 (Japan)

    2016-09-02

    ATR-dependent DNA damage checkpoint is the major DNA damage checkpoint against UV irradiation and DNA replication stress. The Rad17–RFC and Rad9–Rad1–Hus1 (9–1–1) complexes interact with each other to contribute to ATR signaling, however, the precise regulatory mechanism of the interaction has not been established. Here, we identified a conserved sequence motif, KYxxL, in the AAA+ domain of Rad17 protein, and demonstrated that this motif is essential for the interaction with the 9–1–1 complex. We also show that UV-induced Rad17 phosphorylation is increased in the Rad17 KYxxL mutants. These data indicate that the interaction with the 9–1–1 complex is not required for Rad17 protein to be an efficient substrate for the UV-induced phosphorylation. Our data also raise the possibility that the 9–1–1 complex plays a negative regulatory role in the Rad17 phosphorylation. We also show that the nucleotide-binding activity of Rad17 is required for its nuclear localization. - Highlights: • We have identified a conserved KYxxL motif in Rad17 protein. • The KYxxL motif is crucial for the interaction with the 9–1–1 complex. • The KYxxL motif is dispensable or inhibitory for UV-induced Rad17 phosphorylation. • Nucleotide binding of Rad17 is required for its nuclear localization.

  18. A systems biology approach to transcription factor binding site prediction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Zhou

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The elucidation of mammalian transcriptional regulatory networks holds great promise for both basic and translational research and remains one the greatest challenges to systems biology. Recent reverse engineering methods deduce regulatory interactions from large-scale mRNA expression profiles and cross-species conserved regulatory regions in DNA. Technical challenges faced by these methods include distinguishing between direct and indirect interactions, associating transcription regulators with predicted transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs, identifying non-linearly conserved binding sites across species, and providing realistic accuracy estimates.We address these challenges by closely integrating proven methods for regulatory network reverse engineering from mRNA expression data, linearly and non-linearly conserved regulatory region discovery, and TFBS evaluation and discovery. Using an extensive test set of high-likelihood interactions, which we collected in order to provide realistic prediction-accuracy estimates, we show that a careful integration of these methods leads to significant improvements in prediction accuracy. To verify our methods, we biochemically validated TFBS predictions made for both transcription factors (TFs and co-factors; we validated binding site predictions made using a known E2F1 DNA-binding motif on E2F1 predicted promoter targets, known E2F1 and JUND motifs on JUND predicted promoter targets, and a de novo discovered motif for BCL6 on BCL6 predicted promoter targets. Finally, to demonstrate accuracy of prediction using an external dataset, we showed that sites matching predicted motifs for ZNF263 are significantly enriched in recent ZNF263 ChIP-seq data.Using an integrative framework, we were able to address technical challenges faced by state of the art network reverse engineering methods, leading to significant improvement in direct-interaction detection and TFBS-discovery accuracy. We estimated the accuracy

  19. Rapid identification of DNA-binding proteins by mass spectrometry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordhoff, E.; Korgsdam, A.-M.; Jørgensen, H.F.

    1999-01-01

    We report a protocol for the rapid identification of DNA-binding proteins. Immobilized DNA probes harboring a specific sequence motif are incubated with cell or nuclear extract. Proteins are analyzed directly off the solid support by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass...... was validated by the identification of known prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA-binding proteins, and its use provided evidence that poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase exhibits DNA sequence-specific binding to DNA....

  20. CombiMotif: A new algorithm for network motifs discovery in protein-protein interaction networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Jiawei; Li, Guanghui; Song, Dan; Liang, Cheng

    2014-12-01

    Discovering motifs in protein-protein interaction networks is becoming a current major challenge in computational biology, since the distribution of the number of network motifs can reveal significant systemic differences among species. However, this task can be computationally expensive because of the involvement of graph isomorphic detection. In this paper, we present a new algorithm (CombiMotif) that incorporates combinatorial techniques to count non-induced occurrences of subgraph topologies in the form of trees. The efficiency of our algorithm is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results with the current state-of-the art subgraph counting algorithms. We also show major differences between unicellular and multicellular organisms. The datasets and source code of CombiMotif are freely available upon request.

  1. Global identification of hnRNP A1 binding sites for SSO-based splicing modulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Gitte H; Doktor, Thomas K; Borch-Jensen, Jonas

    2016-01-01

    for this deregulation by blocking other SREs with splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs). However, the location and sequence of most SREs are not well known. RESULTS: Here, we used individual-nucleotide resolution crosslinking immunoprecipitation (iCLIP) to establish an in vivo binding map for the key splicing...... regulatory factor hnRNP A1 and to generate an hnRNP A1 consensus binding motif. We find that hnRNP A1 binding in proximal introns may be important for repressing exons. We show that inclusion of the alternative cassette exon 3 in SKA2 can be significantly increased by SSO-based treatment which blocks an i...... downstream of the 5' splice site can be blocked by SSOs to activate the exon. CONCLUSIONS: The hnRNP A1 binding map can be used to identify potential targets for SSO-based therapy. Moreover, together with the hnRNP A1 consensus binding motif, the binding map may be used to predict whether disease...

  2. N-termini of fungal CSL transcription factors are disordered, enriched in regulatory motifs and inhibit DNA binding in fission yeast.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Převorovský

    Full Text Available CSL (CBF1/RBP-Jκ/Suppressor of Hairless/LAG-1 transcription factors are the effector components of the Notch receptor signalling pathway, which is critical for metazoan development. The metazoan CSL proteins (class M can also function in a Notch-independent manner. Recently, two novel classes of CSL proteins, designated F1 and F2, have been identified in fungi. The role of the fungal CSL proteins is unclear, because the Notch pathway is not present in fungi. In fission yeast, the Cbf11 and Cbf12 CSL paralogs play antagonistic roles in cell adhesion and the coordination of cell and nuclear division. Unusually long N-terminal extensions are typical for fungal and invertebrate CSL family members. In this study, we investigate the functional significance of these extended N-termini of CSL proteins.We identify 15 novel CSL family members from 7 fungal species and conduct bioinformatic analyses of a combined dataset containing 34 fungal and 11 metazoan CSL protein sequences. We show that the long, non-conserved N-terminal tails of fungal CSL proteins are likely disordered and enriched in phosphorylation sites and PEST motifs. In a case study of Cbf12 (class F2, we provide experimental evidence that the protein is proteolytically processed and that the N-terminus inhibits the Cbf12-dependent DNA binding activity in an electrophoretic mobility shift assay.This study provides insight into the characteristics of the long N-terminal tails of fungal CSL proteins that may be crucial for controlling DNA-binding and CSL function. We propose that the regulation of DNA binding by Cbf12 via its N-terminal region represents an important means by which fission yeast strikes a balance between the class F1 and class F2 paralog activities. This mode of regulation might be shared with other CSL-positive fungi, some of which are relevant to human disease and biotechnology.

  3. Binding of Substrates to the Central Pore of the Vps4 ATPase Is Autoinhibited by the Microtubule Interacting and Trafficking (MIT) Domain and Activated by MIT Interacting Motifs (MIMs).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Han; Monroe, Nicole; Votteler, Jörg; Shakya, Binita; Sundquist, Wesley I; Hill, Christopher P

    2015-05-22

    The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway drives reverse topology membrane fission events within multiple cellular pathways, including cytokinesis, multivesicular body biogenesis, repair of the plasma membrane, nuclear membrane vesicle formation, and HIV budding. The AAA ATPase Vps4 is recruited to membrane necks shortly before fission, where it catalyzes disassembly of the ESCRT-III lattice. The N-terminal Vps4 microtubule-interacting and trafficking (MIT) domains initially bind the C-terminal MIT-interacting motifs (MIMs) of ESCRT-III subunits, but it is unclear how the enzyme then remodels these substrates in response to ATP hydrolysis. Here, we report quantitative binding studies that demonstrate that residues from helix 5 of the Vps2p subunit of ESCRT-III bind to the central pore of an asymmetric Vps4p hexamer in a manner that is dependent upon the presence of flexible nucleotide analogs that can mimic multiple states in the ATP hydrolysis cycle. We also find that substrate engagement is autoinhibited by the Vps4p MIT domain and that this inhibition is relieved by binding of either Type 1 or Type 2 MIM elements, which bind the Vps4p MIT domain through different interfaces. These observations support the model that Vps4 substrates are initially recruited by an MIM-MIT interaction that activates the Vps4 central pore to engage substrates and generate force, thereby triggering ESCRT-III disassembly. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  4. Binding of Substrates to the Central Pore of the Vps4 ATPase Is Autoinhibited by the Microtubule Interacting and Trafficking (MIT) Domain and Activated by MIT Interacting Motifs (MIMs)*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Han; Monroe, Nicole; Votteler, Jörg; Shakya, Binita; Sundquist, Wesley I.; Hill, Christopher P.

    2015-01-01

    The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway drives reverse topology membrane fission events within multiple cellular pathways, including cytokinesis, multivesicular body biogenesis, repair of the plasma membrane, nuclear membrane vesicle formation, and HIV budding. The AAA ATPase Vps4 is recruited to membrane necks shortly before fission, where it catalyzes disassembly of the ESCRT-III lattice. The N-terminal Vps4 microtubule-interacting and trafficking (MIT) domains initially bind the C-terminal MIT-interacting motifs (MIMs) of ESCRT-III subunits, but it is unclear how the enzyme then remodels these substrates in response to ATP hydrolysis. Here, we report quantitative binding studies that demonstrate that residues from helix 5 of the Vps2p subunit of ESCRT-III bind to the central pore of an asymmetric Vps4p hexamer in a manner that is dependent upon the presence of flexible nucleotide analogs that can mimic multiple states in the ATP hydrolysis cycle. We also find that substrate engagement is autoinhibited by the Vps4p MIT domain and that this inhibition is relieved by binding of either Type 1 or Type 2 MIM elements, which bind the Vps4p MIT domain through different interfaces. These observations support the model that Vps4 substrates are initially recruited by an MIM-MIT interaction that activates the Vps4 central pore to engage substrates and generate force, thereby triggering ESCRT-III disassembly. PMID:25833946

  5. Multiple Copies of a Simple MYB-Binding Site Confers Trans-regulation by Specific Flavonoid-Related R2R3 MYBs in Diverse Species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cyril Brendolise

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In apple, the MYB transcription factor MYB10 controls the accumulation of anthocyanins. MYB10 is able to auto-activate its expression by binding its own promoter at a specific motif, the R1 motif. In some apple accessions a natural mutation, termed R6, has more copies of this motif within the MYB10 promoter resulting in stronger auto-activation and elevated anthocyanins. Here we show that other anthocyanin-related MYBs selected from apple, pear, strawberry, petunia, kiwifruit and Arabidopsis are able to activate promoters containing the R6 motif. To examine the specificity of this motif, members of the R2R3 MYB family were screened against a promoter harboring the R6 mutation. Only MYBs from subgroups 5 and 6 activate expression by binding the R6 motif, with these MYBs sharing conserved residues in their R2R3 DNA binding domains. Insertion of the apple R6 motif into orthologous promoters of MYB10 in pear (PcMYB10 and Arabidopsis (AtMY75 elevated anthocyanin levels. Introduction of the R6 motif into the promoter region of an anthocyanin biosynthetic enzyme F3′5′H of kiwifruit imparts regulation by MYB10. This results in elevated levels of delphinidin in both tobacco and kiwifruit. Finally, an R6 motif inserted into the promoter the vitamin C biosynthesis gene GDP-L-Gal phosphorylase increases vitamin C content in a MYB10-dependent manner. This motif therefore provides a tool to re-engineer novel MYB-regulated responses in plants.

  6. The C-terminal domain of the Arabidopsis AtMBD7 protein confers strong chromatin binding activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zemach, Assaf; Paul, Laju K.; Stambolsky, Perry; Efroni, Idan; Rotter, Varda; Grafi, Gideon

    2009-01-01

    The Arabidopsis MBD7 (AtMBD7) - a naturally occurring poly MBD protein - was previously found to be functional in binding methylated-CpG dinucleotides in vitro and localized to highly methylated chromocenters in vivo. Furthermore, AtMBD7 has significantly lower mobility within the nucleus conferred by cooperative activity of its three MBD motifs. Here we show that besides the MBD motifs, AtMBD7 possesses a strong chromatin binding domain located at its C-terminus designated sticky-C (StkC). Mutational analysis showed that a glutamic acid residue near the C-terminus is essential though not sufficient for the StkC function. Further analysis demonstrated that this motif can render nuclear proteins highly immobile both in plant and animal cells, without affecting their native subnuclear localization. Thus, the C-terminal, StkC motif plays an important role in fastening AtMBD7 to its chromosomal, CpG-methylated sites. It may be possible to utilize this motif for fastening nuclear proteins to their chromosomal sites both in plant and animal cells for research and gene therapy applications.

  7. BC-Box Motif-Mediated Neuronal Differentiation of Somatic Stem Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroshi Kanno

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (pVHL functions to induce neuronal differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs and skin-derived precursors (SKPs. Here we identified a neuronal differentiation domain (NDD in pVHL. Neuronal differentiation of SKPs was induced by intracellular delivery of a peptide composed of the amino-acid sequences encoded by the NDD. Neuronal differentiation mediated by the NDD was caused by the binding between it and elongin C followed by Janus kinase-2 (JAK2 ubiquitination of JAK2 and inhibition of the JAK2/the signal transducer and activator of transcription-3(STAT3 pathway. The NDD in pVHL contained the BC-box motif ((A,P,S,TLXXX (A,C XXX(A,I,L,V corresponding to the binding site of elongin C. Therefore, we proposed that other BC-box proteins might also contain an NDD; and subsequently also identified in them an NDD containing the amino-acid sequence encoded by the BC-box motif in BC-box proteins. Furthermore, we showed that different NDD peptide-delivered cells differentiated into different kinds of neuron-like cells. That is, dopaminergic neuron-like cells, cholinergic neuron-like cells, GABAnergic neuron-like cells or rhodopsin-positive neuron-like cells were induced by different NDD peptides. These novel findings might contribute to the development of a new method for promoting neuronal differentiation and shed further light on the mechanism of neuronal differentiation of somatic stem cells.

  8. Creation of Hybrid Nanorods From Sequences of Natural Trimeric Fibrous Proteins Using the Fibritin Trimerization Motif

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papanikolopoulou, Katerina; van Raaij, Mark J.; Mitraki, Anna

    Stable, artificial fibrous proteins that can be functionalized open new avenues in fields such as bionanomaterials design and fiber engineering. An important source of inspiration for the creation of such proteins are natural fibrous proteins such as collagen, elastin, insect silks, and fibers from phages and viruses. The fibrous parts of this last class of proteins usually adopt trimeric, β-stranded structural folds and are appended to globular, receptor-binding domains. It has been recently shown that the globular domains are essential for correct folding and trimerization and can be successfully substituted by a very small (27-amino acid) trimerization motif from phage T4 fibritin. The hybrid proteins are correctly folded nanorods that can withstand extreme conditions. When the fibrous part derives from the adenovirus fiber shaft, different tissue-targeting specificities can be engineered into the hybrid proteins, which therefore can be used as gene therapy vectors. The integration of such stable nanorods in devices is also a big challenge in the field of biomechanical design. The fibritin foldon domain is a versatile trimerization motif and can be combined with a variety of fibrous motifs, such as coiled-coil, collagenous, and triple β-stranded motifs, provided the appropriate linkers are used. The combination of different motifs within the same fibrous molecule to create stable rods with multiple functions can even be envisioned. We provide a comprehensive overview of the experimental procedures used for designing, creating, and characterizing hybrid fibrous nanorods using the fibritin trimerization motif.

  9. Statistical tests to compare motif count exceptionalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vandewalle Vincent

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Finding over- or under-represented motifs in biological sequences is now a common task in genomics. Thanks to p-value calculation for motif counts, exceptional motifs are identified and represent candidate functional motifs. The present work addresses the related question of comparing the exceptionality of one motif in two different sequences. Just comparing the motif count p-values in each sequence is indeed not sufficient to decide if this motif is significantly more exceptional in one sequence compared to the other one. A statistical test is required. Results We develop and analyze two statistical tests, an exact binomial one and an asymptotic likelihood ratio test, to decide whether the exceptionality of a given motif is equivalent or significantly different in two sequences of interest. For that purpose, motif occurrences are modeled by Poisson processes, with a special care for overlapping motifs. Both tests can take the sequence compositions into account. As an illustration, we compare the octamer exceptionalities in the Escherichia coli K-12 backbone versus variable strain-specific loops. Conclusion The exact binomial test is particularly adapted for small counts. For large counts, we advise to use the likelihood ratio test which is asymptotic but strongly correlated with the exact binomial test and very simple to use.

  10. Identification of nucleic acid binding sites on translin-associated factor X (TRAX protein.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gagan Deep Gupta

    Full Text Available Translin and TRAX proteins play roles in very important cellular processes such as DNA recombination, spatial and temporal expression of mRNA, and in siRNA processing. Translin forms a homomeric nucleic acid binding complex and binds to ssDNA and RNA. However, a mutant translin construct that forms homomeric complex lacking nucleic acid binding activity is able to form fully active heteromeric translin-TRAX complex when co-expressed with TRAX. A substantial progress has been made in identifying translin sites that mediate its binding activity, while TRAX was thought not to bind DNA or RNA on its own. We here for the first time demonstrate nucleic acid binding to TRAX by crosslinking radiolabeled ssDNA to heteromeric translin-TRAX complex using UV-laser. The TRAX and translin, photochemically crosslinked with ssDNA, were individually detected on SDS-PAGE. We mutated two motifs in TRAX and translin, designated B2 and B3, to help define the nucleic acid binding sites in the TRAX sequence. The most pronounced effect was observed in the mutants of B3 motif that impaired nucleic acid binding activity of the heteromeric complexes. We suggest that both translin and TRAX are binding competent and contribute to the nucleic acid binding activity.

  11. Identification of Nucleic Acid Binding Sites on Translin-Associated Factor X (TRAX) Protein

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Gagan Deep; Kumar, Vinay

    2012-01-01

    Translin and TRAX proteins play roles in very important cellular processes such as DNA recombination, spatial and temporal expression of mRNA, and in siRNA processing. Translin forms a homomeric nucleic acid binding complex and binds to ssDNA and RNA. However, a mutant translin construct that forms homomeric complex lacking nucleic acid binding activity is able to form fully active heteromeric translin-TRAX complex when co-expressed with TRAX. A substantial progress has been made in identifying translin sites that mediate its binding activity, while TRAX was thought not to bind DNA or RNA on its own. We here for the first time demonstrate nucleic acid binding to TRAX by crosslinking radiolabeled ssDNA to heteromeric translin-TRAX complex using UV-laser. The TRAX and translin, photochemically crosslinked with ssDNA, were individually detected on SDS-PAGE. We mutated two motifs in TRAX and translin, designated B2 and B3, to help define the nucleic acid binding sites in the TRAX sequence. The most pronounced effect was observed in the mutants of B3 motif that impaired nucleic acid binding activity of the heteromeric complexes. We suggest that both translin and TRAX are binding competent and contribute to the nucleic acid binding activity. PMID:22427937

  12. Distinct phosphotyrosines on a growth factor receptor bind to specific molecules that mediate different signaling pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fantl, W J; Escobedo, J A; Martin, G A; Turck, C W; del Rosario, M; McCormick, F; Williams, L T

    1992-05-01

    The receptor for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) binds two proteins containing SH2 domains, GTPase activating protein (GAP) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase). The sites on the receptor that mediate this interaction were identified by using phosphotyrosine-containing peptides representing receptor sequences to block specifically binding of either PI3-kinase or GAP. These results suggested that PI3-kinase binds two phosphotyrosine residues, each located in a 5 aa motif with an essential methionine at the fourth position C-terminal to the tyrosine. Point mutations at these sites caused a selective elimination of PI3-kinase binding and loss of PDGF-stimulated DNA synthesis. Mutation of the binding site for GAP prevented the receptor from associating with or phosphorylating GAP, but had no effect on PI3-kinase binding and little effect on DNA synthesis. Therefore, GAP and PI3-kinase interact with the receptor by binding to different phosphotyrosine-containing sequence motifs.

  13. Using remote substituents to control solution structure and anion binding in lanthanide complexes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tropiano, Manuel; Blackburn, Octavia A.; Tilney, James A.

    2013-01-01

    A study of the anion-binding properties of three structurally related lanthanide complexes, which all contain chemically identical anion-binding motifs, has revealed dramatic differences in their anion affinity. These arise as a consequence of changes in the substitution pattern on the periphery ...

  14. The canine MHC class Ia allele DLA-88*508:01 presents diverse self- and canine distemper virus-origin peptides of varying length that have a conserved binding motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Peter; Nemec, Paige S; Kapatos, Alexander; Miller, Keith R; Holmes, Jennifer C; Suter, Steven E; Buntzman, Adam S; Soderblom, Erik J; Collins, Edward J; Hess, Paul R

    2018-03-01

    Ideally, CD8+ T-cell responses against virally infected or malignant cells are defined at the level of the specific peptide and restricting MHC class I element, a determination not yet made in the dog. To advance the discovery of canine CTL epitopes, we sought to determine whether a putative classical MHC class Ia gene, Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA)-88, presents peptides from a viral pathogen, canine distemper virus (CDV). To investigate this possibility, DLA-88*508:01, an allele prevalent in Golden Retrievers, was expressed as a FLAG-tagged construct in canine histiocytic cells to allow affinity purification of peptide-DLA-88 complexes and subsequent elution of bound peptides. Pattern analysis of self peptide sequences, which were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), permitted binding preferences to be inferred. DLA-88*508:01 binds peptides that are 9-to-12 amino acids in length, with a modest preference for 9- and 11-mers. Hydrophobic residues are favored at positions 2 and 3, as are K, R or F residues at the C-terminus. Testing motif-matched and -unmatched synthetic peptides via peptide-MHC surface stabilization assay using a DLA-88*508:01-transfected, TAP-deficient RMA-S line supported these conclusions. With CDV infection, 22 viral peptides ranging from 9-to-12 residues in length were identified in DLA-88*508:01 eluates by LC-MS/MS. Combined motif analysis and surface stabilization assay data suggested that 11 of these 22 peptides, derived from CDV hemagglutinin, large polymerase, matrix, nucleocapsid, and V proteins, were processed and presented, and thus, potential targets of anti-viral CTL in DLA-88*508:01-bearing dogs. The presentation of diverse self and viral peptides indicates that DLA-88 is a classical MHC class Ia gene. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The PP1 binding code: a molecular-lego strategy that governs specificity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heroes, Ewald; Lesage, Bart; Görnemann, Janina; Beullens, Monique; Van Meervelt, Luc; Bollen, Mathieu

    2013-01-01

    Ser/Thr protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) is a single-domain hub protein with nearly 200 validated interactors in vertebrates. PP1-interacting proteins (PIPs) are ubiquitously expressed but show an exceptional diversity in brain, testis and white blood cells. The binding of PIPs is mainly mediated by short motifs that dock to surface grooves of PP1. Although PIPs often contain variants of the same PP1 binding motifs, they differ in the number and combination of docking sites. This molecular-lego strategy for binding to PP1 creates holoenzymes with unique properties. The PP1 binding code can be described as specific, universal, degenerate, nonexclusive and dynamic. PIPs control associated PP1 by interference with substrate recruitment or access to the active site. In addition, some PIPs have a subcellular targeting domain that promotes dephosphorylation by increasing the local concentration of PP1. The diversity of the PP1 interactome and the properties of the PP1 binding code account for the exquisite specificity of PP1 in vivo. © 2012 The Authors Journal compilation © 2012 FEBS.

  16. Nucleophosmin integrates within the nucleolus via multi-modal interactions with proteins displaying R-rich linear motifs and rRNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitrea, Diana M; Cika, Jaclyn A; Guy, Clifford S; Ban, David; Banerjee, Priya R; Stanley, Christopher B; Nourse, Amanda; Deniz, Ashok A; Kriwacki, Richard W

    2016-02-02

    The nucleolus is a membrane-less organelle formed through liquid-liquid phase separation of its components from the surrounding nucleoplasm. Here, we show that nucleophosmin (NPM1) integrates within the nucleolus via a multi-modal mechanism involving multivalent interactions with proteins containing arginine-rich linear motifs (R-motifs) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Importantly, these R-motifs are found in canonical nucleolar localization signals. Based on a novel combination of biophysical approaches, we propose a model for the molecular organization within liquid-like droplets formed by the N-terminal domain of NPM1 and R-motif peptides, thus providing insights into the structural organization of the nucleolus. We identify multivalency of acidic tracts and folded nucleic acid binding domains, mediated by N-terminal domain oligomerization, as structural features required for phase separation of NPM1 with other nucleolar components in vitro and for localization within mammalian nucleoli. We propose that one mechanism of nucleolar localization involves phase separation of proteins within the nucleolus.

  17. Supramolecular Polymers with Multiple Types of Binding Motifs: From Fundamental Studies to Multifunctional Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-07-10

    razor blade. The damaged area was subsequently exposed to UV irradiation (320 – 390 nm, 500 mW·cm-2), which led to complete disappearance of the...subsequently exposed for 12 s to the light of a UV lamp , which caused complete healing (bottom). (d) Unloading curves of AFM nano indentation of an as...UPy motif. By contrast, UV -Vis spectroscopic titration experiments revealed that equimolar mixtures of [Fe(BKB)](ClO4)2 and (UPy-PEB-UPy) show

  18. A common minimal motif for the ligands of HLA-B*27 class I molecules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barriga, Alejandro; Lorente, Elena; Johnstone, Carolina; Mir, Carmen; del Val, Margarita; López, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    CD8(+) T cells identify and kill infected cells through the specific recognition of short viral antigens bound to human major histocompatibility complex (HLA) class I molecules. The colossal number of polymorphisms in HLA molecules makes it essential to characterize the antigen-presenting properties common to large HLA families or supertypes. In this context, the HLA-B*27 family comprising at least 100 different alleles, some of them widely distributed in the human population, is involved in the cellular immune response against pathogens and also associated to autoimmune spondyloarthritis being thus a relevant target of study. To this end, HLA binding assays performed using nine HLA-B*2705-restricted ligands endogenously processed and presented in virus-infected cells revealed a common minimal peptide motif for efficient binding to the HLA-B*27 family. The motif was independently confirmed using four unrelated peptides. This experimental approach, which could be easily transferred to other HLA class I families and supertypes, has implications for the validation of new bioinformatics tools in the functional clustering of HLA molecules, for the identification of antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, and for future vaccine development.

  19. A common minimal motif for the ligands of HLA-B*27 class I molecules.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alejandro Barriga

    Full Text Available CD8(+ T cells identify and kill infected cells through the specific recognition of short viral antigens bound to human major histocompatibility complex (HLA class I molecules. The colossal number of polymorphisms in HLA molecules makes it essential to characterize the antigen-presenting properties common to large HLA families or supertypes. In this context, the HLA-B*27 family comprising at least 100 different alleles, some of them widely distributed in the human population, is involved in the cellular immune response against pathogens and also associated to autoimmune spondyloarthritis being thus a relevant target of study. To this end, HLA binding assays performed using nine HLA-B*2705-restricted ligands endogenously processed and presented in virus-infected cells revealed a common minimal peptide motif for efficient binding to the HLA-B*27 family. The motif was independently confirmed using four unrelated peptides. This experimental approach, which could be easily transferred to other HLA class I families and supertypes, has implications for the validation of new bioinformatics tools in the functional clustering of HLA molecules, for the identification of antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, and for future vaccine development.

  20. Identity and functions of CxxC-derived motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fomenko, Dmitri E; Gladyshev, Vadim N

    2003-09-30

    Two cysteines separated by two other residues (the CxxC motif) are employed by many redox proteins for formation, isomerization, and reduction of disulfide bonds and for other redox functions. The place of the C-terminal cysteine in this motif may be occupied by serine (the CxxS motif), modifying the functional repertoire of redox proteins. Here we found that the CxxC motif may also give rise to a motif, in which the C-terminal cysteine is replaced with threonine (the CxxT motif). Moreover, in contrast to a view that the N-terminal cysteine in the CxxC motif always serves as a nucleophilic attacking group, this residue could also be replaced with threonine (the TxxC motif), serine (the SxxC motif), or other residues. In each of these CxxC-derived motifs, the presence of a downstream alpha-helix was strongly favored. A search for conserved CxxC-derived motif/helix patterns in four complete genomes representing bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes identified known redox proteins and suggested possible redox functions for several additional proteins. Catalytic sites in peroxiredoxins were major representatives of the TxxC motif, whereas those in glutathione peroxidases represented the CxxT motif. Structural assessments indicated that threonines in these enzymes could stabilize catalytic thiolates, suggesting revisions to previously proposed catalytic triads. Each of the CxxC-derived motifs was also observed in natural selenium-containing proteins, in which selenocysteine was present in place of a catalytic cysteine.

  1. Machine Learning Reveals a Non-Canonical Mode of Peptide Binding to MHC class II Molecules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreatta, Massimo; Jurtz, Vanessa Isabell; Kaever, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    binding motif with a non-canonical binding core of length different from nine. This previously undescribed mode of peptide binding to MHCII molecules gives a more complete picture of peptide presentation by MHCII and allows us to model more accurately this event. This article is protected by copyright...

  2. MicroRNA genes preferentially expressed in dendritic cells contain sites for conserved transcription factor binding motifs in their promoters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huynen Martijn A

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs play a fundamental role in the regulation of gene expression by translational repression or target mRNA degradation. Regulatory elements in miRNA promoters are less well studied, but may reveal a link between their expression and a specific cell type. Results To explore this link in myeloid cells, miRNA expression profiles were generated from monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs. Differences in miRNA expression among monocytes, DCs and their stimulated progeny were observed. Furthermore, putative promoter regions of miRNAs that are significantly up-regulated in DCs were screened for Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBSs based on TFBS motif matching score, the degree to which those TFBSs are over-represented in the promoters of the up-regulated miRNAs, and the extent of conservation of the TFBSs in mammals. Conclusions Analysis of evolutionarily conserved TFBSs in DC promoters revealed preferential clustering of sites within 500 bp upstream of the precursor miRNAs and that many mRNAs of cognate TFs of the conserved TFBSs were indeed expressed in the DCs. Taken together, our data provide evidence that selected miRNAs expressed in DCs have evolutionarily conserved TFBSs relevant to DC biology in their promoters.

  3. Analysis of calcium-induced conformational changes in calcium-binding allergens and quantitative determination of their IgE binding properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parody, Nuria; Fuertes, Miguel Angel; Alonso, Carlos; Pico de Coaña, Yago

    2013-01-01

    The polcalcin family is one of the most epidemiologically relevant families of calcium-binding allergens. Polcalcins are potent plant allergens that contain one or several EF-hand motifs and their allergenicity is primarily associated with the Ca(2+)-bound form of the protein. Conformation, stability, as well as IgE recognition of calcium-binding allergens greatly depend on the presence of protein-bound calcium ions. We describe a protocol that uses three techniques (SDS-PAGE, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and ELISA) to describe the effects that calcium has on the structural changes in an allergen and its IgE binding properties.

  4. New PAH gene promoter KLF1 and 3'-region C/EBPalpha motifs influence transcription in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klaassen, Kristel; Stankovic, Biljana; Kotur, Nikola; Djordjevic, Maja; Zukic, Branka; Nikcevic, Gordana; Ugrin, Milena; Spasovski, Vesna; Srzentic, Sanja; Pavlovic, Sonja; Stojiljkovic, Maja

    2017-02-01

    Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic disease caused by mutations in the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene. Although the PAH genotype remains the main determinant of PKU phenotype severity, genotype-phenotype inconsistencies have been reported. In this study, we focused on unanalysed sequences in non-coding PAH gene regions to assess their possible influence on the PKU phenotype. We transiently transfected HepG2 cells with various chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) reporter constructs which included PAH gene non-coding regions. Selected non-coding regions were indicated by in silico prediction to contain transcription factor binding sites. Furthermore, electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and supershift assays were performed to identify which transcriptional factors were engaged in the interaction. We found novel KLF1 motif in the PAH promoter, which decreases CAT activity by 50 % in comparison to basal transcription in vitro. The cytosine at the c.-170 promoter position creates an additional binding site for the protein complex involving KLF1 transcription factor. Moreover, we assessed for the first time the role of a multivariant variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) region located in the 3'-region of the PAH gene. We found that the VNTR3, VNTR7 and VNTR8 constructs had approximately 60 % of CAT activity. The regulation is mediated by the C/EBPalpha transcription factor, present in protein complex binding to VNTR3. Our study highlighted two novel promoter KLF1 and 3'-region C/EBPalpha motifs in the PAH gene which decrease transcription in vitro and, thus, could be considered as PAH expression modifiers. New transcription motifs in non-coding regions will contribute to better understanding of the PKU phenotype complexity and may become important for the optimisation of PKU treatment.

  5. Structure of the central RNA recognition motif of human TIA-1 at 1.95 A resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Amit O.; Swenson, Matthew C.; Benning, Matthew M.; Kielkopf, Clara L.

    2008-01-01

    T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) regulates alternative pre-mRNA splicing in the nucleus, and mRNA translation in the cytoplasm, by recognizing uridine-rich sequences of RNAs. As a step towards understanding RNA recognition by this regulatory factor, the X-ray structure of the central RNA recognition motif (RRM2) of human TIA-1 is presented at 1.95 A resolution. Comparison with structurally homologous RRM-RNA complexes identifies residues at the RNA interfaces that are conserved in TIA-1-RRM2. The versatile capability of RNP motifs to interact with either proteins or RNA is reinforced by symmetry-related protein-protein interactions mediated by the RNP motifs of TIA-1-RRM2. Importantly, the TIA-1-RRM2 structure reveals the locations of mutations responsible for inhibiting nuclear import. In contrast with previous assumptions, the mutated residues are buried within the hydrophobic interior of the domain, where they would be likely to destabilize the RRM fold rather than directly inhibit RNA binding

  6. The V-motifs facilitate the substrate capturing step of the PTS elevator mechanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vastermark, Ake; Driker, Adelle; Weng, Jingwei; Li, Xiaochun; Wang, Jiawei; Saier, Milton H

    2016-12-01

    We propose that the alternative crystal forms of outward open UlaA (which are experimental, not simulated, and contain the substrate in the cavity) can be used to interpret/validate the MD results from MalT (the substrate capture step, which involves the mobile second TMSs of the V-motifs, TMSs 2 and 7). Since the crystal contacts are the same between the two alternative crystal forms of outward open UlaA, the striking biological differences noted, including rearranged hydrogen bonds and salt bridge coordination, are not attributable to crystal packing differences. Using transport assays, we identified G58 and G286 as essential for normal vitamin C transport, but the comparison of alternative crystal forms revealed that these residues to unhinge TMS movements from substrate-binding side chains, rendering the mid-TMS regions of homologous TMSs 2 and 7 relatively immobile. While the TMS that is involved in substrate binding in MalT is part of the homologous bundle that holds the two separate halves of the transport assembly (two proteins) together, an unequal effect of the two knockouts was observed for UlaA where both V-motifs are free from such dimer interface interactions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. A Conserved EAR Motif Is Required for Avirulence and Stability of the Ralstonia solanacearum Effector PopP2 In Planta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cécile Segonzac

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Ralstonia solanacearum is the causal agent of the devastating bacterial wilt disease in many high value Solanaceae crops. R. solanacearum secretes around 70 effectors into host cells in order to promote infection. Plants have, however, evolved specialized immune receptors that recognize corresponding effectors and confer qualitative disease resistance. In the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, the paired immune receptors RRS1 (resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum 1 and RPS4 (resistance to Pseudomonas syringae 4 cooperatively recognize the R. solanacearum effector PopP2 in the nuclei of infected cells. PopP2 is an acetyltransferase that binds to and acetylates the RRS1 WRKY DNA-binding domain resulting in reduced RRS1-DNA association thereby activating plant immunity. Here, we surveyed the naturally occurring variation in PopP2 sequence among the R. solanacearum strains isolated from diseased tomato and pepper fields across the Republic of Korea. Our analysis revealed high conservation of popP2 sequence with only three polymorphic alleles present amongst 17 strains. Only one variation (a premature stop codon caused the loss of RPS4/RRS1-dependent recognition in Arabidopsis. We also found that PopP2 harbors a putative eukaryotic transcriptional repressor motif (ethylene-responsive element binding factor-associated amphiphilic repression or EAR, which is known to be involved in the recruitment of transcriptional co-repressors. Remarkably, mutation of the EAR motif disabled PopP2 avirulence function as measured by the development of hypersensitive response, electrolyte leakage, defense marker gene expression and bacterial growth in Arabidopsis. This lack of recognition was partially but significantly reverted by the C-terminal addition of a synthetic EAR motif. We show that the EAR motif-dependent gain of avirulence correlated with the stability of the PopP2 protein. Furthermore, we demonstrated the requirement of the PopP2 EAR motif for PTI

  8. [Personal motif in art].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerevich, József

    2015-01-01

    One of the basic questions of the art psychology is whether a personal motif is to be found behind works of art and if so, how openly or indirectly it appears in the work itself. Analysis of examples and documents from the fine arts and literature allow us to conclude that the personal motif that can be identified by the viewer through symbols, at times easily at others with more difficulty, gives an emotional plus to the artistic product. The personal motif may be found in traumatic experiences, in communication to the model or with other emotionally important persons (mourning, disappointment, revenge, hatred, rivalry, revolt etc.), in self-searching, or self-analysis. The emotions are expressed in artistic activity either directly or indirectly. The intention nourished by the artist's identity (Kunstwollen) may stand in the way of spontaneous self-expression, channelling it into hidden paths. Under the influence of certain circumstances, the artist may arouse in the viewer, consciously or unconsciously, an illusionary, misleading image of himself. An examination of the personal motif is one of the important research areas of art therapy.

  9. Temporal motifs in time-dependent networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovanen, Lauri; Karsai, Márton; Kaski, Kimmo; Kertész, János; Saramäki, Jari

    2011-01-01

    Temporal networks are commonly used to represent systems where connections between elements are active only for restricted periods of time, such as telecommunication, neural signal processing, biochemical reaction and human social interaction networks. We introduce the framework of temporal motifs to study the mesoscale topological–temporal structure of temporal networks in which the events of nodes do not overlap in time. Temporal motifs are classes of similar event sequences, where the similarity refers not only to topology but also to the temporal order of the events. We provide a mapping from event sequences to coloured directed graphs that enables an efficient algorithm for identifying temporal motifs. We discuss some aspects of temporal motifs, including causality and null models, and present basic statistics of temporal motifs in a large mobile call network

  10. The RNA-Binding Site of Poliovirus 3C Protein Doubles as a Phosphoinositide-Binding Domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shengjuler, Djoshkun; Chan, Yan Mei; Sun, Simou; Moustafa, Ibrahim M; Li, Zhen-Lu; Gohara, David W; Buck, Matthias; Cremer, Paul S; Boehr, David D; Cameron, Craig E

    2017-12-05

    Some viruses use phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP) to mark membranes used for genome replication or virion assembly. PIP-binding motifs of cellular proteins do not exist in viral proteins. Molecular-docking simulations revealed a putative site of PIP binding to poliovirus (PV) 3C protein that was validated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The PIP-binding site was located on a highly dynamic α helix, which also functions in RNA binding. Broad PIP-binding activity was observed in solution using a fluorescence polarization assay or in the context of a lipid bilayer using an on-chip, fluorescence assay. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of the 3C protein-membrane interface revealed PIP clustering and perhaps PIP-dependent conformations. PIP clustering was mediated by interaction with residues that interact with the RNA phosphodiester backbone. We conclude that 3C binding to membranes will be determined by PIP abundance. We suggest that the duality of function observed for 3C may extend to RNA-binding proteins of other viruses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Assessing high affinity binding to HLA-DQ2.5 by a novel peptide library based approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jüse, Ulrike; Arntzen, Magnus; Højrup, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Here we report on a novel peptide library based method for HLA class II binding motif identification. The approach is based on water soluble HLA class II molecules and soluble dedicated peptide libraries. A high number of different synthetic peptides are competing to interact with a limited amount...... library. The eluted sequences fit very well with the previously described HLA-DQ2.5 peptide binding motif. This novel method, limited by library complexity and sensitivity of mass spectrometry, allows the analysis of several thousand synthetic sequences concomitantly in a simple water soluble format....

  12. Helper component proteinase of the genus Potyvirus is an interaction partner of translation initiation factors eIF(iso)4E and eIF4E and contains a 4E binding motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ala-Poikela, Marjo; Goytia, Elisa; Haikonen, Tuuli; Rajamäki, Minna-Liisa; Valkonen, Jari P T

    2011-07-01

    The multifunctional helper component proteinase (HCpro) of potyviruses (genus Potyvirus; Potyviridae) shows self-interaction and interacts with other potyviral and host plant proteins. Host proteins that are pivotal to potyvirus infection include the eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4E and the isoform eIF(iso)4E, which interact with viral genome-linked protein (VPg). Here we show that HCpro of Potato virus A (PVA) interacts with both eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E, with interactions with eIF(iso)4E being stronger, as judged by the data of a yeast two-hybrid system assay. A bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay on leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana showed that HCpro from three potyviruses (PVA, Potato virus Y, and Tobacco etch virus) interacted with the eIF(iso)4E and eIF4E of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum); interactions with eIF(iso)4E and eIF4E of potato (Solanum tuberosum) were weaker. In PVA-infected cells, interactions between HCpro and tobacco eIF(iso)4E were confined to round structures that colocalized with 6K2-induced vesicles. Point mutations introduced to a 4E binding motif identified in the C-terminal region of HCpro debilitated interactions of HCpro with translation initiation factors and were detrimental to the virulence of PVA in plants. The 4E binding motif conserved in HCpro of potyviruses and HCpro-initiation factor interactions suggest new roles for HCpro and/or translation factors in the potyvirus infection cycle.

  13. Computational assessment of the cooperativity between RNA binding proteins and MicroRNAs in Transcript Decay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Peng; Singh, Mona; Coller, Hilary A

    2013-01-01

    Transcript degradation is a widespread and important mechanism for regulating protein abundance. Two major regulators of transcript degradation are RNA Binding Proteins (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). We computationally explored whether RBPs and miRNAs cooperate to promote transcript decay. We defined five RBP motifs based on the evolutionary conservation of their recognition sites in 3'UTRs as the binding motifs for Pumilio (PUM), U1A, Fox-1, Nova, and UAUUUAU. Recognition sites for some of these RBPs tended to localize at the end of long 3'UTRs. A specific group of miRNA recognition sites were enriched within 50 nts from the RBP recognition sites for PUM and UAUUUAU. The presence of both a PUM recognition site and a recognition site for preferentially co-occurring miRNAs was associated with faster decay of the associated transcripts. For PUM and its co-occurring miRNAs, binding of the RBP to its recognition sites was predicted to release nearby miRNA recognition sites from RNA secondary structures. The mammalian miRNAs that preferentially co-occur with PUM binding sites have recognition seeds that are reverse complements to the PUM recognition motif. Their binding sites have the potential to form hairpin secondary structures with proximal PUM binding sites that would normally limit RISC accessibility, but would be more accessible to miRNAs in response to the binding of PUM. In sum, our computational analyses suggest that a specific set of RBPs and miRNAs work together to affect transcript decay, with the rescue of miRNA recognition sites via RBP binding as one possible mechanism of cooperativity.

  14. DNA-binding properties of the Bacillus subtilis and Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 σ(D) proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sevim, Elif; Gaballa, Ahmed; Beldüz, A Osman; Helmann, John D

    2011-01-01

    σ(D) proteins from Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 and Bacillus subtilis bound specifically, albeit weakly, to promoter DNA even in the absence of core RNA polymerase. Binding required a conserved CG motif within the -10 element, and this motif is known to be recognized by σ region 2.4 and critical for promoter activity.

  15. DNA-Binding Properties of the Bacillus subtilis and Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 σD Proteins▿

    OpenAIRE

    Sevim, Elif; Gaballa, Ahmed; Beldüz, A. Osman; Helmann, John D.

    2010-01-01

    σD proteins from Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 and Bacillus subtilis bound specifically, albeit weakly, to promoter DNA even in the absence of core RNA polymerase. Binding required a conserved CG motif within the −10 element, and this motif is known to be recognized by σ region 2.4 and critical for promoter activity.

  16. Proteomic analysis of heparin-binding proteins from human seminal ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Prakash

    (MALDI TOF/MS) for protein analysis of human HBPs. We resolved 70 ... Thus, the combined effects of seminal plasma components support the survival of ...... The BBXB motif of RANTES is the principal site for heparin binding and controls ...

  17. Characterization of binding specificities of bovine leucocyte class I molecules: impacts for rational epitope discovery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Andreas M.; Rasmussen, Michael; Svitek, Nicholas

    2014-01-01

    confirmed experimentally. This study demonstrates how biochemical high-throughput assays combined with immunoinformatics can be used to characterize the peptide-binding motifs of BoLA-I molecules, boosting performance of MHC peptide-binding prediction methods, and empowering rational epitope discovery...

  18. Biomimetic trapping cocktail to screen reactive metabolites: use of an amino acid and DNA motif mixture as light/heavy isotope pairs differing in mass shift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosaka, Shuto; Honda, Takuto; Lee, Seon Hwa; Oe, Tomoyuki

    2018-06-01

    Candidate drugs that can be metabolically transformed into reactive electrophilic products, such as epoxides, quinones, and nitroso compounds, are of special concern because subsequent covalent binding to bio-macromolecules can cause adverse drug reactions, such as allergic reactions, hepatotoxicity, and genotoxicity. Several strategies have been reported for screening reactive metabolites, such as a covalent binding assay with radioisotope-labeled drugs and a trapping method followed by LC-MS/MS analyses. Of these, a trapping method using glutathione is the most common, especially at the early stage of drug development. However, the cysteine of glutathione is not the only nucleophilic site in vivo; lysine, histidine, arginine, and DNA bases are also nucleophilic. Indeed, the glutathione trapping method tends to overlook several types of reactive metabolites, such as aldehydes, acylglucuronides, and nitroso compounds. Here, we introduce an alternate way for screening reactive metabolites as follows: A mixture of the light and heavy isotopes of simplified amino acid motifs and a DNA motif is used as a biomimetic trapping cocktail. This mixture consists of [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 3 ]-1-methylguanidine (arginine motif, Δ 3 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 4 ]-2-mercaptoethanol (cysteine motif, Δ 4 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 5 ]-4-methylimidazole (histidine motif, Δ 5 Da), [ 2 H 0 ]/[ 2 H 9 ]-n-butylamine (lysine motif, Δ 9 Da), and [ 13 C 0 , 15 N 0 ]/[ 13 C 1 , 15 N 2 ]-2'-deoxyguanosine (DNA motif, Δ 3 Da). Mass tag triggered data-dependent acquisition is used to find the characteristic doublet peaks, followed by specific identification of the light isotope peak using MS/MS. Forty-two model drugs were examined using an in vitro microsome experiment to validate the strategy. Graphical abstract Biomimetic trapping cocktail to screen reactive metabolites.

  19. Genome-wide targeted prediction of ABA responsive genes in rice based on over-represented cis-motif in co-expressed genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenka, Sangram K; Lohia, Bikash; Kumar, Abhay; Chinnusamy, Viswanathan; Bansal, Kailash C

    2009-02-01

    Abscisic acid (ABA), the popular plant stress hormone, plays a key role in regulation of sub-set of stress responsive genes. These genes respond to ABA through specific transcription factors which bind to cis-regulatory elements present in their promoters. We discovered the ABA Responsive Element (ABRE) core (ACGT) containing CGMCACGTGB motif as over-represented motif among the promoters of ABA responsive co-expressed genes in rice. Targeted gene prediction strategy using this motif led to the identification of 402 protein coding genes potentially regulated by ABA-dependent molecular genetic network. RT-PCR analysis of arbitrarily chosen 45 genes from the predicted 402 genes confirmed 80% accuracy of our prediction. Plant Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of ABA responsive genes showed enrichment of signal transduction and stress related genes among diverse functional categories.

  20. DNA-Binding Properties of the Bacillus subtilis and Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 σD Proteins▿

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sevim, Elif; Gaballa, Ahmed; Beldüz, A. Osman; Helmann, John D.

    2011-01-01

    σD proteins from Aeribacillus pallidus AC6 and Bacillus subtilis bound specifically, albeit weakly, to promoter DNA even in the absence of core RNA polymerase. Binding required a conserved CG motif within the −10 element, and this motif is known to be recognized by σ region 2.4 and critical for promoter activity. PMID:21097624

  1. Use of synthetic peptide libraries for the H-2Kd binding motif identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quesnel, A; Casrouge, A; Kourilsky, P; Abastado, J P; Trudelle, Y

    1995-01-01

    To identify Kd-binding peptides, an approach based on small peptide libraries has been developed. These peptide libraries correspond to all possible single-amino acid variants of a particular Kd-binding peptide, SYIPSAEYI, an analog of the Plasmodium berghei 252-260 antigenic peptide SYIPSAEKI. In the parent sequence, each position is replaced by all the genetically encoded amino acids (except cysteine). The multiple analog syntheses are performed either by the Divide Couple and Recombine method or by the Single Resin method and generate mixtures containing 19 peptides. The present report deals with the synthesis, the purification, the chemical characterization by amino acid analysis and electrospray mass spectrometry (ES-MS), and the application of such mixtures in binding tests with a soluble, functionally empty, single-chain H-2Kd molecule denoted SC-Kd. For each mixture, bound peptides were eluted and analyzed by sequencing. Since the binding tests were realized in noncompetitive conditions, our results show that a much broader set of peptides bind to Kd than expected from previous studies. This may be of practical importance when looking for low affinity peptides such as tumor peptides capable of eliciting protective immune response.

  2. The common equine class I molecule Eqca-1*00101 (ELA-A3.1) is characterized by narrow peptide binding and T cell epitope repertoires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergmann, Tobias; Moore, Carrie; Sidney, John; Miller, Donald; Tallmadge, Rebecca; Harman, Rebecca M; Oseroff, Carla; Wriston, Amanda; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Hunt, Donald F; Osterrieder, Nikolaus; Peters, Bjoern; Antczak, Douglas F; Sette, Alessandro

    2015-11-01

    Here we describe a detailed quantitative peptide-binding motif for the common equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) class I allele Eqca-1*00101, present in roughly 25 % of Thoroughbred horses. We determined a preliminary binding motif by sequencing endogenously bound ligands. Subsequently, a positional scanning combinatorial library (PSCL) was used to further characterize binding specificity and derive a quantitative motif involving aspartic acid in position 2 and hydrophobic residues at the C-terminus. Using this motif, we selected and tested 9- and 10-mer peptides derived from the equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) proteome for their capacity to bind Eqca-1*00101. PSCL predictions were very efficient, with an receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve performance of 0.877, and 87 peptides derived from 40 different EHV-1 proteins were identified with affinities of 500 nM or higher. Quantitative analysis revealed that Eqca-1*00101 has a narrow peptide-binding repertoire, in comparison to those of most human, non-human primate, and mouse class I alleles. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from six EHV-1-infected, or vaccinated but uninfected, Eqca-1*00101-positive horses were used in IFN-γ enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays. When we screened the 87 Eqca-1*00101-binding peptides for T cell reactivity, only one Eqca-1*00101 epitope, derived from the intermediate-early protein ICP4, was identified. Thus, despite its common occurrence in several horse breeds, Eqca-1*00101 is associated with a narrow binding repertoire and a similarly narrow T cell response to an important equine viral pathogen. Intriguingly, these features are shared with other human and macaque major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules with a similar specificity for D in position 2 or 3 in their main anchor motif.

  3. UKIRAN KERAWANG ACEH GAYO SEBAGAI INSPIRASI PENCIPTAAN MOTIF BATIK KHAS GAYO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irfa ina Rohana Salma

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRAK Industri batik mulai berkembang di Gayo, tetapi belum memiliki motif batik khas daerah. Oleh karena itu perlu diciptakan motif batik khas Gayo, dengan mengambil inspirasi dari ukiran yang terdapat pada rumah tradisional yang biasa disebut ukiran kerawang Gayo. Tujuan penciptaan seni ini adalah untuk menciptakan motif batik yang memiliki ciri khas Gayo. Metode yang digunakan yaitu eksplorasi ide, perancangan, dan perwujudan menjadi motif batik. Dalam kegiatan ini telah diciptakan enam motif batik khas Gayo yaitu: (1 Motif Ceplok Gayo; (2 Motif Gayo Tegak; (3 Motif Gayo Lurus; (4 Motif Parang Gayo; (5 Motif Gayo Lembut; dan (6 Motif Geometris Gayo. Hasil uji kesukaan terhadap motif kepada lima puluh responden menunjukkan bahwa Motif Ceplok Gayo paling banyak dipilih oleh responden yaitu sebesar 19%, sedangkan Motif Parang Gayo 18%, Motif Gayo Lembut 17%, Motif Geometris Gayo 17%, Motif Gayo Lurus 15% dan Motif Gayo Tegak 14%. Rata-rata motif yang dihasilkan mendapatkan apresiasi yang baik dari responden, sehingga semua motif layak diproduksi sebagai batik khas Gayo.Kata kunci: batik Gayo, Motif Ceplok Gayo, Motif Parang Gayo.ABSTRACTBatik industry began to develop in Gayo, but have not had a typical batik motif itself. Therefore, it is necessary to create batik motifs of Gayo, by taking inspiration from the carvings found in traditional houses commonly called kerawang Gayo. The purpose of this art is to create motifs those have a Gayo characteristic. The method used are the idea exploration, design, and motifs embodiment. In this activity has created six Gayo batik motifs, namely: (1 Motif Ceplok Gayo; (2 Motif Gayo Tegak; (3 Motif GayoLurus; (4 Motif Parang Gayo; (5 Motif Gayo Lembut; dan (6 Motif Geometris Gayo. The test results fondness of the motives to fifty respondents indicated that the Motif Ceplok Gayo most preferred by respondents ie 19%, while Motif Parang Gayo 18%, Motif Gayo Lembut 17%, Motif Geometris Gayo 17%, Motif Gayo

  4. oPOSSUM: integrated tools for analysis of regulatory motif over-representation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho Sui, Shannan J.; Fulton, Debra L.; Arenillas, David J.; Kwon, Andrew T.; Wasserman, Wyeth W.

    2007-01-01

    The identification of over-represented transcription factor binding sites from sets of co-expressed genes provides insights into the mechanisms of regulation for diverse biological contexts. oPOSSUM, an internet-based system for such studies of regulation, has been improved and expanded in this new release. New features include a worm-specific version for investigating binding sites conserved between Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae, as well as a yeast-specific version for the analysis of co-expressed sets of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes. The human and mouse applications feature improvements in ortholog mapping, sequence alignments and the delineation of multiple alternative promoters. oPOSSUM2, introduced for the analysis of over-represented combinations of motifs in human and mouse genes, has been integrated with the original oPOSSUM system. Analysis using user-defined background gene sets is now supported. The transcription factor binding site models have been updated to include new profiles from the JASPAR database. oPOSSUM is available at http://www.cisreg.ca/oPOSSUM/ PMID:17576675

  5. Extreme sequence divergence but conserved ligand-binding specificity in Streptococcus pyogenes M protein.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available Many pathogenic microorganisms evade host immunity through extensive sequence variability in a protein region targeted by protective antibodies. In spite of the sequence variability, a variable region commonly retains an important ligand-binding function, reflected in the presence of a highly conserved sequence motif. Here, we analyze the limits of sequence divergence in a ligand-binding region by characterizing the hypervariable region (HVR of Streptococcus pyogenes M protein. Our studies were focused on HVRs that bind the human complement regulator C4b-binding protein (C4BP, a ligand that confers phagocytosis resistance. A previous comparison of C4BP-binding HVRs identified residue identities that could be part of a binding motif, but the extended analysis reported here shows that no residue identities remain when additional C4BP-binding HVRs are included. Characterization of the HVR in the M22 protein indicated that two relatively conserved Leu residues are essential for C4BP binding, but these residues are probably core residues in a coiled-coil, implying that they do not directly contribute to binding. In contrast, substitution of either of two relatively conserved Glu residues, predicted to be solvent-exposed, had no effect on C4BP binding, although each of these changes had a major effect on the antigenic properties of the HVR. Together, these findings show that HVRs of M proteins have an extraordinary capacity for sequence divergence and antigenic variability while retaining a specific ligand-binding function.

  6. Proteome scale identification, classification and structural analysis of iron-binding proteins in bread wheat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Shailender Kumar; Sharma, Ankita; Sandhu, Padmani; Choudhary, Neha; Sharma, Shailaja; Acharya, Vishal; Akhter, Yusuf

    2017-05-01

    Bread wheat is one of the major staple foods of worldwide population and iron plays a significant role in growth and development of the plant. In this report, we are presenting the genome wide identification of iron-binding proteins in bread wheat. The wheat genome derived putative proteome was screened for identification of iron-binding sequence motifs. Out of 602 putative iron-binding proteins, 130 were able to produce reliable structural models by homology techniques and further analyzed for the presence of iron-binding structural motifs. The computationally identified proteins appear to bind to ferrous and ferric ions and showed diverse coordination geometries. Glu, His, Asp and Cys amino acid residues were found to be mostly involved in iron binding. We have classified these proteins on the basis of their localization in the different cellular compartments. The identified proteins were further classified into their protein folds, families and functional classes ranging from structure maintenance of cellular components, regulation of gene expression, post translational modification, membrane proteins, enzymes, signaling and storage proteins. This comprehensive report regarding structural iron binding proteome provides useful insights into the diversity of iron binding proteins of wheat plants and further utilized to study their roles in plant growth, development and physiology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Novel Nucleotide Variations, Haplotypes Structure and Associations with Growth Related Traits of Goat AT Motif-Binding Factor ( Gene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoyan Zhang

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The AT motif-binding factor (ATBF1 not only interacts with protein inhibitor of activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3 (PIAS3 to suppress STAT3 signaling regulating embryo early development and cell differentiation, but is required for early activation of the pituitary specific transcription factor 1 (Pit1 gene (also known as POU1F1 critically affecting mammalian growth and development. The goal of this study was to detect novel nucleotide variations and haplotypes structure of the ATBF1 gene, as well as to test their associations with growth-related traits in goats. Herein, a total of seven novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs (SNP 1-7 within this gene were found in two well-known Chinese native goat breeds. Haplotypes structure analysis demonstrated that there were four haplotypes in Hainan black goat while seventeen haplotypes in Xinong Saanen dairy goat, and both breeds only shared one haplotype (hap1. Association testing revealed that the SNP2, SNP5, SNP6, and SNP7 loci were also found to significantly associate with growth-related traits in goats, respectively. Moreover, one diplotype in Xinong Saanen dairy goats significantly linked to growth related traits. These preliminary findings not only would extend the spectrum of genetic variations of the goat ATBF1 gene, but also would contribute to implementing marker-assisted selection in genetics and breeding in goats.

  8. Phospho-dependent binding of the clathrin AP2 adaptor complex to GABAA receptors regulates the efficacy of inhibitory synaptic transmission

    OpenAIRE

    Kittler, Josef T.; Chen, Guojun; Honing, Stephan; Bogdanov, Yury; McAinsh, Kristina; Arancibia-Carcamo, I. Lorena; Jovanovic, Jasmina N.; Pangalos, Menelas N.; Haucke, Volker; Yan, Zhen; Moss, Stephen J.

    2005-01-01

    The efficacy of synaptic inhibition depends on the number of γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAARs) expressed on the cell surface of neurons. The clathrin adaptor protein 2 (AP2) complex is a critical regulator of GABAAR endocytosis and, hence, surface receptor number. Here, we identify a previously uncharacterized atypical AP2 binding motif conserved within the intracellular domains of all GABAAR β subunit isoforms. This AP2 binding motif (KTHLRRRSSQLK in the β3 subunit) incorporates...

  9. Conservation of the LexA repressor binding site in Deinococcus radiodurans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khan Feroz

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available The LexA protein is a transcriptional repressor of the bacterial SOS DNA repair system, which comprises a set of DNA repair and cellular survival genes that are induced in response to DNA damage. Its varied DNA binding motifs have been characterized and reported in the Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, rhizobia family members, marine magnetotactic bacterium, Salmonella typhimurium and recently in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and this motifs information has been used in our theoretical analysis to detect its novel regulated genes in radio-resistant Deinococcus radiodurans genome. This bacterium showed presence of SOS-box like consensus sequence in the upstream sequences of 3166 genes with >60% motif score similarity percentage (MSSP on both strands. Attempts to identify LexA-binding sites and the composition of the putative SOS regulon in D. radiodurans have been unsuccessful so far. To resolve the problem we performed theoretical analysis with modifications on reported data set of genes related to DNA repair (61 genes, stress response (145 genes and some unusual predicted operons (21 clusters. Expression of some of the predicted SOS-box regulated operon members then was examined through the previously reported microarray data which confirm the expression of only single predicted operon i.e. DRB0143 (AAA superfamily NTPase related to 5-methylcytosine specific restriction enzyme subunit McrB and DRB0144 (homolog of the McrC subunit of the McrBC restriction modification system. The methodology involved weight matrix construction through CONSENSUS algorithm using information of conserved upstream sequences of eight known genes including dinB, tagC, lexA, recA, uvrB, yneA of B. subtilis while lexA and recA of D. radiodurans through phylogenetic footprinting method and later detection of similar conserved SOS-box like LexA binding motifs through both RSAT & PoSSuMsearch programs. The resultant DNA consensus sequence had highly conserved 14 bp SOS

  10. Prediction of GPCR-Ligand Binding Using Machine Learning Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangmin Seo

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose a novel method that predicts binding of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs and ligands. The proposed method uses hub and cycle structures of ligands and amino acid motif sequences of GPCRs, rather than the 3D structure of a receptor or similarity of receptors or ligands. The experimental results show that these new features can be effective in predicting GPCR-ligand binding (average area under the curve [AUC] of 0.944, because they are thought to include hidden properties of good ligand-receptor binding. Using the proposed method, we were able to identify novel ligand-GPCR bindings, some of which are supported by several studies.

  11. In silico docking of forchlorfenuron (FCF to septins suggests that FCF interferes with GTP binding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrios Angelis

    Full Text Available Septins are GTP-binding proteins that form cytoskeleton-like filaments, which are essential for many functions in eukaryotic organisms. Small molecule compounds that disrupt septin filament assembly are valuable tools for dissecting septin functions with high temporal control. To date, forchlorfenuron (FCF is the only compound known to affect septin assembly and functions. FCF dampens the dynamics of septin assembly inducing the formation of enlarged stable polymers, but the underlying mechanism of action is unknown. To investigate how FCF binds and affects septins, we performed in silico simulations of FCF docking to all available crystal structures of septins. Docking of FCF with SEPT2 and SEPT3 indicated that FCF interacts preferentially with the nucleotide-binding pockets of septins. Strikingly, FCF is predicted to form hydrogen bonds with residues involved in GDP-binding, mimicking nucleotide binding. FCF docking with the structure of SEPT2-GppNHp, a nonhydrolyzable GTP analog, and SEPT7 showed that FCF may assume two alternative non-overlapping conformations deeply into and on the outer side of the nucleotide-binding pocket. Surprisingly, FCF was predicted to interact with the P-loop Walker A motif GxxxxGKS/T, which binds the phosphates of GTP, and the GTP specificity motif AKAD, which interacts with the guanine base of GTP, and highly conserved amino acids including a threonine, which is critical for GTP hydrolysis. Thus, in silico FCF exhibits a conserved mechanism of binding, interacting with septin signature motifs and residues involved in GTP binding and hydrolysis. Taken together, our results suggest that FCF stabilizes septins by locking them into a conformation that mimics a nucleotide-bound state, preventing further GTP binding and hydrolysis. Overall, this study provides the first insight into how FCF may bind and stabilize septins, and offers a blueprint for the rational design of FCF derivatives that could target septins with

  12. Design of potent inhibitors of human RAD51 recombinase based on BRC motifs of BRCA2 protein: modeling and experimental validation of a chimera peptide.

    KAUST Repository

    Nomme, Julian; Renodon-Corniè re, Axelle; Asanomi, Yuya; Sakaguchi, Kazuyasu; Stasiak, Alicja Z; Stasiak, Andrzej; Norden, Bengt; Tran, Vinh; Takahashi, Masayuki

    2010-01-01

    We have previously shown that a 28-amino acid peptide derived from the BRC4 motif of BRCA2 tumor suppressor inhibits selectively human RAD51 recombinase (HsRad51). With the aim of designing better inhibitors for cancer treatment, we combined an in silico docking approach with in vitro biochemical testing to construct a highly efficient chimera peptide from eight existing human BRC motifs. We built a molecular model of all BRC motifs complexed with HsRad51 based on the crystal structure of the BRC4 motif-HsRad51 complex, computed the interaction energy of each residue in each BRC motif, and selected the best amino acid residue at each binding position. This analysis enabled us to propose four amino acid substitutions in the BRC4 motif. Three of these increased the inhibitory effect in vitro, and this effect was found to be additive. We thus obtained a peptide that is about 10 times more efficient in inhibiting HsRad51-ssDNA complex formation than the original peptide.

  13. Design of potent inhibitors of human RAD51 recombinase based on BRC motifs of BRCA2 protein: modeling and experimental validation of a chimera peptide.

    KAUST Repository

    Nomme, Julian

    2010-08-01

    We have previously shown that a 28-amino acid peptide derived from the BRC4 motif of BRCA2 tumor suppressor inhibits selectively human RAD51 recombinase (HsRad51). With the aim of designing better inhibitors for cancer treatment, we combined an in silico docking approach with in vitro biochemical testing to construct a highly efficient chimera peptide from eight existing human BRC motifs. We built a molecular model of all BRC motifs complexed with HsRad51 based on the crystal structure of the BRC4 motif-HsRad51 complex, computed the interaction energy of each residue in each BRC motif, and selected the best amino acid residue at each binding position. This analysis enabled us to propose four amino acid substitutions in the BRC4 motif. Three of these increased the inhibitory effect in vitro, and this effect was found to be additive. We thus obtained a peptide that is about 10 times more efficient in inhibiting HsRad51-ssDNA complex formation than the original peptide.

  14. A PDZ-Like Motif in the Biliary Transporter ABCB4 Interacts with the Scaffold Protein EBP50 and Regulates ABCB4 Cell Surface Expression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Quitterie Venot

    Full Text Available ABCB4/MDR3, a member of the ABC superfamily, is an ATP-dependent phosphatidylcholine translocator expressed at the canalicular membrane of hepatocytes. Defects in the ABCB4 gene are associated with rare biliary diseases. It is essential to understand the mechanisms of its canalicular membrane expression in particular for the development of new therapies. The stability of several ABC transporters is regulated through their binding to PDZ (PSD95/DglA/ZO-1 domain-containing proteins. ABCB4 protein ends by the sequence glutamine-asparagine-leucine (QNL, which shows some similarity to PDZ-binding motifs. The aim of our study was to assess the potential role of the QNL motif on the surface expression of ABCB4 and to determine if PDZ domain-containing proteins are involved. We found that truncation of the QNL motif decreased the stability of ABCB4 in HepG2-transfected cells. The deleted mutant ABCB4-ΔQNL also displayed accelerated endocytosis. EBP50, a PDZ protein highly expressed in the liver, strongly colocalized and coimmunoprecipitated with ABCB4, and this interaction required the QNL motif. Down-regulation of EBP50 by siRNA or by expression of an EBP50 dominant-negative mutant caused a significant decrease in the level of ABCB4 protein expression, and in the amount of ABCB4 localized at the canalicular membrane. Interaction of ABCB4 with EBP50 through its PDZ-like motif plays a critical role in the regulation of ABCB4 expression and stability at the canalicular plasma membrane.

  15. Binding of MCM-interacting proteins to ATP-binding site in MCM6

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hosoi A

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Atsutoshi Hosoi, Taku Sakairi, Yukio Ishimi Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan Abstract: The function of MCM2–7 complex that is a DNA helicase in DNA replication may be regulated by various MCM-interacting proteins, including CDC45, RPA, TIM, TIPIN, Claspin, MCM10, and MCM-BP. It has been shown by immunoprecipitation that human MCM6 interacts with all these proteins in coexpressed insect cells. To determine the region in MCM6 to interact with these proteins, we prepared various truncated forms of MCM6 and examined the interaction of these MCM6 fragments with the MCM-interacting proteins. All these proteins bound to C-terminal half of MCM6, and CDC45, RPA2, TIM, TIPIN, MCM-BP, and MCM10 bound to the fragments containing ATP-binding motifs. CDC45 and RPA2 bound to the smallest fragment containing Walker motif A. Only MCM-BP is bound to the N-terminal half of MCM6. Site-directed mutagenesis study suggests that hydrophobic interaction is involved in the interaction of MCM6 with CDC45 and TIM. These results suggest a possibility that MCM-interacting proteins regulate MCM2–7 function by modulating the ATP-binding ability of the MCM2–7. Keywords: DNA helicase, DNA replication, checkpoint, MCM2–7 proteins

  16. Motif discovery in ranked lists of sequences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Morten Muhlig; Tataru, Paula; Madsen, Tobias

    2016-01-01

    Motif analysis has long been an important method to characterize biological functionality and the current growth of sequencing-based genomics experiments further extends its potential. These diverse experiments often generate sequence lists ranked by some functional property. There is therefore...... advantage of the regular expression feature, including enrichments for combinations of different microRNA seed sites. The method is implemented and made publicly available as an R package and supports high parallelization on multi-core machinery....... a growing need for motif analysis methods that can exploit this coupled data structure and be tailored for specific biological questions. Here, we present an exploratory motif analysis tool, Regmex (REGular expression Motif EXplorer), which offers several methods to evaluate the correlation of motifs...

  17. Deciphering functional glycosaminoglycan motifs in development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townley, Robert A; Bülow, Hannes E

    2018-03-23

    Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) such as heparan sulfate, chondroitin/dermatan sulfate, and keratan sulfate are linear glycans, which when attached to protein backbones form proteoglycans. GAGs are essential components of the extracellular space in metazoans. Extensive modifications of the glycans such as sulfation, deacetylation and epimerization create structural GAG motifs. These motifs regulate protein-protein interactions and are thereby repsonsible for many of the essential functions of GAGs. This review focusses on recent genetic approaches to characterize GAG motifs and their function in defined signaling pathways during development. We discuss a coding approach for GAGs that would enable computational analyses of GAG sequences such as alignments and the computation of position weight matrices to describe GAG motifs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Fitness for synchronization of network motifs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vega, Y.M.; Vázquez-Prada, M.; Pacheco, A.F.

    2004-01-01

    We study the synchronization of Kuramoto's oscillators in small parts of networks known as motifs. We first report on the system dynamics for the case of a scale-free network and show the existence of a non-trivial critical point. We compute the probability that network motifs synchronize, and fi...... that the fitness for synchronization correlates well with motifs interconnectedness and structural complexity. Possible implications for present debates about network evolution in biological and other systems are discussed....

  19. Aplikasi Ornamen Khas Maluku untuk Pengembangan Desain Motif Batik

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masiswo Masiswo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRAKMaluku memiliki banyak ragam hias budaya warisan nilai leluhur berupa ornamen etnis yang merupakan kesenian dan keterampilan kerajinan. Hasil warisan tersebut sampai saat ini masih lestari hidup serta dapat dinikmati sebagai konsumsi rohani yang memuaskan manusia. Berkaitan dengan keberlangsungan nilai-nilai tradisi etnis yang berwujud pada ornamen-ornamen daerah Maluku, maka dikembangkan untuk kebutuhan manusia berupa motif batik pada kain. Pengembangan ornamen ini lebih menekankan pada representasi akan bentuk-bentuk ornamen yang diterapkan pada kerajinan batik berupa motif khas Maluku. Pengembangan alternatif desain motif batik dibuat tiga variasi yang bersumber dari ornamen khas Maluku dibuat prototipe produknya dan diuji ketahanan luntur warnanya. Hasil uji ketahanan luntur warna terhadap gosokan basah dari tiga prototipe produk berpredikat baik sekali terdapat pada “Motif Siwa” dan predikat baik pada motif “Siwa Talang” dan motif “Matahari Siwa Talang”.Kata kunci: desain, Maluku, motif batik, ornamenABSTRACTMaluku has much decorative ancestral cultural heritage value in the form of ornament ethnic arts and crafts skills. The result of the legacy is still sustainable living can be enjoyed as well as satisfying spiritual human consumption.Related to the sustainability of traditional values in the form of ethnic ornaments Maluku, it was developed for human needs in the form of batik cloth . The development of these ornaments will be more emphasis on the representation forms of ornamentation that is applied to a batik motif Maluku. Development of alternative design motif made three variations. The development of three alternative design motifs derived from the Maluku ornaments made and tested a prototype product color fastness. The test results of color fastness to wet rubbing of the three prototypes are excellent products predicated on the "Motif Siwa" and a good rating on the motif "Siwa Talang" and motif "Matahari Siwa

  20. Crystal structures reveal metal-binding plasticity at the metallo-β-lactamase active site of PqqB from Pseudomonas putida

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tu, Xiongying; Latham, John A.; Klema, Valerie J.; Evans III, Robert L.; Li, Chao; Klinman, Judith P.; Wilmot, Carrie M. (UMM); (UCB)

    2017-08-19

    PqqB is an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of pyrroloquinoline quinone and a distal member of the metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) superfamily. PqqB lacks two residues in the conserved signature motif HxHxDH that makes up the key metal-chelating elements that can bind up to two metal ions at the active site of MBLs and other members of its superfamily. Here, we report crystal structures of PqqB bound to Mn2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+. These structures demonstrate that PqqB can still bind metal ions at the canonical MBL active site. The fact that PqqB can adapt its side chains to chelate a wide spectrum of metal ions with different coordination features on a uniform main chain scaffold demonstrates its metal-binding plasticity. This plasticity may provide insights into the structural basis of promiscuous activities found in ensembles of metal complexes within this superfamily. Furthermore, PqqB belongs to a small subclass of MBLs that contain an additional CxCxxC motif that binds a structural Zn2+. Our data support a key role for this motif in dimerization.

  1. Parole, Sintagmatik, dan Paradigmatik Motif Batik Mega Mendung

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rudi - Nababan

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT   Discussing traditional batik is related a lot to the organization system of fine arts element ac- companying it, either the pattern of the motif or the technique of the making. In this case, the motif of Mega Mendung Cirebon certainly has patterns and rules which are traditionally different from the other motifs in other areas. Through  semiotics analysis especially with Saussure and Pierce concept, it can be traced that batik with Cirebon motif, in this case Mega Mendung motif, has parole and langue system, as unique fine arts language in batik, and structure of visual syntagmatic and paradigmatic. In the context of batik motif as fine arts language, it is surely related to sign system as symbol and icon.       Keywords: visual semiotic, Cirebon’s batik.

  2. THE USE OF DEDICATED PEPTIDE LIBRARIES PERMITS THE DISCOVERY OF HIGH-AFFINITY BINDING PEPTIDES

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    DEKOSTER, HS; AMONS, R; BENCKHUIJSEN, WE; FEIJLBRIEF, M; SCHELLEKENS, GA; DRIJFHOUT, JW

    1995-01-01

    The motif for peptide binding to monoclonal antibody mAb A16, which is known to be directed against glycoprotein D of Herpes simplex virus type 1, was determined using two dedicated peptide libraries. As a starting point for this study we used an A-16 binding lead sequence, which had previously been

  3. Stable MCC binding to the APC/C is required for a functional spindle assembly checkpoint

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hein, Jamin B; Nilsson, Jakob

    2014-01-01

    stably to the APC/C. Whether MCC formation per se is sufficient for a functional SAC or MCC association with the APC/C is required remains unclear. Here, we analyze the role of two conserved motifs in Cdc20, IR and C-Box, in binding of the MCC to the APC/C. Mutants in both motifs assemble the MCC....../C is critical for a functional SAC....

  4. Phospho-dependent binding of the clathrin AP2 adaptor complex to GABAA receptors regulates the efficacy of inhibitory synaptic transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kittler, Josef T; Chen, Guojun; Honing, Stephan; Bogdanov, Yury; McAinsh, Kristina; Arancibia-Carcamo, I Lorena; Jovanovic, Jasmina N; Pangalos, Menelas N; Haucke, Volker; Yan, Zhen; Moss, Stephen J

    2005-10-11

    The efficacy of synaptic inhibition depends on the number of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABA(A)Rs) expressed on the cell surface of neurons. The clathrin adaptor protein 2 (AP2) complex is a critical regulator of GABA(A)R endocytosis and, hence, surface receptor number. Here, we identify a previously uncharacterized atypical AP2 binding motif conserved within the intracellular domains of all GABA(A)R beta subunit isoforms. This AP2 binding motif (KTHLRRRSSQLK in the beta3 subunit) incorporates the major sites of serine phosphorylation within receptor beta subunits, and phosphorylation within this site inhibits AP2 binding. Furthermore, by using surface plasmon resonance, we establish that a peptide (pepbeta3) corresponding to the AP2 binding motif in the GABA(A)R beta3 subunit binds to AP2 with high affinity only when dephosphorylated. Moreover, the pepbeta3 peptide, but not its phosphorylated equivalent (pepbeta3-phos), enhanced the amplitude of miniature inhibitory synaptic current and whole cell GABA(A)R current. These effects of pepbeta3 on GABA(A)R current were occluded by inhibitors of dynamin-dependent endocytosis supporting an action of pepbeta3 on GABA(A)R endocytosis. Therefore phospho-dependent regulation of AP2 binding to GABA(A)Rs provides a mechanism to specify receptor cell surface number and the efficacy of inhibitory synaptic transmission.

  5. Motif statistics and spike correlations in neuronal networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, Yu; Shea-Brown, Eric; Trousdale, James; Josić, Krešimir

    2013-01-01

    Motifs are patterns of subgraphs of complex networks. We studied the impact of such patterns of connectivity on the level of correlated, or synchronized, spiking activity among pairs of cells in a recurrent network of integrate and fire neurons. For a range of network architectures, we find that the pairwise correlation coefficients, averaged across the network, can be closely approximated using only three statistics of network connectivity. These are the overall network connection probability and the frequencies of two second order motifs: diverging motifs, in which one cell provides input to two others, and chain motifs, in which two cells are connected via a third intermediary cell. Specifically, the prevalence of diverging and chain motifs tends to increase correlation. Our method is based on linear response theory, which enables us to express spiking statistics using linear algebra, and a resumming technique, which extrapolates from second order motifs to predict the overall effect of coupling on network correlation. Our motif-based results seek to isolate the effect of network architecture perturbatively from a known network state. (paper)

  6. Canonical and Noncanonical Sites Determine NPT2A Binding Selectivity to NHERF1 PDZ1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatyana Mamonova

    Full Text Available Na+/H+ Exchanger Regulatory Factor-1 (NHERF1 is a scaffolding protein containing 2 PDZ domains that coordinates the assembly and trafficking of transmembrane receptors and ion channels. Most target proteins harboring a C-terminus recognition motif bind more-or-less equivalently to the either PDZ domain, which contain identical core-binding motifs. However some substrates such as the type II sodium-dependent phosphate co-transporter (NPT2A, uniquely bind only one PDZ domain. We sought to define the structural determinants responsible for the specificity of interaction between NHERF1 PDZ domains and NPT2A. By performing all-atom/explicit-solvent molecular dynamics (MD simulations in combination with biological mutagenesis, fluorescent polarization (FP binding assays, and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC, we found that in addition to canonical interactions of residues at 0 and -2 positions, Arg at the -1 position of NPT2A plays a critical role in association with Glu43 and His27 of PDZ1 that are absent in PDZ2. Experimentally introduced mutation in PDZ1 (Glu43Asp and His27Asn decreased binding to NPT2A. Conversely, introduction of Asp183Glu and Asn167His mutations in PDZ2 promoted the formation of favorable interactions yielding micromolar KDs. The results describe novel determinants within both the PDZ domain and outside the canonical PDZ-recognition motif that are responsible for discrimination of NPT2A between two PDZ domains. The results challenge general paradigms for PDZ recognition and suggest new targets for drug development.

  7. Rice MEL2, the RNA recognition motif (RRM) protein, binds in vitro to meiosis-expressed genes containing U-rich RNA consensus sequences in the 3'-UTR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyazaki, Saori; Sato, Yutaka; Asano, Tomoya; Nagamura, Yoshiaki; Nonomura, Ken-Ichi

    2015-10-01

    Post-transcriptional gene regulation by RNA recognition motif (RRM) proteins through binding to cis-elements in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) is widely used in eukaryotes to complete various biological processes. Rice MEIOSIS ARRESTED AT LEPTOTENE2 (MEL2) is the RRM protein that functions in the transition to meiosis in proper timing. The MEL2 RRM preferentially associated with the U-rich RNA consensus, UUAGUU[U/A][U/G][A/U/G]U, dependently on sequences and proportionally to MEL2 protein amounts in vitro. The consensus sequences were located in the putative looped structures of the RNA ligand. A genome-wide survey revealed a tendency of MEL2-binding consensus appearing in 3'-UTR of rice genes. Of 249 genes that conserved the consensus in their 3'-UTR, 13 genes spatiotemporally co-expressed with MEL2 in meiotic flowers, and included several genes whose function was supposed in meiosis; such as Replication protein A and OsMADS3. The proteome analysis revealed that the amounts of small ubiquitin-related modifier-like protein and eukaryotic translation initiation factor3-like protein were dramatically altered in mel2 mutant anthers. Taken together with transcriptome and gene ontology results, we propose that the rice MEL2 is involved in the translational regulation of key meiotic genes on 3'-UTRs to achieve the faithful transition of germ cells to meiosis.

  8. Systematic analysis of phosphotyrosine antibodies recognizing single phosphorylated EPIYA-motifs in CagA of Western-type Helicobacter pylori strains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith Lind

    Full Text Available The clinical outcome of Helicobacter pylori infections is determined by multiple host-pathogen interactions that may develop to chronic gastritis, and sometimes peptic ulcers or gastric cancer. Highly virulent strains encode a type IV secretion system (T4SS that delivers the effector protein CagA into gastric epithelial cells. Translocated CagA undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation at EPIYA-sequence motifs, called A, B and C in Western-type strains, by members of the oncogenic Src and Abl host kinases. Phosphorylated EPIYA-motifs mediate interactions of CagA with host signaling factors--in particular various SH2-domain containing human proteins--thereby hijacking multiple downstream signaling cascades. Observations of tyrosine-phosphorylated CagA are mainly based on the use of commercial phosphotyrosine antibodies, which originally were selected to detect phosphotyrosines in mammalian proteins. Systematic studies of phosphorylated EPIYA-motif detection by the different antibodies would be very useful, but are not yet available. To address this issue, we synthesized phospho- and non-phosphopeptides representing each predominant Western CagA EPIYA-motif, and determined the recognition patterns of seven different phosphotyrosine antibodies in Western blots, and also performed infection studies with diverse representative Western H. pylori strains. Our results show that a total of 9-11 amino acids containing the phosphorylated EPIYA-motifs are necessary and sufficient for specific detection by these antibodies, but revealed great variability in sequence recognition. Three of the antibodies recognized phosphorylated EPIYA-motifs A, B and C similarly well; whereas preferential binding to phosphorylated motif A and motifs A and C was found with two and one antibodies, respectively, and the seventh anti-phosphotyrosine antibody did not recognize any phosphorylated EPIYA-motif. Controls showed that none of the antibodies recognized the corresponding non

  9. A conserved motif in the linker domain of STAT1 transcription factor is required for both recognition and release from high-affinity DNA-binding sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hüntelmann, Bettina; Staab, Julia; Herrmann-Lingen, Christoph; Meyer, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Binding to specific palindromic sequences termed gamma-activated sites (GAS) is a hallmark of gene activation by members of the STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) family of cytokine-inducible transcription factors. However, the precise molecular mechanisms involved in the signal-dependent finding of target genes by STAT dimers have not yet been very well studied. In this study, we have characterized a sequence motif in the STAT1 linker domain which is highly conserved among the seven human STAT proteins and includes surface-exposed residues in close proximity to the bound DNA. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have demonstrated that a lysine residue in position 567 of the full-length molecule is required for GAS recognition. The substitution of alanine for this residue completely abolished both binding to high-affinity GAS elements and transcriptional activation of endogenous target genes in cells stimulated with interferon-γ (IFNγ), while the time course of transient nuclear accumulation and tyrosine phosphorylation were virtually unchanged. In contrast, two glutamic acid residues (E559 and E563) on each monomer are important for the dissociation of dimeric STAT1 from DNA and, when mutated to alanine, result in elevated levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT1 as well as prolonged IFNγ-stimulated nuclear accumulation. In conclusion, our data indicate that the kinetics of signal-dependent GAS binding is determined by an array of glutamic acid residues located at the interior surface of the STAT1 dimer. These negatively charged residues appear to align the long axis of the STAT1 dimer in a position perpendicular to the DNA, thereby facilitating the interaction between lysine 567 and the phosphodiester backbone of a bound GAS element, which is a prerequisite for transient gene induction.

  10. Double-hydrophobic elastin-like polypeptides with added functional motifs: Self-assembly and cytocompatibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Duc H T; Tsutsui, Yoko; Sugawara-Narutaki, Ayae; Yukawa, Hiroshi; Baba, Yoshinobu; Ohtsuki, Chikara

    2017-09-01

    We have recently developed a novel double-hydrophobic elastin-like triblock polypeptide called GPG, designed after the uneven distribution of two different hydrophobic domains found in elastin, an extracellular matrix protein providing elasticity and resilience to tissues. Upon temperature trigger, GPG undergoes a sequential self-assembling process to form flexible beaded nanofibers with high homogeneity and excellent dispersibility in water. Given that GPG might be a potential elastin-mimetic material, we sought to explore the biological activities of this block polypeptide. Besides GPG, several functionalized derivatives were also constructed by fusing functional motifs such as KAAK or KAAKGRGDS at the C-terminal of GPG. Although the added motifs affected the kinetics of fiber formation and β-sheet contents, all three GPGs assembled into beaded nanofibers at the physiological temperature. The resulting GPG nanofibers preserved their beaded structures in cell culture medium; therefore, they were coated on polystyrene substrates to study their cytocompatibility toward mouse embryonic fibroblasts, NIH-3T3. Among the three polypeptides, GPG having the cell-binding motif GRGDS derived from fibronectin showed excellent cell adhesion and cell proliferation properties compared to other conventional materials, suggesting its promising applications as extracellular matrices for mammalian cells. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2475-2484, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. The LXCXE Retinoblastoma Protein-Binding Motif of FOG-2 Regulates Adipogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goupille, Olivier; Penglong, Tipparat; Kadri, Zahra; Granger-Locatelli, Marine; Denis, Raphaël; Luquet, Serge; Badoual, Cécile; Fucharoen, Suthat; Maouche-Chrétien, Leila; Leboulch, Philippe; Chrétien, Stany

    2017-12-19

    GATA transcription factors and their FOG cofactors play a key role in tissue-specific development and differentiation, from worms to humans. Mammals have six GATA and two FOG factors. We recently demonstrated that interactions between retinoblastoma protein (pRb) and GATA-1 are crucial for erythroid proliferation and differentiation. We show here that the LXCXE pRb-binding site of FOG-2 is involved in adipogenesis. Unlike GATA-1, which inhibits cell division, FOG-2 promotes proliferation. Mice with a knockin of a Fog2 gene bearing a mutated LXCXE pRb-binding site are resistant to obesity and display higher rates of white-to-brown fat conversion. Thus, each component of the GATA/FOG complex (GATA-1 and FOG-2) is involved in pRb/E2F regulation, but these molecules have markedly different roles in the control of tissue homeostasis. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Lil3 dimerization and chlorophyll binding in Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mork-Jansson, Astrid Elisabeth; Gargano, Daniela; Kmiec, Karol; Furnes, Clemens; Shevela, Dmitriy; Eichacker, Lutz Andreas

    2015-10-07

    The two-helix light harvesting like (Lil) protein Lil3 belongs to the family of chlorophyll binding light harvesting proteins of photosynthetic membranes. A function in tetrapyrrol synthesis and stabilization of geranylgeraniol reductase has been shown. Lil proteins contain the chlorophyll a/b-binding motif; however, binding of chlorophyll has not been demonstrated. We find that Lil3.2 from Arabidopsis thaliana forms heterodimers with Lil3.1 and binds chlorophyll. Lil3.2 heterodimerization (25±7.8 nM) is favored relative to homodimerization (431±59 nM). Interaction of Lil3.2 with chlorophyll a (231±49 nM) suggests that heterodimerization precedes binding of chlorophyll in Arabidopsis thaliana. Copyright © 2015 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. CONTEMPORARY USAGE OF TRADITIONAL TURKISH MOTIFS IN PRODUCT DESIGNS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tulay Gumuser

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to identify the traditional Turkish motifs and its relations among present industrial designs. Traditional Turkish motifs played a very important role in 16th century onwards. The arts of the Ottoman Empire were used because of their symbolic meanings and unique styles. When we examine these motifs we encounter; Tiger Stripe, Three Spot (Çintemani, Rumi, Hatayi, Penç, Cloud, Crescent, Star, Crown, Hyacinth, Tulip and Carnation motifs. Nowadays, Turkish designers have begun to use these traditional Turkish motifs in their designs so as to create differences and awareness in the world design. The examples of these industrial designs, using the Turkish motifs, have survived and have Ottoman heritage and historical value. In this study, the Turkish motifs will be examined along with their focus on contemporary Turkish industrial designs used today.

  14. Hybrids of the bHLH and bZIP protein motifs display different DNA-binding activities in vivo vs. in vitro.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiu-Kwan Chow

    Full Text Available Minimalist hybrids comprising the DNA-binding domain of bHLH/PAS (basic-helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim protein Arnt fused to the leucine zipper (LZ dimerization domain from bZIP (basic region-leucine zipper protein C/EBP were designed to bind the E-box DNA site, CACGTG, targeted by bHLHZ (basic-helix-loop-helix-zipper proteins Myc and Max, as well as the Arnt homodimer. The bHLHZ-like structure of ArntbHLH-C/EBP comprises the Arnt bHLH domain fused to the C/EBP LZ: i.e. swap of the 330 aa PAS domain for the 29 aa LZ. In the yeast one-hybrid assay (Y1H, transcriptional activation from the E-box was strong by ArntbHLH-C/EBP, and undetectable for the truncated ArntbHLH (PAS removed, as detected via readout from the HIS3 and lacZ reporters. In contrast, fluorescence anisotropy titrations showed affinities for the E-box with ArntbHLH-C/EBP and ArntbHLH comparable to other transcription factors (K(d 148.9 nM and 40.2 nM, respectively, but only under select conditions that maintained folded protein. Although in vivo yeast results and in vitro spectroscopic studies for ArntbHLH-C/EBP targeting the E-box correlate well, the same does not hold for ArntbHLH. As circular dichroism confirms that ArntbHLH-C/EBP is a much more strongly alpha-helical structure than ArntbHLH, we conclude that the nonfunctional ArntbHLH in the Y1H must be due to misfolding, leading to the false negative that this protein is incapable of targeting the E-box. Many experiments, including protein design and selections from large libraries, depend on protein domains remaining well-behaved in the nonnative experimental environment, especially small motifs like the bHLH (60-70 aa. Interestingly, a short helical LZ can serve as a folding- and/or solubility-enhancing tag, an important device given the focus of current research on exploration of vast networks of biomolecular interactions.

  15. RNA motif search with data-driven element ordering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rampášek, Ladislav; Jimenez, Randi M; Lupták, Andrej; Vinař, Tomáš; Brejová, Broňa

    2016-05-18

    In this paper, we study the problem of RNA motif search in long genomic sequences. This approach uses a combination of sequence and structure constraints to uncover new distant homologs of known functional RNAs. The problem is NP-hard and is traditionally solved by backtracking algorithms. We have designed a new algorithm for RNA motif search and implemented a new motif search tool RNArobo. The tool enhances the RNAbob descriptor language, allowing insertions in helices, which enables better characterization of ribozymes and aptamers. A typical RNA motif consists of multiple elements and the running time of the algorithm is highly dependent on their ordering. By approaching the element ordering problem in a principled way, we demonstrate more than 100-fold speedup of the search for complex motifs compared to previously published tools. We have developed a new method for RNA motif search that allows for a significant speedup of the search of complex motifs that include pseudoknots. Such speed improvements are crucial at a time when the rate of DNA sequencing outpaces growth in computing. RNArobo is available at http://compbio.fmph.uniba.sk/rnarobo .

  16. Genome-wide identification of estrogen receptor alpha-binding sites in mouse liver

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gao, Hui; Fält, Susann; Sandelin, Albin

    2007-01-01

    We report the genome-wide identification of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-binding regions in mouse liver using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and tiled microarrays that cover all nonrepetitive sequences in the mouse genome. This analysis identified 5568 ERalpha-binding regions...... genes. The majority of ERalpha-binding regions lie in regions that are evolutionarily conserved between human and mouse. Motif-finding algorithms identified the estrogen response element, and variants thereof, together with binding sites for activator protein 1, basic-helix-loop-helix proteins, ETS...... signaling in mouse liver, by characterizing the first step in this signaling cascade, the binding of ERalpha to DNA in intact chromatin....

  17. Defining the plasticity of transcription factor binding sites by Deconstructing DNA consensus sequences: the PhoP-binding sites among gamma/enterobacteria.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oscar Harari

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Transcriptional regulators recognize specific DNA sequences. Because these sequences are embedded in the background of genomic DNA, it is hard to identify the key cis-regulatory elements that determine disparate patterns of gene expression. The detection of the intra- and inter-species differences among these sequences is crucial for understanding the molecular basis of both differential gene expression and evolution. Here, we address this problem by investigating the target promoters controlled by the DNA-binding PhoP protein, which governs virulence and Mg(2+ homeostasis in several bacterial species. PhoP is particularly interesting; it is highly conserved in different gamma/enterobacteria, regulating not only ancestral genes but also governing the expression of dozens of horizontally acquired genes that differ from species to species. Our approach consists of decomposing the DNA binding site sequences for a given regulator into families of motifs (i.e., termed submotifs using a machine learning method inspired by the "Divide & Conquer" strategy. By partitioning a motif into sub-patterns, computational advantages for classification were produced, resulting in the discovery of new members of a regulon, and alleviating the problem of distinguishing functional sites in chromatin immunoprecipitation and DNA microarray genome-wide analysis. Moreover, we found that certain partitions were useful in revealing biological properties of binding site sequences, including modular gains and losses of PhoP binding sites through evolutionary turnover events, as well as conservation in distant species. The high conservation of PhoP submotifs within gamma/enterobacteria, as well as the regulatory protein that recognizes them, suggests that the major cause of divergence between related species is not due to the binding sites, as was previously suggested for other regulators. Instead, the divergence may be attributed to the fast evolution of orthologous target

  18. A new type of Na(+-driven ATP synthase membrane rotor with a two-carboxylate ion-coupling motif.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Schulz

    Full Text Available The anaerobic bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum uses glutamate decarboxylation to generate a transmembrane gradient of Na⁺. Here, we demonstrate that this ion-motive force is directly coupled to ATP synthesis, via an F₁F₀-ATP synthase with a novel Na⁺ recognition motif, shared by other human pathogens. Molecular modeling and free-energy simulations of the rotary element of the enzyme, the c-ring, indicate Na⁺ specificity in physiological settings. Consistently, activity measurements showed Na⁺ stimulation of the enzyme, either membrane-embedded or isolated, and ATP synthesis was sensitive to the Na⁺ ionophore monensin. Furthermore, Na⁺ has a protective effect against inhibitors targeting the ion-binding sites, both in the complete ATP synthase and the isolated c-ring. Definitive evidence of Na⁺ coupling is provided by two identical crystal structures of the c₁₁ ring, solved by X-ray crystallography at 2.2 and 2.6 Å resolution, at pH 5.3 and 8.7, respectively. Na⁺ ions occupy all binding sites, each coordinated by four amino acids and a water molecule. Intriguingly, two carboxylates instead of one mediate ion binding. Simulations and experiments demonstrate that this motif implies that a proton is concurrently bound to all sites, although Na⁺ alone drives the rotary mechanism. The structure thus reveals a new mode of ion coupling in ATP synthases and provides a basis for drug-design efforts against this opportunistic pathogen.

  19. Identification of sequence motifs significantly associated with antisense activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peek Andrew S

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Predicting the suppression activity of antisense oligonucleotide sequences is the main goal of the rational design of nucleic acids. To create an effective predictive model, it is important to know what properties of an oligonucleotide sequence associate significantly with antisense activity. Also, for the model to be efficient we must know what properties do not associate significantly and can be omitted from the model. This paper will discuss the results of a randomization procedure to find motifs that associate significantly with either high or low antisense suppression activity, analysis of their properties, as well as the results of support vector machine modelling using these significant motifs as features. Results We discovered 155 motifs that associate significantly with high antisense suppression activity and 202 motifs that associate significantly with low suppression activity. The motifs range in length from 2 to 5 bases, contain several motifs that have been previously discovered as associating highly with antisense activity, and have thermodynamic properties consistent with previous work associating thermodynamic properties of sequences with their antisense activity. Statistical analysis revealed no correlation between a motif's position within an antisense sequence and that sequences antisense activity. Also, many significant motifs existed as subwords of other significant motifs. Support vector regression experiments indicated that the feature set of significant motifs increased correlation compared to all possible motifs as well as several subsets of the significant motifs. Conclusion The thermodynamic properties of the significantly associated motifs support existing data correlating the thermodynamic properties of the antisense oligonucleotide with antisense efficiency, reinforcing our hypothesis that antisense suppression is strongly associated with probe/target thermodynamics, as there are no enzymatic

  20. Structural and functional studies of a phosphatidic acid-binding antifungal plant defensin MtDef4: identification of an RGFRRR motif governing fungal cell entry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uma Shankar Sagaram

    Full Text Available MtDef4 is a 47-amino acid cysteine-rich evolutionary conserved defensin from a model legume Medicago truncatula. It is an apoplast-localized plant defense protein that inhibits the growth of the ascomycetous fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum in vitro at micromolar concentrations. Little is known about the mechanisms by which MtDef4 mediates its antifungal activity. In this study, we show that MtDef4 rapidly permeabilizes fungal plasma membrane and is internalized by the fungal cells where it accumulates in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, analysis of the structure of MtDef4 reveals the presence of a positively charged γ-core motif composed of β2 and β3 strands connected by a positively charged RGFRRR loop. Replacement of the RGFRRR sequence with AAAARR or RGFRAA abolishes the ability of MtDef4 to enter fungal cells, suggesting that the RGFRRR loop is a translocation signal required for the internalization of the protein. MtDef4 binds to phosphatidic acid (PA, a precursor for the biosynthesis of membrane phospholipids and a signaling lipid known to recruit cytosolic proteins to membranes. Amino acid substitutions in the RGFRRR sequence which abolish the ability of MtDef4 to enter fungal cells also impair its ability to bind PA. These findings suggest that MtDef4 is a novel antifungal plant defensin capable of entering into fungal cells and affecting intracellular targets and that these processes are mediated by the highly conserved cationic RGFRRR loop via its interaction with PA.

  1. G =  MAT: linking transcription factor expression and DNA binding data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tretyakov, Konstantin; Laur, Sven; Vilo, Jaak

    2011-01-31

    Transcription factors are proteins that bind to motifs on the DNA and thus affect gene expression regulation. The qualitative description of the corresponding processes is therefore important for a better understanding of essential biological mechanisms. However, wet lab experiments targeted at the discovery of the regulatory interplay between transcription factors and binding sites are expensive. We propose a new, purely computational method for finding putative associations between transcription factors and motifs. This method is based on a linear model that combines sequence information with expression data. We present various methods for model parameter estimation and show, via experiments on simulated data, that these methods are reliable. Finally, we examine the performance of this model on biological data and conclude that it can indeed be used to discover meaningful associations. The developed software is available as a web tool and Scilab source code at http://biit.cs.ut.ee/gmat/.

  2. G = MAT: Linking Transcription Factor Expression and DNA Binding Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tretyakov, Konstantin; Laur, Sven; Vilo, Jaak

    2011-01-01

    Transcription factors are proteins that bind to motifs on the DNA and thus affect gene expression regulation. The qualitative description of the corresponding processes is therefore important for a better understanding of essential biological mechanisms. However, wet lab experiments targeted at the discovery of the regulatory interplay between transcription factors and binding sites are expensive. We propose a new, purely computational method for finding putative associations between transcription factors and motifs. This method is based on a linear model that combines sequence information with expression data. We present various methods for model parameter estimation and show, via experiments on simulated data, that these methods are reliable. Finally, we examine the performance of this model on biological data and conclude that it can indeed be used to discover meaningful associations. The developed software is available as a web tool and Scilab source code at http://biit.cs.ut.ee/gmat/. PMID:21297945

  3. The Role of Genome Accessibility in Transcription Factor Binding in Bacteria.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio L C Gomes

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available ChIP-seq enables genome-scale identification of regulatory regions that govern gene expression. However, the biological insights generated from ChIP-seq analysis have been limited to predictions of binding sites and cooperative interactions. Furthermore, ChIP-seq data often poorly correlate with in vitro measurements or predicted motifs, highlighting that binding affinity alone is insufficient to explain transcription factor (TF-binding in vivo. One possibility is that binding sites are not equally accessible across the genome. A more comprehensive biophysical representation of TF-binding is required to improve our ability to understand, predict, and alter gene expression. Here, we show that genome accessibility is a key parameter that impacts TF-binding in bacteria. We developed a thermodynamic model that parameterizes ChIP-seq coverage in terms of genome accessibility and binding affinity. The role of genome accessibility is validated using a large-scale ChIP-seq dataset of the M. tuberculosis regulatory network. We find that accounting for genome accessibility led to a model that explains 63% of the ChIP-seq profile variance, while a model based in motif score alone explains only 35% of the variance. Moreover, our framework enables de novo ChIP-seq peak prediction and is useful for inferring TF-binding peaks in new experimental conditions by reducing the need for additional experiments. We observe that the genome is more accessible in intergenic regions, and that increased accessibility is positively correlated with gene expression and anti-correlated with distance to the origin of replication. Our biophysically motivated model provides a more comprehensive description of TF-binding in vivo from first principles towards a better representation of gene regulation in silico, with promising applications in systems biology.

  4. Preliminary crystallographic analysis of the RNA-binding domain of HuR and its poly(U)-binding properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Hong; Li, Heng; Shi, Hui; Liu, Yang; Liu, Huihui; Zhao, Hui; Niu, Liwen; Teng, Maikun; Li, Xu

    2011-01-01

    Here, the recombinant ARE-binding region of HuR (residues 18–186) was crystallized in space group P2 1 2 1 2, with unit-cell parameters a = 41.2, b = 133.1, c = 31.4 Å. Human antigen R (HuR), a ubiquitously expressed member of the Hu protein family, is an important post-transcriptional regulator which has three RNA-recognition motif (RRM) domains. The two tandem N-terminal RRM domains can selectively bind to the AU-rich element (ARE), while the third one interacts with the poly(A) tail and other proteins. Here, the recombinant ARE-binding region of HuR (residues 18–186) was crystallized in space group P2 1 2 1 2, with unit-cell parameters a = 41.2, b = 133.1, c = 31.4 Å. X-ray diffraction data were collected to a resolution of 2.8 Å. Mutagenesis analysis and SPR assays revealed its poly(U)-binding properties

  5. Analisis Unsur Matematika pada Motif Sulam Usus

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    Fredi Ganda Putra

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Based on interviews with researchers sources said that the beginning of the intestine embroidery is an art of genuine crafts. Called the intestine embroidery because this technique is a technique of combining a strand of cloth resembling the intestine formed according to the pattern by means of embroidered using a thread. Intestinal embroidery techniques were originally used to create a cover of the women's customary wardrobe of Lampung or often referred to as bebe. But not many people in Lampung, especially people who live in Lampung are still many who do not know and recognize the intestine embroidery because most only know tapis only characteristic of Lampung, besides that there are other cultural results that is embroidered intestine. There are still many who do not know that the intestine motif there is a knowledge of mathematics. The researcher's problem formulation is whether there are mathematical elements contained in the intestine embroidery motif based on the concept of geometry. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are elements of mathematics contained in the intestine motif based on the concept of geometry. Subjects in this study consisted of 4 people obtained by purposive sampling technique. From the results of data analysis conducted by using descriptive analysis and discussion as follows: (1 Intestinal embroidery motif contains the meaning of mathematics and culture or often called Etnomatematika. On the meaning of culture there is a link between the embroidery intestine with a culture that has been there before as the existence of cultural linkage between Hindu belief Buddhism and there are similarities of motifs and decorative patterns contained in the motif embroidery intestine with ornamental variety in Indonesia. (2 The relationship between the intestine with mathematical motifs there are elements of mathematics such as geometry elements in the form of geometry of dimension one and dimension two, and the

  6. Motif signatures of transcribed enhancers

    KAUST Repository

    Kleftogiannis, Dimitrios

    2017-09-14

    In mammalian cells, transcribed enhancers (TrEn) play important roles in the initiation of gene expression and maintenance of gene expression levels in spatiotemporal manner. One of the most challenging questions in biology today is how the genomic characteristics of enhancers relate to enhancer activities. This is particularly critical, as several recent studies have linked enhancer sequence motifs to specific functional roles. To date, only a limited number of enhancer sequence characteristics have been investigated, leaving space for exploring the enhancers genomic code in a more systematic way. To address this problem, we developed a novel computational method, TELS, aimed at identifying predictive cell type/tissue specific motif signatures. We used TELS to compile a comprehensive catalog of motif signatures for all known TrEn identified by the FANTOM5 consortium across 112 human primary cells and tissues. Our results confirm that distinct cell type/tissue specific motif signatures characterize TrEn. These signatures allow discriminating successfully a) TrEn from random controls, proxy of non-enhancer activity, and b) cell type/tissue specific TrEn from enhancers expressed and transcribed in different cell types/tissues. TELS codes and datasets are publicly available at http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/TELS.

  7. Genus-specific protein binding to the large clusters of DNA repeats (short regularly spaced repeats) present in Sulfolobus genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peng, Xu; Brügger, Kim; Shen, Biao

    2003-01-01

    terminally modified and corresponds to SSO454, an open reading frame of previously unassigned function. It binds specifically to DNA fragments carrying double and single repeat sequences, binding on one side of the repeat structure, and producing an opening of the opposite side of the DNA structure. It also...... recognizes both main families of repeat sequences in S. solfataricus. The recombinant protein, expressed in Escherichia coli, showed the same binding properties to the SRSR repeat as the native one. The SSO454 protein exhibits a tripartite internal repeat structure which yields a good sequence match...... with a helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif. Although this putative motif is shared by other archaeal proteins, orthologs of SSO454 were only detected in species within the Sulfolobus genus and in the closely related Acidianus genus. We infer that the genus-specific protein induces an opening of the structure...

  8. Position specific variation in the rate of evolution intranscription factor binding sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moses, Alan M.; Chiang, Derek Y.; Kellis, Manolis; Lander, EricS.; Eisen, Michael B.

    2003-08-28

    The binding sites of sequence specific transcription factors are an important and relatively well-understood class of functional non-coding DNAs. Although a wide variety of experimental and computational methods have been developed to characterize transcription factor binding sites, they remain difficult to identify. Comparison of non-coding DNA from related species has shown considerable promise in identifying these functional non-coding sequences, even though relatively little is known about their evolution. Here we analyze the genome sequences of the budding yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S. bayanus, S. paradoxus and S. mikataeto study the evolution of transcription factor binding sites. As expected, we find that both experimentally characterized and computationally predicted binding sites evolve slower than surrounding sequence, consistent with the hypothesis that they are under purifying selection. We also observe position-specific variation in the rate of evolution within binding sites. We find that the position-specific rate of evolution is positively correlated with degeneracy among binding sites within S. cerevisiae. We test theoretical predictions for the rate of evolution at positions where the base frequencies deviate from background due to purifying selection and find reasonable agreement with the observed rates of evolution. Finally, we show how the evolutionary characteristics of real binding motifs can be used to distinguish them from artifacts of computational motif finding algorithms. As has been observed for protein sequences, the rate of evolution in transcription factor binding sites varies with position, suggesting that some regions are under stronger functional constraint than others. This variation likely reflects the varying importance of different positions in the formation of the protein-DNA complex. The characterization of the pattern of evolution in known binding sites will likely contribute to the effective use of comparative

  9. Piv site-specific invertase requires a DEDD motif analogous to the catalytic center of the RuvC Holliday junction resolvases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchner, John M; Robertson, Anne E; Poynter, David J; Denniston, Shelby S; Karls, Anna C

    2005-05-01

    Piv, a unique prokaryotic site-specific DNA invertase, is related to transposases of the insertion elements from the IS110/IS492 family and shows no similarity to the site-specific recombinases of the tyrosine- or serine-recombinase families. Piv tertiary structure is predicted to include the RNase H-like fold that typically encompasses the catalytic site of the recombinases or nucleases of the retroviral integrase superfamily, including transposases and RuvC-like Holliday junction resolvases. Analogous to the DDE and DEDD catalytic motifs of transposases and RuvC, respectively, four Piv acidic residues D9, E59, D101, and D104 appear to be positioned appropriately within the RNase H fold to coordinate two divalent metal cations. This suggests mechanistic similarity between site-specific inversion mediated by Piv and transposition or endonucleolytic reactions catalyzed by enzymes of the retroviral integrase superfamily. The role of the DEDD motif in Piv catalytic activity was addressed using Piv variants that are substituted individually or multiply at these acidic residues and assaying for in vivo inversion, intermolecular recombination, and DNA binding activities. The results indicate that all four residues of the DEDD motif are required for Piv catalytic activity. The DEDD residues are not essential for inv recombination site recognition and binding, but this acidic tetrad does appear to contribute to the stability of Piv-inv interactions. On the basis of these results, a working model for Piv-mediated inversion that includes resolution of a Holliday junction is presented.

  10. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2: contributions of the C-terminal domain to insulin-like growth factor-1 binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibbey, Megan M; Jameson, Mark J; Eaton, Erin M; Rosenzweig, Steven A

    2006-03-01

    Signaling by the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 receptor (IGF-1R) has been implicated in the promotion and aggressiveness of breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancers. The IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) represent a class of natural IGF antagonists that bind to and sequester IGF-1/2 from the IGF-1R, making them attractive candidates as therapeutics for cancer prevention and control. Recombinant human IGFBP-2 significantly attenuated IGF-1-stimulated MCF-7 cell proliferation with coaddition of 20 or 100 nM IGFBP-2 (50 or 80% inhibition, respectively). We previously identified IGF-1 contact sites both upstream and downstream of the CWCV motif (residues 247-250) in human IGFBP-2 (J Biol Chem 276:2880-2889, 2001). To further test their contributions to IGFBP-2 function, the single tryptophan in human IGFBP-2, Trp-248, was selectively cleaved with 2-(2'nitrophenylsulfenyl)-3-methyl-3 bromoindolenine (BNPS-skatole) and the BNPS-skatole products IGFBP-2(1-248) and IGFBP-2(249-289) as well as IGFBP-2(1-190) were expressed as glutathione S-transferase-fusion proteins and purified. Based on competition binding analysis, deletion of residues 249 to 289 caused an approximately 20-fold decrease in IGF-1 binding affinity (IGFBP-2 EC50 = 0.35 nM and IGFBP-2(1-248) = 7 nM). Removal of the remainder of the C-terminal domain had no further effect on affinity (IGFBP-2(1-190) EC50 = 9.2 nM). In kinetic assays, IGFBP-2(1-248) and IGFBP-2(1-190) exhibited more rapid association and dissociation rates than full-length IGFBP-2. These results confirm that regions upstream and downstream of the CWCV motif participate in IGF-1 binding. They further support the development of full-length IGFBP-2 as a cancer therapeutic.

  11. Crystal structure of the G3BP2 NTF2-like domain in complex with a canonical FGDF motif peptide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Ole

    2015-01-01

    -terminal domains of the G3BP1 and Rasputin proteins. Recently, a subset of G3BP interacting proteins was recognized to share a common sequence motif, FGDF. The most studied binding partners, USP10 and viral nsP3, interfere with essential G3BP functions related to assembly of cellular stress granules. Reported...

  12. Coupling ligand recognition to protein folding in an engineered variant of rabbit ileal lipid binding protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kouvatsos, Nikolaos; Meldrum, Jill K; Searle, Mark S; Thomas, Neil R

    2006-11-28

    We have engineered a variant of the beta-clam shell protein ILBP which lacks the alpha-helical motif that caps the central binding cavity; the mutant protein is sufficiently destabilised that it is unfolded under physiological conditions, however, it unexpectedly binds its natural bile acid substrates with high affinity forming a native-like beta-sheet rich structure and demonstrating strong thermodynamic coupling between ligand binding and protein folding.

  13. Identification of a phosphorylation-dependent nuclear localization motif in interferon regulatory factor 2 binding protein 2.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allen C T Teng

    Full Text Available Interferon regulatory factor 2 binding protein 2 (IRF2BP2 is a muscle-enriched transcription factor required to activate vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA expression in muscle. IRF2BP2 is found in the nucleus of cardiac and skeletal muscle cells. During the process of skeletal muscle differentiation, some IRF2BP2 becomes relocated to the cytoplasm, although the functional significance of this relocation and the mechanisms that control nucleocytoplasmic localization of IRF2BP2 are not yet known.Here, by fusing IRF2BP2 to green fluorescent protein and testing a series of deletion and site-directed mutagenesis constructs, we mapped the nuclear localization signal (NLS to an evolutionarily conserved sequence (354ARKRKPSP(361 in IRF2BP2. This sequence corresponds to a classical nuclear localization motif bearing positively charged arginine and lysine residues. Substitution of arginine and lysine with negatively charged aspartic acid residues blocked nuclear localization. However, these residues were not sufficient because nuclear targeting of IRF2BP2 also required phosphorylation of serine 360 (S360. Many large-scale phosphopeptide proteomic studies had reported previously that serine 360 of IRF2BP2 is phosphorylated in numerous human cell types. Alanine substitution at this site abolished IRF2BP2 nuclear localization in C(2C(12 myoblasts and CV1 cells. In contrast, substituting serine 360 with aspartic acid forced nuclear retention and prevented cytoplasmic redistribution in differentiated C(2C(12 muscle cells. As for the effects of these mutations on VEGFA promoter activity, the S360A mutation interfered with VEGFA activation, as expected. Surprisingly, the S360D mutation also interfered with VEGFA activation, suggesting that this mutation, while enforcing nuclear entry, may disrupt an essential activation function of IRF2BP2.Nuclear localization of IRF2BP2 depends on phosphorylation near a conserved NLS. Changes in phosphorylation status

  14. Triadic motifs in the dependence networks of virtual societies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Wen-Jie; Li, Ming-Xia; Jiang, Zhi-Qiang; Zhou, Wei-Xing

    2014-06-01

    In friendship networks, individuals have different numbers of friends, and the closeness or intimacy between an individual and her friends is heterogeneous. Using a statistical filtering method to identify relationships about who depends on whom, we construct dependence networks (which are directed) from weighted friendship networks of avatars in more than two hundred virtual societies of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). We investigate the evolution of triadic motifs in dependence networks. Several metrics show that the virtual societies evolved through a transient stage in the first two to three weeks and reached a relatively stable stage. We find that the unidirectional loop motif (M9) is underrepresented and does not appear, open motifs are also underrepresented, while other close motifs are overrepresented. We also find that, for most motifs, the overall level difference of the three avatars in the same motif is significantly lower than average, whereas the sum of ranks is only slightly larger than average. Our findings show that avatars' social status plays an important role in the formation of triadic motifs.

  15. Triadic motifs in the dependence networks of virtual societies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Wen-Jie; Li, Ming-Xia; Jiang, Zhi-Qiang; Zhou, Wei-Xing

    2014-06-10

    In friendship networks, individuals have different numbers of friends, and the closeness or intimacy between an individual and her friends is heterogeneous. Using a statistical filtering method to identify relationships about who depends on whom, we construct dependence networks (which are directed) from weighted friendship networks of avatars in more than two hundred virtual societies of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). We investigate the evolution of triadic motifs in dependence networks. Several metrics show that the virtual societies evolved through a transient stage in the first two to three weeks and reached a relatively stable stage. We find that the unidirectional loop motif (M9) is underrepresented and does not appear, open motifs are also underrepresented, while other close motifs are overrepresented. We also find that, for most motifs, the overall level difference of the three avatars in the same motif is significantly lower than average, whereas the sum of ranks is only slightly larger than average. Our findings show that avatars' social status plays an important role in the formation of triadic motifs.

  16. MUTATION ON WD DIPEPTIDE MOTIFS OF THE p48 SUBUNIT OF CHROMATIN ASSEMBLY FACTOR-1 CAUSING VIABILITY AND GROWTH OF DT40 CHICKEN B CELL LINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahyar Ahmad

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Chromatin assembly factor-1 (CAF-1, a protein complex consisting of three subunits, p150, p60, and p48, is highly conserved from yeast to humans and facilitated nucleosome assembly of newly replicated DNA. The p48 subunit, CAF-1p48 (p48, with seven WD (Trp-Asp repeat motifs, is a member of the WD protein family. The immunoprecipitation experiment revealed that ß-propeller structure of p48 was less stringent for it's binding to HDAC-1, but more stringent for its binding to both histones H4 and CAF-1p60 but not to ASF-1, indicating that the proper ß-propeller structure of p48 is essential for the binding to these two proteins histone H4 and CAF-1p60. Complementation experiments, involving missense and truncated mutants of FLAG-tagged p48, revealed that mutations of every of seven WD dipeptide motifs, like both the N-terminal and C-terminal truncated mutations, could not rescue for the tet-induced lethality. These results indicate not only that p48 is essential for the viability of vertebrate cells, although the yeast p48 homolog is nonessential, but also that all the seven WD dipeptide motifs are necessary for the maintenance of the proper structure of p48 that is fundamentally important for cell viability.   Keywords: Chromatin assembly factor-1, complementation experiments, viability

  17. Ratiometric fluorescent sensing of pH values in living cells by dual-fluorophore-labeled i-motif nanoprobes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jin; Ying, Le; Yang, Xiaohai; Yang, Yanjing; Quan, Ke; Wang, He; Xie, Nuli; Ou, Min; Zhou, Qifeng; Wang, Kemin

    2015-09-01

    We designed a new ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe for sensing pH values in living cells. Briefly, the nanoprobe consists of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP), short single-stranded oligonucleotides, and dual-fluorophore-labeled i-motif sequences. The short oligonucleotides are designed to bind with the i-motif sequences and immobilized on the AuNP surface via Au-S bond. At neutral pH, the dual fluorophores are separated, resulting in very low fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency. At acidic pH, the i-motif strands fold into a quadruplex structure and leave the AuNP, bringing the dual fluorophores into close proximity, resulting in high FRET efficiency, which could be used as a signal for pH sensing. The nanoprobe possesses abilities of cellular transfection, enzymatic protection, fast response and quantitative pH detection. The in vitro and intracellular applications of the nanoprobe were demonstrated, which showed excellent response in the physiological pH range. Furthermore, our experimental results suggested that the nanoprobe showed excellent spatial and temporal resolution in living cells. We think that the ratiometric sensing strategy could potentially be applied to create a variety of new multicolor sensors for intracellular detection.

  18. Detecting remote sequence homology in disordered proteins: discovery of conserved motifs in the N-termini of Mononegavirales phosphoproteins.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Karlin

    Full Text Available Paramyxovirinae are a large group of viruses that includes measles virus and parainfluenza viruses. The viral Phosphoprotein (P plays a central role in viral replication. It is composed of a highly variable, disordered N-terminus and a conserved C-terminus. A second viral protein alternatively expressed, the V protein, also contains the N-terminus of P, fused to a zinc finger. We suspected that, despite their high variability, the N-termini of P/V might all be homologous; however, using standard approaches, we could previously identify sequence conservation only in some Paramyxovirinae. We now compared the N-termini using sensitive sequence similarity search programs, able to detect residual similarities unnoticeable by conventional approaches. We discovered that all Paramyxovirinae share a short sequence motif in their first 40 amino acids, which we called soyuz1. Despite its short length (11-16aa, several arguments allow us to conclude that soyuz1 probably evolved by homologous descent, unlike linear motifs. Conservation across such evolutionary distances suggests that soyuz1 plays a crucial role and experimental data suggest that it binds the viral nucleoprotein to prevent its illegitimate self-assembly. In some Paramyxovirinae, the N-terminus of P/V contains a second motif, soyuz2, which might play a role in blocking interferon signaling. Finally, we discovered that the P of related Mononegavirales contain similarly overlooked motifs in their N-termini, and that their C-termini share a previously unnoticed structural similarity suggesting a common origin. Our results suggest several testable hypotheses regarding the replication of Mononegavirales and suggest that disordered regions with little overall sequence similarity, common in viral and eukaryotic proteins, might contain currently overlooked motifs (intermediate in length between linear motifs and disordered domains that could be detected simply by comparing orthologous proteins.

  19. DMINDA: an integrated web server for DNA motif identification and analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Qin; Zhang, Hanyuan; Mao, Xizeng; Zhou, Chuan; Liu, Bingqiang; Chen, Xin; Xu, Ying

    2014-07-01

    DMINDA (DNA motif identification and analyses) is an integrated web server for DNA motif identification and analyses, which is accessible at http://csbl.bmb.uga.edu/DMINDA/. This web site is freely available to all users and there is no login requirement. This server provides a suite of cis-regulatory motif analysis functions on DNA sequences, which are important to elucidation of the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation: (i) de novo motif finding for a given set of promoter sequences along with statistical scores for the predicted motifs derived based on information extracted from a control set, (ii) scanning motif instances of a query motif in provided genomic sequences, (iii) motif comparison and clustering of identified motifs, and (iv) co-occurrence analyses of query motifs in given promoter sequences. The server is powered by a backend computer cluster with over 150 computing nodes, and is particularly useful for motif prediction and analyses in prokaryotic genomes. We believe that DMINDA, as a new and comprehensive web server for cis-regulatory motif finding and analyses, will benefit the genomic research community in general and prokaryotic genome researchers in particular. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  20. Phospho-Ser/Thr-binding domains: navigating the cell cycle and DNA damage response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinhardt, H Christian; Yaffe, Michael B

    2013-09-01

    Coordinated progression through the cell cycle is a complex challenge for eukaryotic cells. Following genotoxic stress, diverse molecular signals must be integrated to establish checkpoints specific for each cell cycle stage, allowing time for various types of DNA repair. Phospho-Ser/Thr-binding domains have emerged as crucial regulators of cell cycle progression and DNA damage signalling. Such domains include 14-3-3 proteins, WW domains, Polo-box domains (in PLK1), WD40 repeats (including those in the E3 ligase SCF(βTrCP)), BRCT domains (including those in BRCA1) and FHA domains (such as in CHK2 and MDC1). Progress has been made in our understanding of the motif (or motifs) that these phospho-Ser/Thr-binding domains connect with on their targets and how these interactions influence the cell cycle and DNA damage response.

  1. Convolutional neural network architectures for predicting DNA–protein binding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Haoyang; Edwards, Matthew D.; Liu, Ge; Gifford, David K.

    2016-01-01

    Motivation: Convolutional neural networks (CNN) have outperformed conventional methods in modeling the sequence specificity of DNA–protein binding. Yet inappropriate CNN architectures can yield poorer performance than simpler models. Thus an in-depth understanding of how to match CNN architecture to a given task is needed to fully harness the power of CNNs for computational biology applications. Results: We present a systematic exploration of CNN architectures for predicting DNA sequence binding using a large compendium of transcription factor datasets. We identify the best-performing architectures by varying CNN width, depth and pooling designs. We find that adding convolutional kernels to a network is important for motif-based tasks. We show the benefits of CNNs in learning rich higher-order sequence features, such as secondary motifs and local sequence context, by comparing network performance on multiple modeling tasks ranging in difficulty. We also demonstrate how careful construction of sequence benchmark datasets, using approaches that control potentially confounding effects like positional or motif strength bias, is critical in making fair comparisons between competing methods. We explore how to establish the sufficiency of training data for these learning tasks, and we have created a flexible cloud-based framework that permits the rapid exploration of alternative neural network architectures for problems in computational biology. Availability and Implementation: All the models analyzed are available at http://cnn.csail.mit.edu. Contact: gifford@mit.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:27307608

  2. G =  MAT: linking transcription factor expression and DNA binding data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konstantin Tretyakov

    Full Text Available Transcription factors are proteins that bind to motifs on the DNA and thus affect gene expression regulation. The qualitative description of the corresponding processes is therefore important for a better understanding of essential biological mechanisms. However, wet lab experiments targeted at the discovery of the regulatory interplay between transcription factors and binding sites are expensive. We propose a new, purely computational method for finding putative associations between transcription factors and motifs. This method is based on a linear model that combines sequence information with expression data. We present various methods for model parameter estimation and show, via experiments on simulated data, that these methods are reliable. Finally, we examine the performance of this model on biological data and conclude that it can indeed be used to discover meaningful associations. The developed software is available as a web tool and Scilab source code at http://biit.cs.ut.ee/gmat/.

  3. RMOD: a tool for regulatory motif detection in signaling network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinki Kim

    Full Text Available Regulatory motifs are patterns of activation and inhibition that appear repeatedly in various signaling networks and that show specific regulatory properties. However, the network structures of regulatory motifs are highly diverse and complex, rendering their identification difficult. Here, we present a RMOD, a web-based system for the identification of regulatory motifs and their properties in signaling networks. RMOD finds various network structures of regulatory motifs by compressing the signaling network and detecting the compressed forms of regulatory motifs. To apply it into a large-scale signaling network, it adopts a new subgraph search algorithm using a novel data structure called path-tree, which is a tree structure composed of isomorphic graphs of query regulatory motifs. This algorithm was evaluated using various sizes of signaling networks generated from the integration of various human signaling pathways and it showed that the speed and scalability of this algorithm outperforms those of other algorithms. RMOD includes interactive analysis and auxiliary tools that make it possible to manipulate the whole processes from building signaling network and query regulatory motifs to analyzing regulatory motifs with graphical illustration and summarized descriptions. As a result, RMOD provides an integrated view of the regulatory motifs and mechanism underlying their regulatory motif activities within the signaling network. RMOD is freely accessible online at the following URL: http://pks.kaist.ac.kr/rmod.

  4. A modern approach for epitope prediction: identification of foot-and-mouth disease virus peptides binding bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) class I molecules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pandya, Mital; Rasmussen, Michael; Hansen, Andreas

    2015-01-01

    Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules regulate adaptive immune responses through the presentation of antigenic peptides to CD8+ T cells. Polymorphisms in the peptide binding region of class I molecules determine peptide binding affinity and stability during antigen presentation......, and different antigen peptide motifs are associated with specific genetic sequences of class I molecules. Understanding bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA), peptide-MHC class I binding specificities may facilitate development of vaccines or reagents for quantifying the adaptive immune response to intracellular...... pathogens, such as foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Six synthetic BoLA class I (BoLA-I) molecules were produced, and the peptide binding motif was generated for five of the six molecules using a combined approach of positional scanning combinatorial peptide libraries (PSCPLs) and neural network...

  5. Mutational definition of binding requirements of an hnRNP-like protein in Arabidopsis using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leder, Verena [Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University (Germany); Biomolecular Photonics, Faculty of Physics, Bielefeld University (Germany); Lummer, Martina [Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University (Germany); Tegeler, Kathrin [Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University (Germany); Biomolecular Photonics, Faculty of Physics, Bielefeld University (Germany); Humpert, Fabian [Biomolecular Photonics, Faculty of Physics, Bielefeld University (Germany); Lewinski, Martin [Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University (Germany); Schüttpelz, Mark [Biomolecular Photonics, Faculty of Physics, Bielefeld University (Germany); Staiger, Dorothee, E-mail: dorothee.staiger@uni-bielefeld.de [Molecular Cell Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University (Germany)

    2014-10-10

    Highlights: • We use FCS to investigate binding site requirements for the hnRNP-like protein AtGRP7. • We identify three nucleotides critical for AtGRP7 binding to its own intron. • Mutation of the conserved R{sup 49} abolishes binding altogether. • The paralogue AtGRP8 binds to an overlapping motif with different sequence requirement. • The glycine-rich stretch of a plant hnRNP-like protein contributes to binding. - Abstract: Arabidopsis thaliana glycine-rich RNA binding protein 7 (AtGRP7) is part of a negative feedback loop through which it regulates alternative splicing and steady-state abundance of its pre-mRNA. Here we use fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to investigate the requirements for AtGRP7 binding to its intron using fluorescently-labelled synthetic oligonucleotides. By systematically introducing point mutations we identify three nucleotides that lead to an increased K{sub d} value when mutated and thus are critical for AtGRP7 binding. Simultaneous mutation of all three residues abrogates binding. The paralogue AtGRP8 binds to an overlapping motif but with a different sequence preference, in line with overlapping but not identical functions of this protein pair. Truncation of the glycine-rich domain reduces the binding affinity of AtGRP7, showing for the first time that the glycine-rich stretch of a plant hnRNP-like protein contributes to binding. Mutation of the conserved R{sup 49} that is crucial for AtGRP7 function in pathogen defence and splicing abolishes binding.

  6. Mutational definition of binding requirements of an hnRNP-like protein in Arabidopsis using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leder, Verena; Lummer, Martina; Tegeler, Kathrin; Humpert, Fabian; Lewinski, Martin; Schüttpelz, Mark; Staiger, Dorothee

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • We use FCS to investigate binding site requirements for the hnRNP-like protein AtGRP7. • We identify three nucleotides critical for AtGRP7 binding to its own intron. • Mutation of the conserved R 49 abolishes binding altogether. • The paralogue AtGRP8 binds to an overlapping motif with different sequence requirement. • The glycine-rich stretch of a plant hnRNP-like protein contributes to binding. - Abstract: Arabidopsis thaliana glycine-rich RNA binding protein 7 (AtGRP7) is part of a negative feedback loop through which it regulates alternative splicing and steady-state abundance of its pre-mRNA. Here we use fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to investigate the requirements for AtGRP7 binding to its intron using fluorescently-labelled synthetic oligonucleotides. By systematically introducing point mutations we identify three nucleotides that lead to an increased K d value when mutated and thus are critical for AtGRP7 binding. Simultaneous mutation of all three residues abrogates binding. The paralogue AtGRP8 binds to an overlapping motif but with a different sequence preference, in line with overlapping but not identical functions of this protein pair. Truncation of the glycine-rich domain reduces the binding affinity of AtGRP7, showing for the first time that the glycine-rich stretch of a plant hnRNP-like protein contributes to binding. Mutation of the conserved R 49 that is crucial for AtGRP7 function in pathogen defence and splicing abolishes binding

  7. Discovery of candidate KEN-box motifs using cell cycle keyword enrichment combined with native disorder prediction and motif conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, Sushama; Travé, Gilles; Ramu, Chenna; Chica, Claudia; Gibson, Toby J

    2008-02-15

    KEN-box-mediated target selection is one of the mechanisms used in the proteasomal destruction of mitotic cell cycle proteins via the APC/C complex. While annotating the Eukaryotic Linear Motif resource (ELM, http://elm.eu.org/), we found that KEN motifs were significantly enriched in human protein entries with cell cycle keywords in the UniProt/Swiss-Prot database-implying that KEN-boxes might be more common than reported. Matches to short linear motifs in protein database searches are not, per se, significant. KEN-box enrichment with cell cycle Gene Ontology terms suggests that collectively these motifs are functional but does not prove that any given instance is so. Candidates were surveyed for native disorder prediction using GlobPlot and IUPred and for motif conservation in homologues. Among >25 strong new candidates, the most notable are human HIPK2, CHFR, CDC27, Dab2, Upf2, kinesin Eg5, DNA Topoisomerase 1 and yeast Cdc5 and Swi5. A similar number of weaker candidates were present. These proteins have yet to be tested for APC/C targeted destruction, providing potential new avenues of research.

  8. CaMELS: In silico prediction of calmodulin binding proteins and their binding sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbasi, Wajid Arshad; Asif, Amina; Andleeb, Saiqa; Minhas, Fayyaz Ul Amir Afsar

    2017-09-01

    Due to Ca 2+ -dependent binding and the sequence diversity of Calmodulin (CaM) binding proteins, identifying CaM interactions and binding sites in the wet-lab is tedious and costly. Therefore, computational methods for this purpose are crucial to the design of such wet-lab experiments. We present an algorithm suite called CaMELS (CalModulin intEraction Learning System) for predicting proteins that interact with CaM as well as their binding sites using sequence information alone. CaMELS offers state of the art accuracy for both CaM interaction and binding site prediction and can aid biologists in studying CaM binding proteins. For CaM interaction prediction, CaMELS uses protein sequence features coupled with a large-margin classifier. CaMELS models the binding site prediction problem using multiple instance machine learning with a custom optimization algorithm which allows more effective learning over imprecisely annotated CaM-binding sites during training. CaMELS has been extensively benchmarked using a variety of data sets, mutagenic studies, proteome-wide Gene Ontology enrichment analyses and protein structures. Our experiments indicate that CaMELS outperforms simple motif-based search and other existing methods for interaction and binding site prediction. We have also found that the whole sequence of a protein, rather than just its binding site, is important for predicting its interaction with CaM. Using the machine learning model in CaMELS, we have identified important features of protein sequences for CaM interaction prediction as well as characteristic amino acid sub-sequences and their relative position for identifying CaM binding sites. Python code for training and evaluating CaMELS together with a webserver implementation is available at the URL: http://faculty.pieas.edu.pk/fayyaz/software.html#camels. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Specificity and autoregulation of Notch binding by tandem WW domains in suppressor of Deltex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Martin D; Blankley, Richard T; Baron, Martin; Golovanov, Alexander P; Avis, Johanna M

    2007-09-28

    WW domains target proline-tyrosine (PY) motifs and frequently function as tandem pairs. When studied in isolation, single WW domains are notably promiscuous and regulatory mechanisms are undoubtedly required to ensure selective interactions. Here, we show that the fourth WW domain (WW4) of Suppressor of Deltex, a modular Nedd4-like protein that down-regulates the Notch receptor, is the primary mediator of a direct interaction with a Notch-PY motif. A natural Trp to Phe substitution in WW4 reduces its affinity for general PY sequences and enhances selective interaction with the Notch-PY motif via compensatory specificity-determining interactions with PY-flanking residues. When WW4 is paired with WW3, domain-domain association, impeding proper folding, competes with Notch-PY binding to WW4. This novel mode of autoinhibition is relieved by binding of another ligand to WW3. Such cooperativity may facilitate the transient regulatory interactions observed in vivo between Su(dx) and Notch in the endocytic pathway. The highly conserved tandem arrangement of WW domains in Nedd4 proteins, and similar arrangements in more diverse proteins, suggests domain-domain communication may be integral to regulation of their associated cellular activities.

  10. Engineering of specific uranyl-coordination sites in the calcium-binding motif of Calmodulin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beccia, M.; Pardoux, R.; Sauge-Merle, S.; Bremond, N.; Lemaire, D.; Berthomieu, C.; Delangle, P.; Guilbaud, P.

    2014-01-01

    Complete text of publication follows: Characterization of heavy metals interactions with proteins is fundamental for understanding the molecular factors and mechanisms governing ions toxicity and speciation in cells. This line of research will also help in developing new molecules able to selectively and efficiently bind toxic metal ions, which could find application for bio-detection or bioremediation purposes. We have used the regulatory calcium-binding protein Calmodulin (CaM) from A. thaliana as a structural model and, starting from it, we have designed various mutants by site-directed mutagenesis. We have analysed thermodynamics of uranyl ion binding to both sites I and II of CaM N-terminal domain and we have identified structural factors governing this interaction. Selectivity for uranyl ion has been tested by studying reactions of the investigated peptides with Ca 2+ , in the same conditions used for UO 2 2+ . Spectro-fluorimetric titrations and FTIR analysis have shown that the affinity for uranyl increases by phosphorylation of a threonine in site I, especially approaching the physiological pH, where the phospho-threonine side chain is deprotonated. Based on structural models obtained by Molecular Dynamics, we tested the effect of a two residues deletion on site I properties. We obtained an almost two orders of magnitude increase in affinity for uranyl, with a sub-nanomolar dissociation constant for the uranyl complex with the non phosphorylated peptide, and an improved uranyl/calcium selectivity. Allosteric effects depending on Ca 2+ and UO 2 2+ binding have been investigated by comparing thermodynamic parameters obtained for mutants having both sites I and II able to chelate metal ions with those of mutants consisting of just one active site

  11. DNA motif alignment by evolving a population of Markov chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bi, Chengpeng

    2009-01-30

    Deciphering cis-regulatory elements or de novo motif-finding in genomes still remains elusive although much algorithmic effort has been expended. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method such as Gibbs motif samplers has been widely employed to solve the de novo motif-finding problem through sequence local alignment. Nonetheless, the MCMC-based motif samplers still suffer from local maxima like EM. Therefore, as a prerequisite for finding good local alignments, these motif algorithms are often independently run a multitude of times, but without information exchange between different chains. Hence it would be worth a new algorithm design enabling such information exchange. This paper presents a novel motif-finding algorithm by evolving a population of Markov chains with information exchange (PMC), each of which is initialized as a random alignment and run by the Metropolis-Hastings sampler (MHS). It is progressively updated through a series of local alignments stochastically sampled. Explicitly, the PMC motif algorithm performs stochastic sampling as specified by a population-based proposal distribution rather than individual ones, and adaptively evolves the population as a whole towards a global maximum. The alignment information exchange is accomplished by taking advantage of the pooled motif site distributions. A distinct method for running multiple independent Markov chains (IMC) without information exchange, or dubbed as the IMC motif algorithm, is also devised to compare with its PMC counterpart. Experimental studies demonstrate that the performance could be improved if pooled information were used to run a population of motif samplers. The new PMC algorithm was able to improve the convergence and outperformed other popular algorithms tested using simulated and biological motif sequences.

  12. Mobility of TOAC spin-labelled peptides binding to the Src SH3 domain studied by paramagnetic NMR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindfors, Hanna E. [Leiden University, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories (Netherlands); Koning, Peter E. de; Wouter Drijfhout, Jan [Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion (Netherlands); Venezia, Brigida; Ubbink, Marcellus [Leiden University, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories (Netherlands)], E-mail: m.ubbink@chem.leidenuniv.nl

    2008-07-15

    Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement provides a tool for studying the dynamics as well as the structure of macromolecular complexes. The application of side-chain coupled spin-labels is limited by the mobility of the free radical. The cyclic, rigid amino acid spin-label TOAC (2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid), which can be incorporated straightforwardly by peptide synthesis, provides an attractive alternative. In this study, TOAC was incorporated into a peptide derived from focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and the interaction of the peptide with the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of Src kinase was studied, using paramagnetic NMR. Placing TOAC within the binding motif of the peptide has a considerable effect on the peptide-protein binding, lowering the affinity substantially. When the TOAC is positioned just outside the binding motif, the binding constant remains nearly unaffected. Although the SH3 domain binds weakly and transiently to proline-rich peptides from FAK, the interaction is not very dynamic and the relative position of the spin-label to the protein is well-defined. It is concluded that TOAC can be used to generate reliable paramagnetic NMR restraints.

  13. Mobility of TOAC spin-labelled peptides binding to the Src SH3 domain studied by paramagnetic NMR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lindfors, Hanna E.; Koning, Peter E. de; Wouter Drijfhout, Jan; Venezia, Brigida; Ubbink, Marcellus

    2008-01-01

    Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement provides a tool for studying the dynamics as well as the structure of macromolecular complexes. The application of side-chain coupled spin-labels is limited by the mobility of the free radical. The cyclic, rigid amino acid spin-label TOAC (2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid), which can be incorporated straightforwardly by peptide synthesis, provides an attractive alternative. In this study, TOAC was incorporated into a peptide derived from focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and the interaction of the peptide with the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of Src kinase was studied, using paramagnetic NMR. Placing TOAC within the binding motif of the peptide has a considerable effect on the peptide-protein binding, lowering the affinity substantially. When the TOAC is positioned just outside the binding motif, the binding constant remains nearly unaffected. Although the SH3 domain binds weakly and transiently to proline-rich peptides from FAK, the interaction is not very dynamic and the relative position of the spin-label to the protein is well-defined. It is concluded that TOAC can be used to generate reliable paramagnetic NMR restraints

  14. A Central Nervous System-Dependent Intron-Embedded Gene Encodes a Novel Murine Fyn Binding Protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben Khalaf, Noureddine; Taha, Safa; Bakhiet, Moiz; Fathallah, M Dahmani

    2016-01-01

    The interplay between the nervous and immune systems is gradually being unraveled. We previously reported in the mouse the novel soluble immune system factor ISRAA, whose activation in the spleen is central nervous system-dependent. We also showed that ISRAA plays a role in modulating anti-infection immunity. Herein, we report the genomic description of the israa locus, along with some insights into the structure-function relationship of the protein. Our findings revealed that israa is nested within intron 6 of the mouse zmiz1 gene. Protein sequence analysis revealed a typical SH2 binding motif (Y102TEV), with Fyn being the most likely binding partner. Docking simulation showed a favorable conformation for the ISRAA-Fyn complex, with a specific binding mode for the binding of the YTEV motif to the SH2 domain. Experimental studies showed that in vitro, recombinant ISRAA is phosphorylated by Fyn at tyrosine 102. Cell transfection and pull-down experiments revealed Fyn as a binding partner of ISRAA in the EL4 mouse T-cell line. Indeed, we demonstrated that ISRAA downregulates T-cell activation and the phosphorylation of an activation tyrosine (Y416) of Src-family kinases in mouse splenocytes. Our observations highlight ISRAA as a novel Fyn binding protein that is likely to be involved in a signaling pathway driven by the nervous system.

  15. A Central Nervous System-Dependent Intron-Embedded Gene Encodes a Novel Murine Fyn Binding Protein.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noureddine Ben Khalaf

    Full Text Available The interplay between the nervous and immune systems is gradually being unraveled. We previously reported in the mouse the novel soluble immune system factor ISRAA, whose activation in the spleen is central nervous system-dependent. We also showed that ISRAA plays a role in modulating anti-infection immunity. Herein, we report the genomic description of the israa locus, along with some insights into the structure-function relationship of the protein. Our findings revealed that israa is nested within intron 6 of the mouse zmiz1 gene. Protein sequence analysis revealed a typical SH2 binding motif (Y102TEV, with Fyn being the most likely binding partner. Docking simulation showed a favorable conformation for the ISRAA-Fyn complex, with a specific binding mode for the binding of the YTEV motif to the SH2 domain. Experimental studies showed that in vitro, recombinant ISRAA is phosphorylated by Fyn at tyrosine 102. Cell transfection and pull-down experiments revealed Fyn as a binding partner of ISRAA in the EL4 mouse T-cell line. Indeed, we demonstrated that ISRAA downregulates T-cell activation and the phosphorylation of an activation tyrosine (Y416 of Src-family kinases in mouse splenocytes. Our observations highlight ISRAA as a novel Fyn binding protein that is likely to be involved in a signaling pathway driven by the nervous system.

  16. Predicting binding within disordered protein regions to structurally characterised peptide-binding domains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waqasuddin Khan

    Full Text Available Disordered regions of proteins often bind to structured domains, mediating interactions within and between proteins. However, it is difficult to identify a priori the short disordered regions involved in binding. We set out to determine if docking such peptide regions to peptide binding domains would assist in these predictions.We assembled a redundancy reduced dataset of SLiM (Short Linear Motif containing proteins from the ELM database. We selected 84 sequences which had an associated PDB structures showing the SLiM bound to a protein receptor, where the SLiM was found within a 50 residue region of the protein sequence which was predicted to be disordered. First, we investigated the Vina docking scores of overlapping tripeptides from the 50 residue SLiM containing disordered regions of the protein sequence to the corresponding PDB domain. We found only weak discrimination of docking scores between peptides involved in binding and adjacent non-binding peptides in this context (AUC 0.58.Next, we trained a bidirectional recurrent neural network (BRNN using as input the protein sequence, predicted secondary structure, Vina docking score and predicted disorder score. The results were very promising (AUC 0.72 showing that multiple sources of information can be combined to produce results which are clearly superior to any single source.We conclude that the Vina docking score alone has only modest power to define the location of a peptide within a larger protein region known to contain it. However, combining this information with other knowledge (using machine learning methods clearly improves the identification of peptide binding regions within a protein sequence. This approach combining docking with machine learning is primarily a predictor of binding to peptide-binding sites, and is not intended as a predictor of specificity of binding to particular receptors.

  17. Development of a Novel Tetravalent Synthetic Peptide That Binds to Phosphatidic Acid.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rina Ogawa

    Full Text Available We employed a multivalent peptide-library screening technique to identify a peptide motif that binds to phosphatidic acid (PA, but not to other phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE, and phosphatidylserine (PS. A tetravalent peptide with the sequence motif of MARWHRHHH, designated as PAB-TP (phosphatidic acid-binding tetravalent peptide, was shown to bind as low as 1 mol% of PA in the bilayer membrane composed of PC and cholesterol. Kinetic analysis of the interaction between PAB-TP and the membranes containing 10 mol% of PA showed that PAB-TP associated with PA with a low dissociation constant of KD = 38 ± 5 nM. Coexistence of cholesterol or PE with PA in the membrane enhanced the PAB-TP binding to PA by increasing the ionization of the phosphomonoester head group as well as by changing the microenvironment of PA molecules in the membrane. Amino acid replacement analysis demonstrated that the tryptophan residue at position 4 of PAB-TP was involved in the interaction with PA. Furthermore, a series of amino acid substitutions at positions 5 to 9 of PAB-TP revealed the involvement of consecutive histidine and arginine residues in recognition of the phosphomonoester head group of PA. Our results demonstrate that the recognition of PA by PAB-TP is achieved by a combination of hydrophobic, electrostatic and hydrogen-bond interactions, and that the tetravalent structure of PAB-TP contributes to the high affinity binding to PA in the membrane. The novel PA-binding tetravalent peptide PAB-TP will provide insight into the molecular mechanism underlying the recognition of PA by PA-binding proteins that are involved in various cellular events.

  18. Solution structure of an archaeal DNA binding protein with an eukaryotic zinc finger fold.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florence Guillière

    Full Text Available While the basal transcription machinery in archaea is eukaryal-like, transcription factors in archaea and their viruses are usually related to bacterial transcription factors. Nevertheless, some of these organisms show predicted classical zinc fingers motifs of the C2H2 type, which are almost exclusively found in proteins of eukaryotes and most often associated with transcription regulators. In this work, we focused on the protein AFV1p06 from the hyperthermophilic archaeal virus AFV1. The sequence of the protein consists of the classical eukaryotic C2H2 motif with the fourth histidine coordinating zinc missing, as well as of N- and C-terminal extensions. We showed that the protein AFV1p06 binds zinc and solved its solution structure by NMR. AFV1p06 displays a zinc finger fold with a novel structure extension and disordered N- and C-termini. Structure calculations show that a glutamic acid residue that coordinates zinc replaces the fourth histidine of the C2H2 motif. Electromobility gel shift assays indicate that the protein binds to DNA with different affinities depending on the DNA sequence. AFV1p06 is the first experimentally characterised archaeal zinc finger protein with a DNA binding activity. The AFV1p06 protein family has homologues in diverse viruses of hyperthermophilic archaea. A phylogenetic analysis points out a common origin of archaeal and eukaryotic C2H2 zinc fingers.

  19. Novel structural features drive DNA binding properties of Cmr, a CRP family protein in TB complex mycobacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranganathan, Sridevi; Cheung, Jonah; Cassidy, Michael; Ginter, Christopher; Pata, Janice D; McDonough, Kathleen A

    2018-01-09

    Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) encodes two CRP/FNR family transcription factors (TF) that contribute to virulence, Cmr (Rv1675c) and CRPMt (Rv3676). Prior studies identified distinct chromosomal binding profiles for each TF despite their recognizing overlapping DNA motifs. The present study shows that Cmr binding specificity is determined by discriminator nucleotides at motif positions 4 and 13. X-ray crystallography and targeted mutational analyses identified an arginine-rich loop that expands Cmr's DNA interactions beyond the classical helix-turn-helix contacts common to all CRP/FNR family members and facilitates binding to imperfect DNA sequences. Cmr binding to DNA results in a pronounced asymmetric bending of the DNA and its high level of cooperativity is consistent with DNA-facilitated dimerization. A unique N-terminal extension inserts between the DNA binding and dimerization domains, partially occluding the site where the canonical cAMP binding pocket is found. However, an unstructured region of this N-terminus may help modulate Cmr activity in response to cellular signals. Cmr's multiple levels of DNA interaction likely enhance its ability to integrate diverse gene regulatory signals, while its novel structural features establish Cmr as an atypical CRP/FNR family member. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  20. Cell adhesion to fibrillin-1: identification of an Arg-Gly-Asp-dependent synergy region and a heparin-binding site that regulates focal adhesion formation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bax, Daniel V; Mahalingam, Yashithra; Cain, Stuart

    2007-01-01

    We have defined the molecular basis of cell adhesion to fibrillin-1, the major structural component of extracellular microfibrils that are associated with elastic fibres. Using human dermal fibroblasts, and recombinant domain swap fragments containing the Arg-Gly-Asp motif, we have demonstrated...... a requirement for upstream domains for integrin-alpha(5)beta(1)-mediated cell adhesion and migration. An adjacent heparin-binding site, which supports focal adhesion formation, was mapped to the fibrillin-1 TB5 motif. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed two arginine residues that are crucial for heparin binding...

  1. Genome-wide prediction and functional validation of promoter motifs regulating gene expression in spore and infection stages of Phytophthora infestans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sourav Roy

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Most eukaryotic pathogens have complex life cycles in which gene expression networks orchestrate the formation of cells specialized for dissemination or host colonization. In the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, the potato late blight pathogen, major shifts in mRNA profiles during developmental transitions were identified using microarrays. We used those data with search algorithms to discover about 100 motifs that are over-represented in promoters of genes up-regulated in hyphae, sporangia, sporangia undergoing zoosporogenesis, swimming zoospores, or germinated cysts forming appressoria (infection structures. Most of the putative stage-specific transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs thus identified had features typical of TFBSs such as position or orientation bias, palindromy, and conservation in related species. Each of six motifs tested in P. infestans transformants using the GUS reporter gene conferred the expected stage-specific expression pattern, and several were shown to bind nuclear proteins in gel-shift assays. Motifs linked to the appressoria-forming stage, including a functionally validated TFBS, were over-represented in promoters of genes encoding effectors and other pathogenesis-related proteins. To understand how promoter and genome architecture influence expression, we also mapped transcription patterns to the P. infestans genome assembly. Adjacent genes were not typically induced in the same stage, including genes transcribed in opposite directions from small intergenic regions, but co-regulated gene pairs occurred more than expected by random chance. These data help illuminate the processes regulating development and pathogenesis, and will enable future attempts to purify the cognate transcription factors.

  2. Structure solution of DNA-binding proteins and complexes with ARCIMBOLDO libraries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pröpper, Kevin [University of Göttingen, (Germany); Instituto de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), (Spain); Meindl, Kathrin; Sammito, Massimo [Instituto de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), (Spain); Dittrich, Birger; Sheldrick, George M. [University of Göttingen, (Germany); Pohl, Ehmke, E-mail: ehmke.pohl@durham.ac.uk [Durham University, (United Kingdom); Usón, Isabel, E-mail: ehmke.pohl@durham.ac.uk [Instituto de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), (Spain); Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA), (Spain); University of Göttingen, (Germany)

    2014-06-01

    The structure solution of DNA-binding protein structures and complexes based on the combination of location of DNA-binding protein motif fragments with density modification in a multi-solution frame is described. Protein–DNA interactions play a major role in all aspects of genetic activity within an organism, such as transcription, packaging, rearrangement, replication and repair. The molecular detail of protein–DNA interactions can be best visualized through crystallography, and structures emphasizing insight into the principles of binding and base-sequence recognition are essential to understanding the subtleties of the underlying mechanisms. An increasing number of high-quality DNA-binding protein structure determinations have been witnessed despite the fact that the crystallographic particularities of nucleic acids tend to pose specific challenges to methods primarily developed for proteins. Crystallographic structure solution of protein–DNA complexes therefore remains a challenging area that is in need of optimized experimental and computational methods. The potential of the structure-solution program ARCIMBOLDO for the solution of protein–DNA complexes has therefore been assessed. The method is based on the combination of locating small, very accurate fragments using the program Phaser and density modification with the program SHELXE. Whereas for typical proteins main-chain α-helices provide the ideal, almost ubiquitous, small fragments to start searches, in the case of DNA complexes the binding motifs and DNA double helix constitute suitable search fragments. The aim of this work is to provide an effective library of search fragments as well as to determine the optimal ARCIMBOLDO strategy for the solution of this class of structures.

  3. An efficient method to transcription factor binding sites imputation via simultaneous completion of multiple matrices with positional consistency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Wei-Li; Huang, De-Shuang

    2017-08-22

    Transcription factors (TFs) are DNA-binding proteins that have a central role in regulating gene expression. Identification of DNA-binding sites of TFs is a key task in understanding transcriptional regulation, cellular processes and disease. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) enables genome-wide identification of in vivo TF binding sites. However, it is still difficult to map every TF in every cell line owing to cost and biological material availability, which poses an enormous obstacle for integrated analysis of gene regulation. To address this problem, we propose a novel computational approach, TFBSImpute, for predicting additional TF binding profiles by leveraging information from available ChIP-seq TF binding data. TFBSImpute fuses the dataset to a 3-mode tensor and imputes missing TF binding signals via simultaneous completion of multiple TF binding matrices with positional consistency. We show that signals predicted by our method achieve overall similarity with experimental data and that TFBSImpute significantly outperforms baseline approaches, by assessing the performance of imputation methods against observed ChIP-seq TF binding profiles. Besides, motif analysis shows that TFBSImpute preforms better in capturing binding motifs enriched in observed data compared with baselines, indicating that the higher performance of TFBSImpute is not simply due to averaging related samples. We anticipate that our approach will constitute a useful complement to experimental mapping of TF binding, which is beneficial for further study of regulation mechanisms and disease.

  4. Pierced Lasso Bundles are a new class of knot-like motifs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ellinor Haglund

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available A four-helix bundle is a well-characterized motif often used as a target for designed pharmaceutical therapeutics and nutritional supplements. Recently, we discovered a new structural complexity within this motif created by a disulphide bridge in the long-chain helical bundle cytokine leptin. When oxidized, leptin contains a disulphide bridge creating a covalent-loop through which part of the polypeptide chain is threaded (as seen in knotted proteins. We explored whether other proteins contain a similar intriguing knot-like structure as in leptin and discovered 11 structurally homologous proteins in the PDB. We call this new helical family class the Pierced Lasso Bundle (PLB and the knot-like threaded structural motif a Pierced Lasso (PL. In the current study, we use structure-based simulation to investigate the threading/folding mechanisms for all the PLBs along with three unthreaded homologs as the covalent loop (or lasso in leptin is important in folding dynamics and activity. We find that the presence of a small covalent loop leads to a mechanism where structural elements slipknot to thread through the covalent loop. Larger loops use a piercing mechanism where the free terminal plugs through the covalent loop. Remarkably, the position of the loop as well as its size influences the native state dynamics, which can impact receptor binding and biological activity. This previously unrecognized complexity of knot-like proteins within the helical bundle family comprises a completely new class within the knot family, and the hidden complexity we unraveled in the PLBs is expected to be found in other protein structures outside the four-helix bundles. The insights gained here provide critical new elements for future investigation of this emerging class of proteins, where function and the energetic landscape can be controlled by hidden topology, and should be take into account in ab initio predictions of newly identified protein targets.

  5. Epigenetic functions enriched in transcription factors binding to mouse recombination hotspots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Min; Kwoh, Chee-Keong; Przytycka, Teresa M; Li, Jing; Zheng, Jie

    2012-06-21

    The regulatory mechanism of recombination is a fundamental problem in genomics, with wide applications in genome-wide association studies, birth-defect diseases, molecular evolution, cancer research, etc. In mammalian genomes, recombination events cluster into short genomic regions called "recombination hotspots". Recently, a 13-mer motif enriched in hotspots is identified as a candidate cis-regulatory element of human recombination hotspots; moreover, a zinc finger protein, PRDM9, binds to this motif and is associated with variation of recombination phenotype in human and mouse genomes, thus is a trans-acting regulator of recombination hotspots. However, this pair of cis and trans-regulators covers only a fraction of hotspots, thus other regulators of recombination hotspots remain to be discovered. In this paper, we propose an approach to predicting additional trans-regulators from DNA-binding proteins by comparing their enrichment of binding sites in hotspots. Applying this approach on newly mapped mouse hotspots genome-wide, we confirmed that PRDM9 is a major trans-regulator of hotspots. In addition, a list of top candidate trans-regulators of mouse hotspots is reported. Using GO analysis we observed that the top genes are enriched with function of histone modification, highlighting the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms of recombination hotspots.

  6. Hybrid DNA i-motif: Aminoethylprolyl-PNA (pC5) enhance the stability of DNA (dC5) i-motif structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gade, Chandrasekhar Reddy; Sharma, Nagendra K

    2017-12-15

    This report describes the synthesis of C-rich sequence, cytosine pentamer, of aep-PNA and its biophysical studies for the formation of hybrid DNA:aep-PNAi-motif structure with DNA cytosine pentamer (dC 5 ) under acidic pH conditions. Herein, the CD/UV/NMR/ESI-Mass studies strongly support the formation of stable hybrid DNA i-motif structure with aep-PNA even near acidic conditions. Hence aep-PNA C-rich sequence cytosine could be considered as potential DNA i-motif stabilizing agents in vivo conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Automatic annotation of protein motif function with Gene Ontology terms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gopalakrishnan Vanathi

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Conserved protein sequence motifs are short stretches of amino acid sequence patterns that potentially encode the function of proteins. Several sequence pattern searching algorithms and programs exist foridentifying candidate protein motifs at the whole genome level. However, amuch needed and importanttask is to determine the functions of the newly identified protein motifs. The Gene Ontology (GO project is an endeavor to annotate the function of genes or protein sequences with terms from a dynamic, controlled vocabulary and these annotations serve well as a knowledge base. Results This paperpresents methods to mine the GO knowledge base and use the association between the GO terms assigned to a sequence and the motifs matched by the same sequence as evidence for predicting the functions of novel protein motifs automatically. The task of assigning GO terms to protein motifsis viewed as both a binary classification and information retrieval problem, where PROSITE motifs are used as samples for mode training and functional prediction. The mutual information of a motif and aGO term association isfound to be a very useful feature. We take advantageof the known motifs to train a logistic regression classifier, which allows us to combine mutual information with other frequency-based features and obtain a probability of correctassociation. The trained logistic regression model has intuitively meaningful and logically plausible parameter values, and performs very well empirically according to our evaluation criteria. Conclusions In this research, different methods for automatic annotation of protein motifs have been investigated. Empirical result demonstrated that the methods have a great potential for detecting and augmenting information about thefunctions of newly discovered candidate protein motifs.

  8. Verification of the MOTIF code version 3.0

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chan, T.; Guvanasen, V.; Nakka, B.W.; Reid, J.A.K.; Scheier, N.W.; Stanchell, F.W.

    1996-12-01

    As part of the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program (CNFWMP), AECL has developed a three-dimensional finite-element code, MOTIF (Model Of Transport In Fractured/ porous media), for detailed modelling of groundwater flow, heat transport and solute transport in a fractured rock mass. The code solves the transient and steady-state equations of groundwater flow, solute (including one-species radionuclide) transport, and heat transport in variably saturated fractured/porous media. The initial development was completed in 1985 (Guvanasen 1985) and version 3.0 was completed in 1986. This version is documented in detail in Guvanasen and Chan (in preparation). This report describes a series of fourteen verification cases which has been used to test the numerical solution techniques and coding of MOTIF, as well as demonstrate some of the MOTIF analysis capabilities. For each case the MOTIF solution has been compared with a corresponding analytical or independently developed alternate numerical solution. Several of the verification cases were included in Level 1 of the International Hydrologic Code Intercomparison Project (HYDROCOIN). The MOTIF results for these cases were also described in the HYDROCOIN Secretariat's compilation and comparison of results submitted by the various project teams (Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate 1988). It is evident from the graphical comparisons presented that the MOTIF solutions for the fourteen verification cases are generally in excellent agreement with known analytical or numerical solutions obtained from independent sources. This series of verification studies has established the ability of the MOTIF finite-element code to accurately model the groundwater flow and solute and heat transport phenomena for which it is intended. (author). 20 refs., 14 tabs., 32 figs

  9. Identification of novel conserved functional motifs across most Influenza A viral strains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    El-Azab Iman

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Influenza A virus poses a continuous threat to global public health. Design of novel universal drugs and vaccine requires a careful analysis of different strains of Influenza A viral genome from diverse hosts and subtypes. We performed a systematic in silico analysis of Influenza A viral segments of all available Influenza A viral strains and subtypes and grouped them based on host, subtype, and years isolated, and through multiple sequence alignments we extrapolated conserved regions, motifs, and accessible regions for functional mapping and annotation. Results Across all species and strains 87 highly conserved regions (conservation percentage > = 90% and 19 functional motifs (conservation percentage = 100% were found in PB2, PB1, PA, NP, M, and NS segments. The conservation percentage of these segments ranged between 94 - 98% in human strains (the most conserved, 85 - 93% in swine strains (the most variable, and 91 - 94% in avian strains. The most conserved segment was different in each host (PB1 for human strains, NS for avian strains, and M for swine strains. Target accessibility prediction yielded 324 accessible regions, with a single stranded probability > 0.5, of which 78 coincided with conserved regions. Some of the interesting annotations in these regions included sites for protein-protein interactions, the RNA binding groove, and the proton ion channel. Conclusions The influenza virus has evolved to adapt to its host through variations in the GC content and conservation percentage of the conserved regions. Nineteen universal conserved functional motifs were discovered, of which some were accessible regions with interesting biological functions. These regions will serve as a foundation for universal drug targets as well as universal vaccine design.

  10. Seq2Logo: a method for construction and visualization of amino acid binding motifs and sequence profiles including sequence weighting, pseudo counts and two-sided representation of amino acid enrichment and depletion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Martin Christen Frølund; Nielsen, Morten

    2012-01-01

    Seq2Logo is a web-based sequence logo generator. Sequence logos are a graphical representation of the information content stored in a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) and provide a compact and highly intuitive representation of the position-specific amino acid composition of binding motifs, active...... related to amino acid enrichment and depletion. Besides allowing input in the format of peptides and MSA, Seq2Logo accepts input as Blast sequence profiles, providing easy access for non-expert end-users to characterize and identify functionally conserved/variable amino acids in any given protein...... sites, etc. in biological sequences. Accurate generation of sequence logos is often compromised by sequence redundancy and low number of observations. Moreover, most methods available for sequence logo generation focus on displaying the position-specific enrichment of amino acids, discarding the equally...

  11. Cation-π interactions: computational analyses of the aromatic box motif and the fluorination strategy for experimental evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Matthew R; Dougherty, Dennis A

    2015-11-21

    Cation-π interactions are common in biological systems, and many structural studies have revealed the aromatic box as a common motif. With the aim of understanding the nature of the aromatic box, several computational methods were evaluated for their ability to reproduce experimental cation-π binding energies. We find the DFT method M06 with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set performs best of several methods tested. The binding of benzene to a number of different cations (sodium, potassium, ammonium, tetramethylammonium, and guanidinium) was studied. In addition, the binding of the organic cations NH4(+) and NMe4(+) to ab initio generated aromatic boxes as well as examples of aromatic boxes from protein crystal structures were investigated. These data, along with a study of the distance dependence of the cation-π interaction, indicate that multiple aromatic residues can meaningfully contribute to cation binding, even with displacements of more than an angstrom from the optimal cation-π interaction. Progressive fluorination of benzene and indole was studied as well, and binding energies obtained were used to reaffirm the validity of the "fluorination strategy" to study cation-π interactions in vivo.

  12. Fibrinogen Motif Discriminates Platelet and Cell Capture in Peptide-Modified Gold Micropore Arrays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamson, Kellie; Spain, Elaine; Prendergast, Una; Moran, Niamh; Forster, Robert J; Keyes, Tia E

    2018-01-16

    Human blood platelets and SK-N-AS neuroblastoma cancer-cell capture at spontaneously adsorbed monolayers of fibrinogen-binding motifs, GRGDS (generic integrin adhesion), HHLGGAKQAGDV (exclusive to platelet integrin α IIb β 3 ), or octanethiol (adhesion inhibitor) at planar gold and ordered 1.6 μm diameter spherical cap gold cavity arrays were compared. In all cases, arginine/glycine/aspartic acid (RGD) promoted capture, whereas alkanethiol monolayers inhibited adhesion. Conversely only platelets adhered to alanine/glycine/aspartic acid (AGD)-modified surfaces, indicating that the AGD motif is recognized preferentially by the platelet-specific integrin, α IIb β 3 . Microstructuring of the surface effectively eliminated nonspecific platelet/cell adsorption and dramatically enhanced capture compared to RGD/AGD-modified planar surfaces. In all cases, adhesion was reversible. Platelets and cells underwent morphological change on capture, the extent of which depended on the topography of the underlying substrate. This work demonstrates that both the nature of the modified interface and its underlying topography influence the capture of cancer cells and platelets. These insights may be useful in developing cell-based cancer diagnostics as well as in identifying strategies for the disruption of platelet cloaks around circulating tumor cells.

  13. Use of eluted peptide sequence data to identify the binding characteristics of peptides to the insulin-dependent diabetes susceptibility allele HLA-DQ8 (DQ 3.2).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godkin, A; Friede, T; Davenport, M; Stevanovic, S; Willis, A; Jewell, D; Hill, A; Rammensee, H G

    1997-06-01

    HLA-DQ8 (A1*0301, B1*0302) and -DQ2 (A1*0501, B1*0201) are both associated with diseases such as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and coeliac disease. We used the technique of pool sequencing to look at the requirements of peptides binding to HLA-DQ8, and combined these data with naturally sequenced ligands and in vitro binding assays to describe a novel motif for HLA-DQ8. The motif, which has the same basic format as many HLA-DR molecules, consists of four or five anchor regions, in the positions from the N-terminus of the binding core of n, n + 3, n + 5/6 and n + 8, i.e. P1, P4, P6/7 and P9. P1 and P9 require negative or polar residues, with mainly aliphatic residues at P4 and P6/7. The features of the HLA-DQ8 motif were then compared to a pool sequence of peptides eluted from HLA-DQ2. A consensus motif for the binding of a common peptide which may be involved in disease pathogenesis is described. Neither of the disease-associated alleles HLA-DQ2 and -DQ8 have Asp at position 57 of the beta-chain. This Asp, if present, may form a salt bridge with an Arg at position 79 of the alpha-chain and so alter the binding specificity of P9. HLA-DQ2 and -DQ8 both appear to prefer negatively charged amino acids at P9. In contrast, HLA-DQ7 (A1*0301, B1*0301), which is not associated with diabetes, has Asp at beta 57, allowing positively charged amino acids at P9. This analysis of the sequence features of DQ-binding peptides suggests molecular characteristics which may be useful to predict epitopes involved in disease pathogenesis.

  14. Structure-Based Analysis of Toxoplasma gondii Profilin: A Parasite-Specific Motif Is Required for Recognition by Toll-Like Receptor 11

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    K Kucera; A Koblansky; L Saunders; K Frederick; E De La Cruz; S Ghosh; Y Modis

    2011-12-31

    Profilins promote actin polymerization by exchanging ADP for ATP on monomeric actin and delivering ATP-actin to growing filament barbed ends. Apicomplexan protozoa such as Toxoplasma gondii invade host cells using an actin-dependent gliding motility. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 11 generates an innate immune response upon sensing T. gondii profilin (TgPRF). The crystal structure of TgPRF reveals a parasite-specific surface motif consisting of an acidic loop, followed by a long {beta}-hairpin. A series of structure-based profilin mutants show that TLR11 recognition of the acidic loop is responsible for most of the interleukin (IL)-12 secretion response to TgPRF in peritoneal macrophages. Deletion of both the acidic loop and the {beta}-hairpin completely abrogates IL-12 secretion. Insertion of the T. gondii acidic loop and {beta}-hairpin into yeast profilin is sufficient to generate TLR11-dependent signaling. Substitution of the acidic loop in TgPRF with the homologous loop from the apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum does not affect TLR11-dependent IL-12 secretion, while substitution with the acidic loop from Plasmodium falciparum results in reduced but significant IL-12 secretion. We conclude that the parasite-specific motif in TgPRF is the key molecular pattern recognized by TLR11. Unlike other profilins, TgPRF slows nucleotide exchange on monomeric rabbit actin and binds rabbit actin weakly. The putative TgPRF actin-binding surface includes the {beta}-hairpin and diverges widely from the actin-binding surfaces of vertebrate profilins.

  15. IQCJ-SCHIP1, a novel fusion transcript encoding a calmodulin-binding IQ motif protein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwasnicka-Crawford, Dorota A.; Carson, Andrew R.; Scherer, Stephen W.

    2006-01-01

    The existence of transcripts that span two adjacent, independent genes is considered rare in the human genome. This study characterizes a novel human fusion gene named IQCJ-SCHIP1. IQCJ-SCHIP1 is the longest isoform of a complex transcriptional unit that bridges two separate genes that encode distinct proteins, IQCJ, a novel IQ motif containing protein and SCHIP1, a schwannomin interacting protein that has been previously shown to interact with the Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) protein. IQCJ-SCHIP1 is located on the chromosome 3q25 and comprises a 1692-bp transcript encompassing 11 exons spanning 828 kb of the genomic DNA. We show that IQCJ-SCHIP1 mRNA is highly expressed in the brain. Protein encoded by the IQCJ-SCHIP1 gene was localized to cytoplasm and actin-rich regions and in differentiated PC12 cells was also seen in neurite extensions

  16. Identification of the bioactive and consensus peptide motif from Momordica charantia insulin receptor-binding protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Hsin-Yi; Li, Chia-Cheng; Ho, Tin-Yun; Hsiang, Chien-Yun

    2016-08-01

    Many food bioactive peptides with diverse functions have been discovered by studying plant proteins. We have previously identified a 68-residue insulin receptor (IR)-binding protein (mcIRBP) from Momordica charantia that exhibits hypoglycemic effects in mice via interaction with IR. By in vitro digestion, we found that mcIRBP-19, spanning residues 50-68 of mcIRBP, enhanced the binding of insulin to IR, stimulated the phosphorylation of PDK1 and Akt, induced the expression of glucose transporter 4, and stimulated both the uptake of glucose in cells and the clearance of glucose in diabetic mice. Furthermore, mcIRBP-19 homologs were present in various plants and shared similar β-hairpin structures and IR kinase-activating abilities to mcIRBP-19. In conclusion, our findings suggested that mcIRBP-19 is a blood glucose-lowering bioactive peptide that exhibits IR-binding potentials. Moreover, we newly identified novel IR-binding bioactive peptides in various plants which belonged to different taxonomic families. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. HOCOMOCO: towards a complete collection of transcription factor binding models for human and mouse via large-scale ChIP-Seq analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Kulakovskiy, Ivan V.; Vorontsov, Ilya E.; Yevshin, Ivan S.; Sharipov, Ruslan N.; Fedorova, Alla D.; Rumynskiy, Eugene I.; Medvedeva, Yulia A.; Magana-Mora, Arturo; Bajic, Vladimir B.; Papatsenko, Dmitry A.; Kolpakov, Fedor A.; Makeev, Vsevolod J.

    2017-01-01

    We present a major update of the HOCOMOCO collection that consists of patterns describing DNA binding specificities for human and mouse transcription factors. In this release, we profited from a nearly doubled volume of published in vivo experiments on transcription factor (TF) binding to expand the repertoire of binding models, replace low-quality models previously based on in vitro data only and cover more than a hundred TFs with previously unknown binding specificities. This was achieved by systematic motif discovery from more than five thousand ChIP-Seq experiments uniformly processed within the BioUML framework with several ChIP-Seq peak calling tools and aggregated in the GTRD database. HOCOMOCO v11 contains binding models for 453 mouse and 680 human transcription factors and includes 1302 mononucleotide and 576 dinucleotide position weight matrices, which describe primary binding preferences of each transcription factor and reliable alternative binding specificities. An interactive interface and bulk downloads are available on the web: http://hocomoco.autosome.ru and http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/hocomoco11. In this release, we complement HOCOMOCO by MoLoTool (Motif Location Toolbox, http://molotool.autosome.ru) that applies HOCOMOCO models for visualization of binding sites in short DNA sequences.

  18. HOCOMOCO: towards a complete collection of transcription factor binding models for human and mouse via large-scale ChIP-Seq analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Kulakovskiy, Ivan V.

    2017-10-31

    We present a major update of the HOCOMOCO collection that consists of patterns describing DNA binding specificities for human and mouse transcription factors. In this release, we profited from a nearly doubled volume of published in vivo experiments on transcription factor (TF) binding to expand the repertoire of binding models, replace low-quality models previously based on in vitro data only and cover more than a hundred TFs with previously unknown binding specificities. This was achieved by systematic motif discovery from more than five thousand ChIP-Seq experiments uniformly processed within the BioUML framework with several ChIP-Seq peak calling tools and aggregated in the GTRD database. HOCOMOCO v11 contains binding models for 453 mouse and 680 human transcription factors and includes 1302 mononucleotide and 576 dinucleotide position weight matrices, which describe primary binding preferences of each transcription factor and reliable alternative binding specificities. An interactive interface and bulk downloads are available on the web: http://hocomoco.autosome.ru and http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/hocomoco11. In this release, we complement HOCOMOCO by MoLoTool (Motif Location Toolbox, http://molotool.autosome.ru) that applies HOCOMOCO models for visualization of binding sites in short DNA sequences.

  19. An experimental test of a fundamental food web motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rip, Jason M K; McCann, Kevin S; Lynn, Denis H; Fawcett, Sonia

    2010-06-07

    Large-scale changes to the world's ecosystem are resulting in the deterioration of biostructure-the complex web of species interactions that make up ecological communities. A difficult, yet crucial task is to identify food web structures, or food web motifs, that are the building blocks of this baroque network of interactions. Once identified, these food web motifs can then be examined through experiments and theory to provide mechanistic explanations for how structure governs ecosystem stability. Here, we synthesize recent ecological research to show that generalist consumers coupling resources with different interaction strengths, is one such motif. This motif amazingly occurs across an enormous range of spatial scales, and so acts to distribute coupled weak and strong interactions throughout food webs. We then perform an experiment that illustrates the importance of this motif to ecological stability. We find that weak interactions coupled to strong interactions by generalist consumers dampen strong interaction strengths and increase community stability. This study takes a critical step by isolating a common food web motif and through clear, experimental manipulation, identifies the fundamental stabilizing consequences of this structure for ecological communities.

  20. Interaction of MYC with host cell factor-1 is mediated by the evolutionarily conserved Myc box IV motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, L R; Foshage, A M; Weissmiller, A M; Popay, T M; Grieb, B C; Qualls, S J; Ng, V; Carboneau, B; Lorey, S; Eischen, C M; Tansey, W P

    2016-07-07

    The MYC family of oncogenes encodes a set of three related transcription factors that are overexpressed in many human tumors and contribute to the cancer-related deaths of more than 70,000 Americans every year. MYC proteins drive tumorigenesis by interacting with co-factors that enable them to regulate the expression of thousands of genes linked to cell growth, proliferation, metabolism and genome stability. One effective way to identify critical co-factors required for MYC function has been to focus on sequence motifs within MYC that are conserved throughout evolution, on the assumption that their conservation is driven by protein-protein interactions that are vital for MYC activity. In addition to their DNA-binding domains, MYC proteins carry five regions of high sequence conservation known as Myc boxes (Mb). To date, four of the Mb motifs (MbI, MbII, MbIIIa and MbIIIb) have had a molecular function assigned to them, but the precise role of the remaining Mb, MbIV, and the reason for its preservation in vertebrate Myc proteins, is unknown. Here, we show that MbIV is required for the association of MYC with the abundant transcriptional coregulator host cell factor-1 (HCF-1). We show that the invariant core of MbIV resembles the tetrapeptide HCF-binding motif (HBM) found in many HCF-interaction partners, and demonstrate that MYC interacts with HCF-1 in a manner indistinguishable from the prototypical HBM-containing protein VP16. Finally, we show that rationalized point mutations in MYC that disrupt interaction with HCF-1 attenuate the ability of MYC to drive tumorigenesis in mice. Together, these data expose a molecular function for MbIV and indicate that HCF-1 is an important co-factor for MYC.

  1. Dissection of seroreactivity against the tryptophan-rich motif of the feline immunodeficiency virus transmembrane glycoprotein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freer, Giulia; Giannecchini, Simone; Tissot, Alain; Bachmann, Martin F.; Rovero, Paolo; Serres, Pierre Francoise; Bendinelli, Mauro

    2004-01-01

    Immunogenicity of the tryptophan-rich motif (TrpM) in the membrane-proximal ectodomain of the transmembrane (TM) glycoprotein of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) was investigated. Peptide 59, a peptide containing the TrpM of the TM of FIV, was covalently coupled to Qβ phage virus-like particles (Qβ-59) in the attempt to induce potent anti-TrpM B cell responses in cats. All Qβ-59 immunized cats, but not cats that received a mixture of uncoupled Qβ and peptide 59, developed antibodies that reacted with a same epitope in extensive binding and binding competition assays. The epitope recognized was composed of three amino acids, two of which are adjacent. However, Qβ-59-immune sera failed to recognize whole FIV in all binding and neutralization assays performed. Furthermore, no reactivity against the TrpM was detected by screening sera from FIV-infected cats that had reacted with TM peptides, confirming that this epitope does not seem to be serologically functional in the FIV virion. The data suggest that TrpM may not be a suitable target for antiviral vaccine design

  2. A peptide-binding assay for the disease-associated HLA-DQ8 molecule

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Straumfors, A; Johansen, B H; Vartdal, F

    1998-01-01

    The study of peptide binding to HLA class II molecules has mostly concentrated on DR molecules. Since many autoimmune diseases show a primary association to particular DQ molecules rather than DR molecules, it is also important to study the peptide-binding properties of DQ molecules. Here we repo......-affinity binders, whereas peptides derived from myelin basic protein were among the low-affinity binders. The sequence of the high-affinity peptides conformed with a previously published peptide-binding motif of DQ8.......The study of peptide binding to HLA class II molecules has mostly concentrated on DR molecules. Since many autoimmune diseases show a primary association to particular DQ molecules rather than DR molecules, it is also important to study the peptide-binding properties of DQ molecules. Here we report...

  3. Highly scalable Ab initio genomic motif identification

    KAUST Repository

    Marchand, Benoit; Bajic, Vladimir B.; Kaushik, Dinesh

    2011-01-01

    We present results of scaling an ab initio motif family identification system, Dragon Motif Finder (DMF), to 65,536 processor cores of IBM Blue Gene/P. DMF seeks groups of mutually similar polynucleotide patterns within a set of genomic sequences and builds various motif families from them. Such information is of relevance to many problems in life sciences. Prior attempts to scale such ab initio motif-finding algorithms achieved limited success. We solve the scalability issues using a combination of mixed-mode MPI-OpenMP parallel programming, master-slave work assignment, multi-level workload distribution, multi-level MPI collectives, and serial optimizations. While the scalability of our algorithm was excellent (94% parallel efficiency on 65,536 cores relative to 256 cores on a modest-size problem), the final speedup with respect to the original serial code exceeded 250,000 when serial optimizations are included. This enabled us to carry out many large-scale ab initio motiffinding simulations in a few hours while the original serial code would have needed decades of execution time. Copyright 2011 ACM.

  4. Mechanisms of zero-lag synchronization in cortical motifs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo L Gollo

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Zero-lag synchronization between distant cortical areas has been observed in a diversity of experimental data sets and between many different regions of the brain. Several computational mechanisms have been proposed to account for such isochronous synchronization in the presence of long conduction delays: Of these, the phenomenon of "dynamical relaying"--a mechanism that relies on a specific network motif--has proven to be the most robust with respect to parameter mismatch and system noise. Surprisingly, despite a contrary belief in the community, the common driving motif is an unreliable means of establishing zero-lag synchrony. Although dynamical relaying has been validated in empirical and computational studies, the deeper dynamical mechanisms and comparison to dynamics on other motifs is lacking. By systematically comparing synchronization on a variety of small motifs, we establish that the presence of a single reciprocally connected pair--a "resonance pair"--plays a crucial role in disambiguating those motifs that foster zero-lag synchrony in the presence of conduction delays (such as dynamical relaying from those that do not (such as the common driving triad. Remarkably, minor structural changes to the common driving motif that incorporate a reciprocal pair recover robust zero-lag synchrony. The findings are observed in computational models of spiking neurons, populations of spiking neurons and neural mass models, and arise whether the oscillatory systems are periodic, chaotic, noise-free or driven by stochastic inputs. The influence of the resonance pair is also robust to parameter mismatch and asymmetrical time delays amongst the elements of the motif. We call this manner of facilitating zero-lag synchrony resonance-induced synchronization, outline the conditions for its occurrence, and propose that it may be a general mechanism to promote zero-lag synchrony in the brain.

  5. The Src SH2 domain interacts dynamically with the focal adhesion kinase binding site as demonstrated by paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindfors, Hanna E; Drijfhout, Jan Wouter; Ubbink, Marcellus

    2012-06-01

    The interaction between the tyrosine kinases Src and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a key step in signaling processes from focal adhesions. The phosphorylated tyrosine residue 397 in FAK is able to bind the Src SH2 domain. To establish the extent of the FAK binding motif, the binding affinity of the SH2 domain for phosphorylated and unphosphorylated FAK-derived peptides of increasing length was determined and compared with that of the internal Src SH2 binding site. It is shown that the FAK peptides have higher affinity than the internal binding site and that seven negative residues adjacent to the core SH2 binding motif increase the binding constant 30-fold. A rigid spin-label incorporated in the FAK peptides was used to establish on the basis of paramagnetic relaxation enhancement whether the peptide-protein complex is well defined. A large spread of the paramagnetic effects on the surface of the SH2 domain suggests that the peptide-protein complex exhibits dynamics, despite the high affinity of the peptide. The strong electrostatic interaction between the positive side of the SH2 domain and the negative peptide results in a high affinity but may also favor a dynamic interaction. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Transduction motif analysis of gastric cancer based on a human signaling network

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, G.; Li, D.Z.; Jiang, C.S.; Wang, W. [Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Command, Department of Gastroenterology, Fuzhou, China, Department of Gastroenterology, Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Command, Fuzhou (China)

    2014-04-04

    To investigate signal regulation models of gastric cancer, databases and literature were used to construct the signaling network in humans. Topological characteristics of the network were analyzed by CytoScape. After marking gastric cancer-related genes extracted from the CancerResource, GeneRIF, and COSMIC databases, the FANMOD software was used for the mining of gastric cancer-related motifs in a network with three vertices. The significant motif difference method was adopted to identify significantly different motifs in the normal and cancer states. Finally, we conducted a series of analyses of the significantly different motifs, including gene ontology, function annotation of genes, and model classification. A human signaling network was constructed, with 1643 nodes and 5089 regulating interactions. The network was configured to have the characteristics of other biological networks. There were 57,942 motifs marked with gastric cancer-related genes out of a total of 69,492 motifs, and 264 motifs were selected as significantly different motifs by calculating the significant motif difference (SMD) scores. Genes in significantly different motifs were mainly enriched in functions associated with cancer genesis, such as regulation of cell death, amino acid phosphorylation of proteins, and intracellular signaling cascades. The top five significantly different motifs were mainly cascade and positive feedback types. Almost all genes in the five motifs were cancer related, including EPOR, MAPK14, BCL2L1, KRT18, PTPN6, CASP3, TGFBR2, AR, and CASP7. The development of cancer might be curbed by inhibiting signal transductions upstream and downstream of the selected motifs.

  7. Genome-wide screens for in vivo Tinman binding sites identify cardiac enhancers with diverse functional architectures.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong Jin

    Full Text Available The NK homeodomain factor Tinman is a crucial regulator of early mesoderm patterning and, together with the GATA factor Pannier and the Dorsocross T-box factors, serves as one of the key cardiogenic factors during specification and differentiation of heart cells. Although the basic framework of regulatory interactions driving heart development has been worked out, only about a dozen genes involved in heart development have been designated as direct Tinman target genes to date, and detailed information about the functional architectures of their cardiac enhancers is lacking. We have used immunoprecipitation of chromatin (ChIP from embryos at two different stages of early cardiogenesis to obtain a global overview of the sequences bound by Tinman in vivo and their linked genes. Our data from the analysis of ~50 sequences with high Tinman occupancy show that the majority of such sequences act as enhancers in various mesodermal tissues in which Tinman is active. All of the dorsal mesodermal and cardiac enhancers, but not some of the others, require tinman function. The cardiac enhancers feature diverse arrangements of binding motifs for Tinman, Pannier, and Dorsocross. By employing these cardiac and non-cardiac enhancers in machine learning approaches, we identify a novel motif, termed CEE, as a classifier for cardiac enhancers. In vivo assays for the requirement of the binding motifs of Tinman, Pannier, and Dorsocross, as well as the CEE motifs in a set of cardiac enhancers, show that the Tinman sites are essential in all but one of the tested enhancers; although on occasion they can be functionally redundant with Dorsocross sites. The enhancers differ widely with respect to their requirement for Pannier, Dorsocross, and CEE sites, which we ascribe to their different position in the regulatory circuitry, their distinct temporal and spatial activities during cardiogenesis, and functional redundancies among different factor binding sites.

  8. Adaptive evolution of transcription factor binding sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Berg Johannes

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The regulation of a gene depends on the binding of transcription factors to specific sites located in the regulatory region of the gene. The generation of these binding sites and of cooperativity between them are essential building blocks in the evolution of complex regulatory networks. We study a theoretical model for the sequence evolution of binding sites by point mutations. The approach is based on biophysical models for the binding of transcription factors to DNA. Hence we derive empirically grounded fitness landscapes, which enter a population genetics model including mutations, genetic drift, and selection. Results We show that the selection for factor binding generically leads to specific correlations between nucleotide frequencies at different positions of a binding site. We demonstrate the possibility of rapid adaptive evolution generating a new binding site for a given transcription factor by point mutations. The evolutionary time required is estimated in terms of the neutral (background mutation rate, the selection coefficient, and the effective population size. Conclusions The efficiency of binding site formation is seen to depend on two joint conditions: the binding site motif must be short enough and the promoter region must be long enough. These constraints on promoter architecture are indeed seen in eukaryotic systems. Furthermore, we analyse the adaptive evolution of genetic switches and of signal integration through binding cooperativity between different sites. Experimental tests of this picture involving the statistics of polymorphisms and phylogenies of sites are discussed.

  9. Armadillo motifs involved in vesicular transport.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harald Striegl

    Full Text Available Armadillo (ARM repeat proteins function in various cellular processes including vesicular transport and membrane tethering. They contain an imperfect repeating sequence motif that forms a conserved three-dimensional structure. Recently, structural and functional insight into tethering mediated by the ARM-repeat protein p115 has been provided. Here we describe the p115 ARM-motifs for reasons of clarity and nomenclature and show that both sequence and structure are highly conserved among ARM-repeat proteins. We argue that there is no need to invoke repeat types other than ARM repeats for a proper description of the structure of the p115 globular head region. Additionally, we propose to define a new subfamily of ARM-like proteins and show lack of evidence that the ARM motifs found in p115 are present in other long coiled-coil tethering factors of the golgin family.

  10. Characterizing Motif Dynamics of Electric Brain Activity Using Symbolic Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Massimiliano Zanin

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Motifs are small recurring circuits of interactions which constitute the backbone of networked systems. Characterizing motif dynamics is therefore key to understanding the functioning of such systems. Here we propose a method to define and quantify the temporal variability and time scales of electroencephalogram (EEG motifs of resting brain activity. Given a triplet of EEG sensors, links between them are calculated by means of linear correlation; each pattern of links (i.e., each motif is then associated to a symbol, and its appearance frequency is analyzed by means of Shannon entropy. Our results show that each motif becomes observable with different coupling thresholds and evolves at its own time scale, with fronto-temporal sensors emerging at high thresholds and changing at fast time scales, and parietal ones at low thresholds and changing at slower rates. Finally, while motif dynamics differed across individuals, for each subject, it showed robustness across experimental conditions, indicating that it could represent an individual dynamical signature.

  11. Discriminative motif discovery via simulated evolution and random under-sampling.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tao Song

    Full Text Available Conserved motifs in biological sequences are closely related to their structure and functions. Recently, discriminative motif discovery methods have attracted more and more attention. However, little attention has been devoted to the data imbalance problem, which is one of the main reasons affecting the performance of the discriminative models. In this article, a simulated evolution method is applied to solve the multi-class imbalance problem at the stage of data preprocessing, and at the stage of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs training, a random under-sampling method is introduced for the imbalance between the positive and negative datasets. It is shown that, in the task of discovering targeting motifs of nine subcellular compartments, the motifs found by our method are more conserved than the methods without considering data imbalance problem and recover the most known targeting motifs from Minimotif Miner and InterPro. Meanwhile, we use the found motifs to predict protein subcellular localization and achieve higher prediction precision and recall for the minority classes.

  12. Discriminative motif discovery via simulated evolution and random under-sampling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Tao; Gu, Hong

    2014-01-01

    Conserved motifs in biological sequences are closely related to their structure and functions. Recently, discriminative motif discovery methods have attracted more and more attention. However, little attention has been devoted to the data imbalance problem, which is one of the main reasons affecting the performance of the discriminative models. In this article, a simulated evolution method is applied to solve the multi-class imbalance problem at the stage of data preprocessing, and at the stage of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) training, a random under-sampling method is introduced for the imbalance between the positive and negative datasets. It is shown that, in the task of discovering targeting motifs of nine subcellular compartments, the motifs found by our method are more conserved than the methods without considering data imbalance problem and recover the most known targeting motifs from Minimotif Miner and InterPro. Meanwhile, we use the found motifs to predict protein subcellular localization and achieve higher prediction precision and recall for the minority classes.

  13. Improved i-motif thermal stability by insertion of anthraquinone monomers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gouda, Alaa S; Amine, Mahasen S.; Pedersen, Erik Bjerregaard

    2017-01-01

    In order to gain insight into how to improve thermal stability of i-motifs when used in the context of biomedical and nanotechnological applications, novel anthraquinone-modified i-motifs were synthesized by insertion of 1,8-, 1,4-, 1,5- and 2,6-disubstituted anthraquinone monomers into the TAA...... loops of a 22mer cytosine-rich human telomeric DNA sequence. The influence of the four anthraquinone linkers on the i-motif thermal stability was investigated at 295 nm and pH 5.5. Anthraquinone monomers modulate the i-motif stability in a position-depending manner and the modulation also depends...... unlocked nucleic acid monomers or twisted intercalating nucleic acid. The 2,6-disubstituted anthraquinone linker replacing T10 enabled a significant increase of i-motif thermal melting by 8.2 °C. A substantial increase of 5.0 °C in i-motif thermal melting was recorded when both A6 and T16 were modified...

  14. An Alternative Transcript of the FOG-2 Gene Encodes a FOG-2 Isoform lacking the FOG Repression Motif

    OpenAIRE

    Dale, Rodney M.; Remo, Benjamin F.; Svensson, Eric C.

    2007-01-01

    The FOG family of transcriptional co-factors is composed of two members in mammals: FOG-1 and FOG-2. Both have been shown to bind to GATA factors and function as transcriptional co-repressors in specific cell and promoter contexts. We have previously defined a novel repression domain localized to the N-terminus of each FOG family member, the FOG Repression Motif, which is necessary for FOG-mediated transcriptional repression. In this report, we describe the identification and characterization...

  15. Deleted in malignant brain tumors-1 protein (DMBT1): a pattern recognition receptor with multiple binding sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ligtenberg, Antoon J M; Karlsson, Niclas G; Veerman, Enno C I

    2010-01-01

    Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors-1 protein (DMBT1), salivary agglutinin (DMBT1(SAG)), and lung glycoprotein-340 (DMBT1(GP340)) are three names for glycoproteins encoded by the same DMBT1 gene. All these proteins belong to the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) superfamily of proteins: a superfamily of secreted or membrane-bound proteins with SRCR domains that are highly conserved down to sponges, the most ancient metazoa. In addition to SRCR domains, all DMBT1s contain two CUB domains and one zona pellucida domain. The SRCR domains play a role in the function of DMBT1s, which is the binding of a broad range of pathogens including cariogenic streptococci, Helicobacter pylori and HIV. Mucosal defense proteins like IgA, surfactant proteins and lactoferrin also bind to DMBT1s through their SRCR domains. The binding motif on the SRCR domains comprises an 11-mer peptide in which a few amino acids are essential for binding (GRVEVLYRGSW). Adjacent to each individual SRCR domain are glycosylation domains, where the attached carbohydrate chains play a role in the binding of influenza A virus and Helicobacter pylori. The composition of the carbohydrate chains is not only donor specific, but also varies between different organs. These data demonstrate a role for DMBT1s as pattern recognition molecules containing various peptide and carbohydrate binding motifs.

  16. Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors-1 Protein (DMBT1: A Pattern Recognition Receptor with Multiple Binding Sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enno C. I. Veerman

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors-1 protein (DMBT1, salivary agglutinin (DMBT1SAG, and lung glycoprotein-340 (DMBT1GP340 are three names for glycoproteins encoded by the same DMBT1 gene. All these proteins belong to the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR superfamily of proteins: a superfamily of secreted or membrane-bound proteins with SRCR domains that are highly conserved down to sponges, the most ancient metazoa. In addition to SRCR domains, all DMBT1s contain two CUB domains and one zona pellucida domain. The SRCR domains play a role in the function of DMBT1s, which is the binding of a broad range of pathogens including cariogenic streptococci, Helicobacter pylori and HIV. Mucosal defense proteins like IgA, surfactant proteins and lactoferrin also bind to DMBT1s through their SRCR domains. The binding motif on the SRCR domains comprises an 11-mer peptide in which a few amino acids are essential for binding (GRVEVLYRGSW. Adjacent to each individual SRCR domain are glycosylation domains, where the attached carbohydrate chains play a role in the binding of influenza A virus and Helicobacter pylori. The composition of the carbohydrate chains is not only donor specific, but also varies between different organs. These data demonstrate a role for DMBT1s as pattern recognition molecules containing various peptide and carbohydrate binding motifs.

  17. Endocytosis of Integrin-Binding Human Picornaviruses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pirjo Merilahti

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Picornaviruses that infect humans form one of the largest virus groups with almost three hundred virus types. They include significant enteroviral pathogens such as rhino-, polio-, echo-, and coxsackieviruses and human parechoviruses that cause wide range of disease symptoms. Despite the economic importance of picornaviruses, there are no antivirals. More than ten cellular receptors are known to participate in picornavirus infection, but experimental evidence of their role in cellular infection has been shown for only about twenty picornavirus types. Three enterovirus types and one parechovirus have experimentally been shown to bind and use integrin receptors in cellular infection. These include coxsackievirus A9 (CV-A9, echovirus 9, and human parechovirus 1 that are among the most common and epidemic human picornaviruses and bind to αV-integrins via RGD motif that resides on virus capsid. In contrast, echovirus 1 (E-1 has no RGD and uses integrin α2β1 as cellular receptor. Endocytosis of CV-A9 has recently been shown to occur via a novel Arf6- and dynamin-dependent pathways, while, contrary to collagen binding, E-1 binds inactive β1 integrin and enters via macropinocytosis. In this paper, we review what is known about receptors and endocytosis of integrin-binding human picornaviruses.

  18. Positional bias of general and tissue-specific regulatory motifs in mouse gene promoters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farré Domènec

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The arrangement of regulatory motifs in gene promoters, or promoter architecture, is the result of mutation and selection processes that have operated over many millions of years. In mammals, tissue-specific transcriptional regulation is related to the presence of specific protein-interacting DNA motifs in gene promoters. However, little is known about the relative location and spacing of these motifs. To fill this gap, we have performed a systematic search for motifs that show significant bias at specific promoter locations in a large collection of housekeeping and tissue-specific genes. Results We observe that promoters driving housekeeping gene expression are enriched in particular motifs with strong positional bias, such as YY1, which are of little relevance in promoters driving tissue-specific expression. We also identify a large number of motifs that show positional bias in genes expressed in a highly tissue-specific manner. They include well-known tissue-specific motifs, such as HNF1 and HNF4 motifs in liver, kidney and small intestine, or RFX motifs in testis, as well as many potentially novel regulatory motifs. Based on this analysis, we provide predictions for 559 tissue-specific motifs in mouse gene promoters. Conclusion The study shows that motif positional bias is an important feature of mammalian proximal promoters and that it affects both general and tissue-specific motifs. Motif positional constraints define very distinct promoter architectures depending on breadth of expression and type of tissue.

  19. Computational analyses of synergism in small molecular network motifs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yili Zhang

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Cellular functions and responses to stimuli are controlled by complex regulatory networks that comprise a large diversity of molecular components and their interactions. However, achieving an intuitive understanding of the dynamical properties and responses to stimuli of these networks is hampered by their large scale and complexity. To address this issue, analyses of regulatory networks often focus on reduced models that depict distinct, reoccurring connectivity patterns referred to as motifs. Previous modeling studies have begun to characterize the dynamics of small motifs, and to describe ways in which variations in parameters affect their responses to stimuli. The present study investigates how variations in pairs of parameters affect responses in a series of ten common network motifs, identifying concurrent variations that act synergistically (or antagonistically to alter the responses of the motifs to stimuli. Synergism (or antagonism was quantified using degrees of nonlinear blending and additive synergism. Simulations identified concurrent variations that maximized synergism, and examined the ways in which it was affected by stimulus protocols and the architecture of a motif. Only a subset of architectures exhibited synergism following paired changes in parameters. The approach was then applied to a model describing interlocked feedback loops governing the synthesis of the CREB1 and CREB2 transcription factors. The effects of motifs on synergism for this biologically realistic model were consistent with those for the abstract models of single motifs. These results have implications for the rational design of combination drug therapies with the potential for synergistic interactions.

  20. Phyloproteomic Analysis of 11780 Six-Residue-Long Motifs Occurrences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. V. Galzitskaya

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available How is it possible to find good traits for phylogenetic reconstructions? Here, we present a new phyloproteomic criterion that is an occurrence of simple motifs which can be imprints of evolution history. We studied the occurrences of 11780 six-residue-long motifs consisting of two randomly located amino acids in 97 eukaryotic and 25 bacterial proteomes. For all eukaryotic proteomes, with the exception of the Amoebozoa, Stramenopiles, and Diplomonadida kingdoms, the number of proteins containing the motifs from the first group (one of the two amino acids occurs once at the terminal position made about 20%; in the case of motifs from the second (one of two amino acids occurs one time within the pattern and third (the two amino acids occur randomly groups, 30% and 50%, respectively. For bacterial proteomes, this relationship was 10%, 27%, and 63%, respectively. The matrices of correlation coefficients between numbers of proteins where a motif from the set of 11780 motifs appears at least once in 9 kingdoms and 5 phyla of bacteria were calculated. Among the correlation coefficients for eukaryotic proteomes, the correlation between the animal and fungi kingdoms (0.62 is higher than between fungi and plants (0.54. Our study provides support that animals and fungi are sibling kingdoms. Comparison of the frequencies of six-residue-long motifs in different proteomes allows obtaining phylogenetic relationships based on similarities between these frequencies: the Diplomonadida kingdoms are more close to Bacteria than to Eukaryota; Stramenopiles and Amoebozoa are more close to each other than to other kingdoms of Eukaryota.

  1. Structure of Rhodococcus equi virulence-associated protein B (VapB) reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel consisting of two Greek-key motifs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geerds, Christina; Wohlmann, Jens; Haas, Albert; Niemann, Hartmut H.

    2014-01-01

    The structure of VapB, a member of the Vap protein family that is involved in virulence of the bacterial pathogen R. equi, was determined by SAD phasing and reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel similar to avidin, suggestive of a binding function. Made up of two Greek-key motifs, the topology of VapB is unusual or even unique. Members of the virulence-associated protein (Vap) family from the pathogen Rhodococcus equi regulate virulence in an unknown manner. They do not share recognizable sequence homology with any protein of known structure. VapB and VapA are normally associated with isolates from pigs and horses, respectively. To contribute to a molecular understanding of Vap function, the crystal structure of a protease-resistant VapB fragment was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. The structure was solved by SAD phasing employing the anomalous signal of one endogenous S atom and two bound Co ions with low occupancy. VapB is an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel with a single helix. Structural similarity to avidins suggests a potential binding function. Unlike other eight- or ten-stranded β-barrels found in avidins, bacterial outer membrane proteins, fatty-acid-binding proteins and lysozyme inhibitors, Vaps do not have a next-neighbour arrangement but consist of two Greek-key motifs with strand order 41238567, suggesting an unusual or even unique topology

  2. Structure of Rhodococcus equi virulence-associated protein B (VapB) reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel consisting of two Greek-key motifs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Geerds, Christina [Bielefeld University, Universitaetsstrasse 25, 33615 Bielefeld (Germany); Wohlmann, Jens; Haas, Albert [University of Bonn, Ulrich-Haberland Strasse 61a, 53121 Bonn (Germany); Niemann, Hartmut H., E-mail: hartmut.niemann@uni-bielefeld.de [Bielefeld University, Universitaetsstrasse 25, 33615 Bielefeld (Germany)

    2014-06-18

    The structure of VapB, a member of the Vap protein family that is involved in virulence of the bacterial pathogen R. equi, was determined by SAD phasing and reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel similar to avidin, suggestive of a binding function. Made up of two Greek-key motifs, the topology of VapB is unusual or even unique. Members of the virulence-associated protein (Vap) family from the pathogen Rhodococcus equi regulate virulence in an unknown manner. They do not share recognizable sequence homology with any protein of known structure. VapB and VapA are normally associated with isolates from pigs and horses, respectively. To contribute to a molecular understanding of Vap function, the crystal structure of a protease-resistant VapB fragment was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. The structure was solved by SAD phasing employing the anomalous signal of one endogenous S atom and two bound Co ions with low occupancy. VapB is an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel with a single helix. Structural similarity to avidins suggests a potential binding function. Unlike other eight- or ten-stranded β-barrels found in avidins, bacterial outer membrane proteins, fatty-acid-binding proteins and lysozyme inhibitors, Vaps do not have a next-neighbour arrangement but consist of two Greek-key motifs with strand order 41238567, suggesting an unusual or even unique topology.

  3. Prediction of MHC class II binding affinity using SMM-align, a novel stabilization matrix alignment method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Morten; Lundegaard, Claus; Lund, Ole

    2007-07-04

    Antigen presenting cells (APCs) sample the extra cellular space and present peptides from here to T helper cells, which can be activated if the peptides are of foreign origin. The peptides are presented on the surface of the cells in complex with major histocompatibility class II (MHC II) molecules. Identification of peptides that bind MHC II molecules is thus a key step in rational vaccine design and developing methods for accurate prediction of the peptide:MHC interactions play a central role in epitope discovery. The MHC class II binding groove is open at both ends making the correct alignment of a peptide in the binding groove a crucial part of identifying the core of an MHC class II binding motif. Here, we present a novel stabilization matrix alignment method, SMM-align, that allows for direct prediction of peptide:MHC binding affinities. The predictive performance of the method is validated on a large MHC class II benchmark data set covering 14 HLA-DR (human MHC) and three mouse H2-IA alleles. The predictive performance of the SMM-align method was demonstrated to be superior to that of the Gibbs sampler, TEPITOPE, SVRMHC, and MHCpred methods. Cross validation between peptide data set obtained from different sources demonstrated that direct incorporation of peptide length potentially results in over-fitting of the binding prediction method. Focusing on amino terminal peptide flanking residues (PFR), we demonstrate a consistent gain in predictive performance by favoring binding registers with a minimum PFR length of two amino acids. Visualizing the binding motif as obtained by the SMM-align and TEPITOPE methods highlights a series of fundamental discrepancies between the two predicted motifs. For the DRB1*1302 allele for instance, the TEPITOPE method favors basic amino acids at most anchor positions, whereas the SMM-align method identifies a preference for hydrophobic or neutral amino acids at the anchors. The SMM-align method was shown to outperform other

  4. Prediction of MHC class II binding affinity using SMM-align, a novel stabilization matrix alignment method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lund Ole

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Antigen presenting cells (APCs sample the extra cellular space and present peptides from here to T helper cells, which can be activated if the peptides are of foreign origin. The peptides are presented on the surface of the cells in complex with major histocompatibility class II (MHC II molecules. Identification of peptides that bind MHC II molecules is thus a key step in rational vaccine design and developing methods for accurate prediction of the peptide:MHC interactions play a central role in epitope discovery. The MHC class II binding groove is open at both ends making the correct alignment of a peptide in the binding groove a crucial part of identifying the core of an MHC class II binding motif. Here, we present a novel stabilization matrix alignment method, SMM-align, that allows for direct prediction of peptide:MHC binding affinities. The predictive performance of the method is validated on a large MHC class II benchmark data set covering 14 HLA-DR (human MHC and three mouse H2-IA alleles. Results The predictive performance of the SMM-align method was demonstrated to be superior to that of the Gibbs sampler, TEPITOPE, SVRMHC, and MHCpred methods. Cross validation between peptide data set obtained from different sources demonstrated that direct incorporation of peptide length potentially results in over-fitting of the binding prediction method. Focusing on amino terminal peptide flanking residues (PFR, we demonstrate a consistent gain in predictive performance by favoring binding registers with a minimum PFR length of two amino acids. Visualizing the binding motif as obtained by the SMM-align and TEPITOPE methods highlights a series of fundamental discrepancies between the two predicted motifs. For the DRB1*1302 allele for instance, the TEPITOPE method favors basic amino acids at most anchor positions, whereas the SMM-align method identifies a preference for hydrophobic or neutral amino acids at the anchors. Conclusion

  5. Structure of a SUMO-binding-motif mimic bound to Smt3p–Ubc9p: conservation of a noncovalent Ubiquitin-like protein–E2 complex as a platform for selective interactions within a SUMO pathway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duda, David M.; van Waardenburg, Robert C. A. M.; Borg, Laura A.; McGarity, Sierra; Nourse, Amanda; Waddell, M. Brett; Bjornsti, Mary-Ann; Schulman, Brenda A.

    2007-01-01

    Summary The SUMO ubiquitin-like proteins play regulatory roles in cell division, transcription, DNA repair, and protein subcellular localization. Paralleling other ubiquitin-like proteins, SUMO proteins are proteolytically processed to maturity, conjugated to targets by E1-E2-E3 cascades, and subsequently recognized by specific downstream effectors containing a SUMO-binding motif (SBM). SUMO and its E2 from the budding yeast S. cerevisiae, Smt3p and Ubc9p, are encoded by essential genes. Here we describe the 1.9 Å resolution crystal structure of a noncovalent Smt3p–Ubc9p complex. Unexpectedly, a heterologous portion of the crystallized complex derived from the expression construct mimics an SBM, and binds Smt3p in a manner resembling SBM binding to human SUMO family members. In the complex, Smt3p binds a surface distal from Ubc9's catalytic cysteine. The structure implies that a single molecule of Smt3p cannot bind concurrently to both the noncovalent binding site and the catalytic cysteine of a single Ubc9p molecule. However, formation of higher-order complexes can occur, where a single Smt3p covalently linked to one Ubc9p's catalytic cysteine also binds noncovalently to another molecule of Ubc9p. Comparison with other structures from the SUMO pathway suggests that formation of the noncovalent Smt3p–Ubc9p complex occurs mutually exclusively with many other Smt3p and Ubc9p interactions in the conjugation cascade. By contrast, high-resolution insights into how Smt3p–Ubc9p can also interact with downstream recognition machineries come from contacts with the SBM mimic. Interestingly, the overall architecture of the Smt3p–Ubc9p complex is strikingly similar to recent structures from the ubiquitin pathway. The results imply that noncovalent ubiquitin-like protein–E2 complexes are conserved platforms, which function as parts of larger assemblies involved many protein post-translational regulatory pathways. PMID:17475278

  6. Convergent evolution and mimicry of protein linear motifs in host-pathogen interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chemes, Lucía Beatriz; de Prat-Gay, Gonzalo; Sánchez, Ignacio Enrique

    2015-06-01

    Pathogen linear motif mimics are highly evolvable elements that facilitate rewiring of host protein interaction networks. Host linear motifs and pathogen mimics differ in sequence, leading to thermodynamic and structural differences in the resulting protein-protein interactions. Moreover, the functional output of a mimic depends on the motif and domain repertoire of the pathogen protein. Regulatory evolution mediated by linear motifs can be understood by measuring evolutionary rates, quantifying positive and negative selection and performing phylogenetic reconstructions of linear motif natural history. Convergent evolution of linear motif mimics is widespread among unrelated proteins from viral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathogens and can also take place within individual protein phylogenies. Statistics, biochemistry and laboratory models of infection link pathogen linear motifs to phenotypic traits such as tropism, virulence and oncogenicity. In vitro evolution experiments and analysis of natural sequences suggest that changes in linear motif composition underlie pathogen adaptation to a changing environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Structural and biochemical studies on ATP binding and hydrolysis by the Escherichia coli RNA chaperone Hfq.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hermann Hämmerle

    Full Text Available In Escherichia coli the RNA chaperone Hfq is involved in riboregulation by assisting base-pairing between small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs and mRNA targets. Several structural and biochemical studies revealed RNA binding sites on either surface of the donut shaped Hfq-hexamer. Whereas sRNAs are believed to contact preferentially the YKH motifs present on the proximal site, poly(A(15 and ADP were shown to bind to tripartite binding motifs (ARE circularly positioned on the distal site. Hfq has been reported to bind and to hydrolyze ATP. Here, we present the crystal structure of a C-terminally truncated variant of E. coli Hfq (Hfq(65 in complex with ATP, showing that it binds to the distal R-sites. In addition, we revisited the reported ATPase activity of full length Hfq purified to homogeneity. At variance with previous reports, no ATPase activity was observed for Hfq. In addition, FRET assays neither indicated an impact of ATP on annealing of two model oligoribonucleotides nor did the presence of ATP induce strand displacement. Moreover, ATP did not lead to destabilization of binary and ternary Hfq-RNA complexes, unless a vast stoichiometric excess of ATP was used. Taken together, these studies strongly suggest that ATP is dispensable for and does not interfere with Hfq-mediated RNA transactions.

  8. Methods and statistics for combining motif match scores.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, T L; Gribskov, M

    1998-01-01

    Position-specific scoring matrices are useful for representing and searching for protein sequence motifs. A sequence family can often be described by a group of one or more motifs, and an effective search must combine the scores for matching a sequence to each of the motifs in the group. We describe three methods for combining match scores and estimating the statistical significance of the combined scores and evaluate the search quality (classification accuracy) and the accuracy of the estimate of statistical significance of each. The three methods are: 1) sum of scores, 2) sum of reduced variates, 3) product of score p-values. We show that method 3) is superior to the other two methods in both regards, and that combining motif scores indeed gives better search accuracy. The MAST sequence homology search algorithm utilizing the product of p-values scoring method is available for interactive use and downloading at URL http:/(/)www.sdsc.edu/MEME.

  9. Activation of the ATR kinase by the RPA-binding protein ETAA1

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haahr, Peter; Hoffmann, Saskia; Tollenaere, Maxim A X

    2016-01-01

    Activation of the ATR kinase following perturbations to DNA replication relies on a complex mechanism involving ATR recruitment to RPA-coated single-stranded DNA via its binding partner ATRIP and stimulation of ATR kinase activity by TopBP1. Here, we discovered an independent ATR activation pathway...... in vertebrates, mediated by the uncharacterized protein ETAA1 (Ewing's tumour-associated antigen 1). Human ETAA1 accumulates at DNA damage sites via dual RPA-binding motifs and promotes replication fork progression and integrity, ATR signalling and cell survival after genotoxic insults. Mechanistically...

  10. Novel binding motif and new flexibility revealed by structural analyses of a pyruvate dehydrogenase-dihydrolipoyl acetyltransferase subcomplex from the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjunan, Palaniappa; Wang, Junjie; Nemeria, Natalia S; Reynolds, Shelley; Brown, Ian; Chandrasekhar, Krishnamoorthy; Calero, Guillermo; Jordan, Frank; Furey, William

    2014-10-24

    The Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex contains multiple copies of three enzymatic components, E1p, E2p, and E3, that sequentially carry out distinct steps in the overall reaction converting pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Efficient functioning requires the enzymatic components to assemble into a large complex, the integrity of which is maintained by tethering of the displaced, peripheral E1p and E3 components to the E2p core through non-covalent binding. We here report the crystal structure of a subcomplex between E1p and an E2p didomain containing a hybrid lipoyl domain along with the peripheral subunit-binding domain responsible for tethering to the core. In the structure, a region at the N terminus of each subunit in the E1p homodimer previously unseen due to crystallographic disorder was observed, revealing a new folding motif involved in E1p-E2p didomain interactions, and an additional, unexpected, flexibility was discovered in the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex, both of which probably have consequences in the overall multienzyme complex assembly. This represents the first structure of an E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex involving a homodimeric E1p, and the results may be applicable to a large range of complexes with homodimeric E1 components. Results of HD exchange mass spectrometric experiments using the intact, wild type 3-lipoyl E2p and E1p are consistent with the crystallographic data obtained from the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex as well as with other biochemical and NMR data reported from our groups, confirming that our findings are applicable to the entire E1p-E2p assembly. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  11. Novel Binding Motif and New Flexibility Revealed by Structural Analyses of a Pyruvate Dehydrogenase-Dihydrolipoyl Acetyltransferase Subcomplex from the Escherichia coli Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Multienzyme Complex*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjunan, Palaniappa; Wang, Junjie; Nemeria, Natalia S.; Reynolds, Shelley; Brown, Ian; Chandrasekhar, Krishnamoorthy; Calero, Guillermo; Jordan, Frank; Furey, William

    2014-01-01

    The Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex contains multiple copies of three enzymatic components, E1p, E2p, and E3, that sequentially carry out distinct steps in the overall reaction converting pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Efficient functioning requires the enzymatic components to assemble into a large complex, the integrity of which is maintained by tethering of the displaced, peripheral E1p and E3 components to the E2p core through non-covalent binding. We here report the crystal structure of a subcomplex between E1p and an E2p didomain containing a hybrid lipoyl domain along with the peripheral subunit-binding domain responsible for tethering to the core. In the structure, a region at the N terminus of each subunit in the E1p homodimer previously unseen due to crystallographic disorder was observed, revealing a new folding motif involved in E1p-E2p didomain interactions, and an additional, unexpected, flexibility was discovered in the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex, both of which probably have consequences in the overall multienzyme complex assembly. This represents the first structure of an E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex involving a homodimeric E1p, and the results may be applicable to a large range of complexes with homodimeric E1 components. Results of HD exchange mass spectrometric experiments using the intact, wild type 3-lipoyl E2p and E1p are consistent with the crystallographic data obtained from the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex as well as with other biochemical and NMR data reported from our groups, confirming that our findings are applicable to the entire E1p-E2p assembly. PMID:25210042

  12. SP Transcription Factor Paralogs and DNA-Binding Sites Coevolve and Adaptively Converge in Mammals and Birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yokoyama, Ken Daigoro; Pollock, David D.

    2012-01-01

    Functional modification of regulatory proteins can affect hundreds of genes throughout the genome, and is therefore thought to be almost universally deleterious. This belief, however, has recently been challenged. A potential example comes from transcription factor SP1, for which statistical evidence indicates that motif preferences were altered in eutherian mammals. Here, we set out to discover possible structural and theoretical explanations, evaluate the role of selection in SP1 evolution, and discover effects on coregulatory proteins. We show that SP1 motif preferences were convergently altered in birds as well as mammals, inducing coevolutionary changes in over 800 regulatory regions. Structural and phylogenic evidence implicates a single causative amino acid replacement at the same SP1 position along both lineages. Furthermore, paralogs SP3 and SP4, which coregulate SP1 target genes through competitive binding to the same sites, have accumulated convergent replacements at the homologous position multiple times during eutherian and bird evolution, presumably to preserve competitive binding. To determine plausibility, we developed and implemented a simple model of transcription factor and binding site coevolution. This model predicts that, in contrast to prevailing beliefs, even small selective benefits per locus can drive concurrent fixation of transcription factor and binding site mutants under a broad range of conditions. Novel binding sites tend to arise de novo, rather than by mutation from ancestral sites, a prediction substantiated by SP1-binding site alignments. Thus, multiple lines of evidence indicate that selection has driven convergent evolution of transcription factors along with their binding sites and coregulatory proteins. PMID:23019068

  13. footprintDB: a database of transcription factors with annotated cis elements and binding interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebastian, Alvaro; Contreras-Moreira, Bruno

    2014-01-15

    Traditional and high-throughput techniques for determining transcription factor (TF) binding specificities are generating large volumes of data of uneven quality, which are scattered across individual databases. FootprintDB integrates some of the most comprehensive freely available libraries of curated DNA binding sites and systematically annotates the binding interfaces of the corresponding TFs. The first release contains 2422 unique TF sequences, 10 112 DNA binding sites and 3662 DNA motifs. A survey of the included data sources, organisms and TF families was performed together with proprietary database TRANSFAC, finding that footprintDB has a similar coverage of multicellular organisms, while also containing bacterial regulatory data. A search engine has been designed that drives the prediction of DNA motifs for input TFs, or conversely of TF sequences that might recognize input regulatory sequences, by comparison with database entries. Such predictions can also be extended to a single proteome chosen by the user, and results are ranked in terms of interface similarity. Benchmark experiments with bacterial, plant and human data were performed to measure the predictive power of footprintDB searches, which were able to correctly recover 10, 55 and 90% of the tested sequences, respectively. Correctly predicted TFs had a higher interface similarity than the average, confirming its diagnostic value. Web site implemented in PHP,Perl, MySQL and Apache. Freely available from http://floresta.eead.csic.es/footprintdb.

  14. Uncovering the Peptide-Binding Specificities of HLA-C: A General Strategy To Determine the Specificity of Any MHC Class I Molecule

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Michael; Harndahl, Mikkel; Stryhn, Anette

    2014-01-01

    MHC class I molecules (HLA-I in humans) present peptides derived from endogenous proteins to CTLs. Whereas the peptide-binding specificities of HLA-A and -B molecules have been studied extensively, little is known about HLA-C specificities. Combining a positional scanning combinatorial peptide...... library approach with a peptide-HLA-I dissociation assay, in this study we present a general strategy to determine the peptide-binding specificity of any MHC class I molecule. We applied this novel strategy to 17 of the most common HLA-C molecules, and for 16 of these we successfully generated matrices...... representing their peptide-binding motifs. The motifs prominently shared a conserved C-terminal primary anchor with hydrophobic amino acid residues, as well as one or more diverse primary and auxiliary anchors at P1, P2, P3, and/or P7. Matrices were used to generate a large panel of HLA-C-specific peptide...

  15. DNA methylation requires a DNMT1 ubiquitin interacting motif (UIM) and histone ubiquitination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Weihua; Wolf, Patricia; Liu, Nan; Link, Stephanie; Smets, Martha; La Mastra, Federica; Forné, Ignasi; Pichler, Garwin; Hörl, David; Fellinger, Karin; Spada, Fabio; Bonapace, Ian Marc; Imhof, Axel; Harz, Hartmann; Leonhardt, Heinrich

    2015-08-01

    DNMT1 is recruited by PCNA and UHRF1 to maintain DNA methylation after replication. UHRF1 recognizes hemimethylated DNA substrates via the SRA domain, but also repressive H3K9me3 histone marks with its TTD. With systematic mutagenesis and functional assays, we could show that chromatin binding further involved UHRF1 PHD binding to unmodified H3R2. These complementation assays clearly demonstrated that the ubiquitin ligase activity of the UHRF1 RING domain is required for maintenance DNA methylation. Mass spectrometry of UHRF1-deficient cells revealed H3K18 as a novel ubiquitination target of UHRF1 in mammalian cells. With bioinformatics and mutational analyses, we identified a ubiquitin interacting motif (UIM) in the N-terminal regulatory domain of DNMT1 that binds to ubiquitinated H3 tails and is essential for DNA methylation in vivo. H3 ubiquitination and subsequent DNA methylation required UHRF1 PHD binding to H3R2. These results show the manifold regulatory mechanisms controlling DNMT1 activity that require the reading and writing of epigenetic marks by UHRF1 and illustrate the multifaceted interplay between DNA and histone modifications. The identification and functional characterization of the DNMT1 UIM suggests a novel regulatory principle and we speculate that histone H2AK119 ubiquitination might also lead to UIM-dependent recruitment of DNMT1 and DNA methylation beyond classic maintenance.

  16. Co-evolution of affinity and stability of grafted amyloid-motif domain antibodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Julian, Mark C; Lee, Christine C; Tiller, Kathryn E; Rabia, Lilia A; Day, Evan K; Schick, Arthur J; Tessier, Peter M

    2015-10-01

    An attractive approach for designing lead antibody candidates is to mimic natural protein interactions by grafting peptide recognition motifs into the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs). We are using this approach to generate single-domain (VH) antibodies specific for amyloid-forming proteins such as the Alzheimer's Aβ peptide. Here, we use random mutagenesis and yeast surface display to improve the binding affinity of a lead VH domain grafted with Aβ residues 33-42 in CDR3. Interestingly, co-selection for improved Aβ binding and VH display on the surface of yeast yields antibody domains with improved affinity and reduced stability. The highest affinity VH domains were strongly destabilized on the surface of yeast as well as unfolded when isolated as autonomous domains. In contrast, stable VH domains with improved affinity were reliably identified using yeast surface display by replacing the display antibody that recognizes a linear epitope tag at the terminus of both folded and unfolded VH domains with a conformational ligand (Protein A) that recognizes a discontinuous epitope on the framework of folded VH domains. Importantly, we find that selection for improved stability using Protein A without simultaneous co-selection for improved Aβ binding leads to strong enrichment for stabilizing mutations that reduce antigen binding. Our findings highlight the importance of simultaneously optimizing affinity and stability to improve the rapid isolation of well-folded and specific antibody fragments. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Low-dimensional morphospace of topological motifs in human fMRI brain networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah E. Morgan

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available We present a low-dimensional morphospace of fMRI brain networks, where axes are defined in a data-driven manner based on the network motifs. The morphospace allows us to identify the key variations in healthy fMRI networks in terms of their underlying motifs, and we observe that two principal components (PCs can account for 97% of the motif variability. The first PC of the motif distribution is correlated with efficiency and inversely correlated with transitivity. Hence this axis approximately conforms to the well-known economical small-world trade-off between integration and segregation in brain networks. Finally, we show that the economical clustering generative model proposed by Vértes et al. (2012 can approximately reproduce the motif morphospace of the real fMRI brain networks, in contrast to other generative models. Overall, the motif morphospace provides a powerful way to visualize the relationships between network properties and to investigate generative or constraining factors in the formation of complex human brain functional networks. Motifs have been described as the building blocks of complex networks. Meanwhile, a morphospace allows networks to be placed in a common space and can reveal the relationships between different network properties and elucidate the driving forces behind network topology. We combine the concepts of motifs and morphospaces to create the first motif morphospace of fMRI brain networks. Crucially, the morphospace axes are defined by the motifs, in a data-driven manner. We observe strong correlations between the networks’ positions in morphospace and their global topological properties, suggesting that motif morphospaces are a powerful way to capture the topology of networks in a low-dimensional space and to compare generative models of brain networks. Motif morphospaces could also be used to study other complex networks’ topologies.

  18. Relationship of Structure and Function of DNA-Binding Domain in Vitamin D Receptor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin-Yan Wan

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available While the structure of the DNA-binding domain (DBD of the vitamin D receptor (VDR has been determined in great detail, the roles of its domains and how to bind the motif of its target genes are still under debate. The VDR DBD consists of two zinc finger modules and a C-terminal extension (CTE, at the end of the C-terminal of each structure presenting α-helix. For the first zinc finger structure, N37 and S-box take part in forming a dimer with 9-cis retinoid X receptor (RXR, while V26, R50, P-box and S-box participate in binding with VDR response elements (VDRE. For the second zinc finger structure, P61, F62 and H75 are essential in the structure of the VDR homodimer with the residues N37, E92 and F93 of the downstream of partner VDR, which form the inter-DBD interface. T-box of the CTE, especially the F93 and I94, plays a critical role in heterodimerization and heterodimers–VDRE binding. Six essential residues (R102, K103, M106, I107, K109, and R110 of the CTE α-helix of VDR construct one interaction face, which packs against the DBD core of the adjacent symmetry mate. In 1,25(OH2D3-activated signaling, the VDR-RXR heterodimer may bind to DR3-type VDRE and ER9-type VDREs of its target gene directly resulting in transactivation and also bind to DR3-liked nVDRE of its target gene directly resulting in transrepression. Except for this, 1α,25(OH2D3 ligand VDR-RXR may bind to 1αnVDRE indirectly through VDIR, resulting in transrepression of the target gene. Upon binding of 1α,25(OH2D3, VDR can transactivate and transrepress its target genes depending on the DNA motif that DBD binds.

  19. Discovering Motifs in Biological Sequences Using the Micron Automata Processor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Indranil; Aluru, Srinivas

    2016-01-01

    Finding approximately conserved sequences, called motifs, across multiple DNA or protein sequences is an important problem in computational biology. In this paper, we consider the (l, d) motif search problem of identifying one or more motifs of length l present in at least q of the n given sequences, with each occurrence differing from the motif in at most d substitutions. The problem is known to be NP-complete, and the largest solved instance reported to date is (26,11). We propose a novel algorithm for the (l,d) motif search problem using streaming execution over a large set of non-deterministic finite automata (NFA). This solution is designed to take advantage of the micron automata processor, a new technology close to deployment that can simultaneously execute multiple NFA in parallel. We demonstrate the capability for solving much larger instances of the (l, d) motif search problem using the resources available within a single automata processor board, by estimating run-times for problem instances (39,18) and (40,17). The paper serves as a useful guide to solving problems using this new accelerator technology.

  20. PISMA: A Visual Representation of Motif Distribution in DNA Sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rogelio Alcántara-Silva

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Because the graphical presentation and analysis of motif distribution can provide insights for experimental hypothesis, PISMA aims at identifying motifs on DNA sequences, counting and showing them graphically. The motif length ranges from 2 to 10 bases, and the DNA sequences range up to 10 kb. The motif distribution is shown as a bar-code–like, as a gene-map–like, and as a transcript scheme. Results: We obtained graphical schemes of the CpG site distribution from 91 human papillomavirus genomes. Also, we present 2 analyses: one of DNA motifs associated with either methylation-resistant or methylation-sensitive CpG islands and another analysis of motifs associated with exosome RNA secretion. Availability and Implementation: PISMA is developed in Java; it is executable in any type of hardware and in diverse operating systems. PISMA is freely available to noncommercial users. The English version and the User Manual are provided in Supplementary Files 1 and 2, and a Spanish version is available at www.biomedicas.unam.mx/wp-content/software/pisma.zip and www.biomedicas.unam.mx/wp-content/pdf/manual/pisma.pdf .

  1. Aggregation of topological motifs in the Escherichia coli transcriptional regulatory network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barabási Albert-László

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Transcriptional regulation of cellular functions is carried out through a complex network of interactions among transcription factors and the promoter regions of genes and operons regulated by them.To better understand the system-level function of such networks simplification of their architecture was previously achieved by identifying the motifs present in the network, which are small, overrepresented, topologically distinct regulatory interaction patterns (subgraphs. However, the interaction of such motifs with each other, and their form of integration into the full network has not been previously examined. Results By studying the transcriptional regulatory network of the bacterium, Escherichia coli, we demonstrate that the two previously identified motif types in the network (i.e., feed-forward loops and bi-fan motifs do not exist in isolation, but rather aggregate into homologous motif clusters that largely overlap with known biological functions. Moreover, these clusters further coalesce into a supercluster, thus establishing distinct topological hierarchies that show global statistical properties similar to the whole network. Targeted removal of motif links disintegrates the network into small, isolated clusters, while random disruptions of equal number of links do not cause such an effect. Conclusion Individual motifs aggregate into homologous motif clusters and a supercluster forming the backbone of the E. coli transcriptional regulatory network and play a central role in defining its global topological organization.

  2. Parallel motif extraction from very long sequences

    KAUST Repository

    Sahli, Majed

    2013-01-01

    Motifs are frequent patterns used to identify biological functionality in genomic sequences, periodicity in time series, or user trends in web logs. In contrast to a lot of existing work that focuses on collections of many short sequences, modern applications require mining of motifs in one very long sequence (i.e., in the order of several gigabytes). For this case, there exist statistical approaches that are fast but inaccurate; or combinatorial methods that are sound and complete. Unfortunately, existing combinatorial methods are serial and very slow. Consequently, they are limited to very short sequences (i.e., a few megabytes), small alphabets (typically 4 symbols for DNA sequences), and restricted types of motifs. This paper presents ACME, a combinatorial method for extracting motifs from a single very long sequence. ACME arranges the search space in contiguous blocks that take advantage of the cache hierarchy in modern architectures, and achieves almost an order of magnitude performance gain in serial execution. It also decomposes the search space in a smart way that allows scalability to thousands of processors with more than 90% speedup. ACME is the only method that: (i) scales to gigabyte-long sequences; (ii) handles large alphabets; (iii) supports interesting types of motifs with minimal additional cost; and (iv) is optimized for a variety of architectures such as multi-core systems, clusters in the cloud, and supercomputers. ACME reduces the extraction time for an exact-length query from 4 hours to 7 minutes on a typical workstation; handles 3 orders of magnitude longer sequences; and scales up to 16, 384 cores on a supercomputer. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

  3. MODA: an efficient algorithm for network motif discovery in biological networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omidi, Saeed; Schreiber, Falk; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali

    2009-10-01

    In recent years, interest has been growing in the study of complex networks. Since Erdös and Rényi (1960) proposed their random graph model about 50 years ago, many researchers have investigated and shaped this field. Many indicators have been proposed to assess the global features of networks. Recently, an active research area has developed in studying local features named motifs as the building blocks of networks. Unfortunately, network motif discovery is a computationally hard problem and finding rather large motifs (larger than 8 nodes) by means of current algorithms is impractical as it demands too much computational effort. In this paper, we present a new algorithm (MODA) that incorporates techniques such as a pattern growth approach for extracting larger motifs efficiently. We have tested our algorithm and found it able to identify larger motifs with more than 8 nodes more efficiently than most of the current state-of-the-art motif discovery algorithms. While most of the algorithms rely on induced subgraphs as motifs of the networks, MODA is able to extract both induced and non-induced subgraphs simultaneously. The MODA source code is freely available at: http://LBB.ut.ac.ir/Download/LBBsoft/MODA/

  4. Dynamic motifs in socio-economic networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xin; Shao, Shuai; Stanley, H. Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo

    2014-12-01

    Socio-economic networks are of central importance in economic life. We develop a method of identifying and studying motifs in socio-economic networks by focusing on “dynamic motifs,” i.e., evolutionary connection patterns that, because of “node acquaintances” in the network, occur much more frequently than random patterns. We examine two evolving bi-partite networks: i) the world-wide commercial ship chartering market and ii) the ship build-to-order market. We find similar dynamic motifs in both bipartite networks, even though they describe different economic activities. We also find that “influence” and “persistence” are strong factors in the interaction behavior of organizations. When two companies are doing business with the same customer, it is highly probable that another customer who currently only has business relationship with one of these two companies, will become customer of the second in the future. This is the effect of influence. Persistence means that companies with close business ties to customers tend to maintain their relationships over a long period of time.

  5. A protein engineered to bind uranyl selectively and with femtomolar affinity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Lu; Bosscher, Mike; Zhang, Changsheng; Özçubukçu, Salih; Zhang, Liang; Zhang, Wen; Li, Charles J.; Liu, Jianzhao; Jensen, Mark P.; Lai, Luhua; He, Chuan

    2014-03-01

    Uranyl (UO22+), the predominant aerobic form of uranium, is present in the ocean at a concentration of ~3.2 parts per 109 (13.7 nM) however, the successful enrichment of uranyl from this vast resource has been limited by the high concentrations of metal ions of similar size and charge, which makes it difficult to design a binding motif that is selective for uranyl. Here we report the design and rational development of a uranyl-binding protein using a computational screening process in the initial search for potential uranyl-binding sites. The engineered protein is thermally stable and offers very high affinity and selectivity for uranyl with a Kd of 7.4 femtomolar (fM) and >10,000-fold selectivity over other metal ions. We also demonstrated that the uranyl-binding protein can repeatedly sequester 30-60% of the uranyl in synthetic sea water. The chemical strategy employed here may be applied to engineer other selective metal-binding proteins for biotechnology and remediation applications.

  6. Assessing local structure motifs using order parameters for motif recognition, interstitial identification, and diffusion path characterization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, Nils E. R.; Horton, Matthew K.; Jain, Anubhav; Haranczyk, Maciej

    2017-11-01

    Structure-property relationships form the basis of many design rules in materials science, including synthesizability and long-term stability of catalysts, control of electrical and optoelectronic behavior in semiconductors as well as the capacity of and transport properties in cathode materials for rechargeable batteries. The immediate atomic environments (i.e., the first coordination shells) of a few atomic sites are often a key factor in achieving a desired property. Some of the most frequently encountered coordination patterns are tetrahedra, octahedra, body and face-centered cubic as well as hexagonal closed packed-like environments. Here, we showcase the usefulness of local order parameters to identify these basic structural motifs in inorganic solid materials by developing classification criteria. We introduce a systematic testing framework, the Einstein crystal test rig, that probes the response of order parameters to distortions in perfect motifs to validate our approach. Subsequently, we highlight three important application cases. First, we map basic crystal structure information of a large materials database in an intuitive manner by screening the Materials Project (MP) database (61,422 compounds) for element-specific motif distributions. Second, we use the structure-motif recognition capabilities to automatically find interstitials in metals, semiconductor, and insulator materials. Our Interstitialcy Finding Tool (InFiT) facilitates high-throughput screenings of defect properties. Third, the order parameters are reliable and compact quantitative structure descriptors for characterizing diffusion hops of intercalants as our example of magnesium in MnO2-spinel indicates. Finally, the tools developed in our work are readily and freely available as software implementations in the pymatgen library, and we expect them to be further applied to machine-learning approaches for emerging applications in materials science.

  7. Human HOX Proteins Use Diverse and Context-Dependent Motifs to Interact with TALE Class Cofactors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dard, Amélie; Reboulet, Jonathan; Jia, Yunlong; Bleicher, Françoise; Duffraisse, Marilyne; Vanaker, Jean-Marc; Forcet, Christelle; Merabet, Samir

    2018-03-13

    HOX proteins achieve numerous functions by interacting with the TALE class PBX and MEIS cofactors. In contrast to this established partnership in development and disease, how HOX proteins could interact with PBX and MEIS remains unclear. Here, we present a systematic analysis of HOX/PBX/MEIS interaction properties, scanning all paralog groups with human and mouse HOX proteins in vitro and in live cells. We demonstrate that a previously characterized HOX protein motif known to be critical for HOX-PBX interactions becomes dispensable in the presence of MEIS in all except the two most anterior paralog groups. We further identify paralog-specific TALE-binding sites that are used in a highly context-dependent manner. One of these binding sites is involved in the proliferative activity of HOXA7 in breast cancer cells. Together these findings reveal an extraordinary level of interaction flexibility between HOX proteins and their major class of developmental cofactors. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Proteins containing the UBA domain are able to bind to multi-ubiquitin chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilkinson, C R; Seeger, M; Hartmann-Petersen, R

    2001-01-01

    The UBA domain is a motif found in a variety of proteins, some of which are associated with the ubiquitin-proteasome system. We describe the isolation of a fission-yeast gene, mud1+, which encodes a UBA domain containing protein that is able to bind multi-ubiquitin chains. We show that the UBA do...

  9. Loss of Interdependent Binding by the FoxO1 and FoxA1/A2 Forkhead Transcription Factors Culminates in Perturbation of Active Chromatin Marks and Binding of Transcriptional Regulators at Insulin-sensitive Genes*

    OpenAIRE

    Yalley, Akua; Schill, Daniel; Hatta, Mitsutoki; Johnson, Nicole; Cirillo, Lisa Ann

    2016-01-01

    FoxO1 binds to insulin response elements located in the promoters of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP1) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), activating their expression. Insulin-mediated phosphorylation of FoxO1 promotes cytoplasmic translocation, inhibiting FoxO1-mediated transactivation. We have previously demonstrated that FoxO1 opens and remodels chromatin assembled from the IGFBP1 promoter via a highly conserved winged helix motif. This finding, which established FoxO1 ...

  10. Probing structural changes of self assembled i-motif DNA

    KAUST Repository

    Lee, Iljoon; Patil, Sachin; Fhayli, Karim; Alsaiari, Shahad K.; Khashab, Niveen M.

    2015-01-01

    We report an i-motif structural probing system based on Thioflavin T (ThT) as a fluorescent sensor. This probe can discriminate the structural changes of RET and Rb i-motif sequences according to pH change. This journal is

  11. RecO protein initiates DNA recombination and strand annealing through two alternative DNA binding mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryzhikov, Mikhail; Gupta, Richa; Glickman, Michael; Korolev, Sergey

    2014-10-17

    Recombination mediator proteins (RMPs) are important for genome stability in all organisms. Several RMPs support two alternative reactions: initiation of homologous recombination and DNA annealing. We examined mechanisms of RMPs in both reactions with Mycobacterium smegmatis RecO (MsRecO) and demonstrated that MsRecO interacts with ssDNA by two distinct mechanisms. Zinc stimulates MsRecO binding to ssDNA during annealing, whereas the recombination function is zinc-independent and is regulated by interaction with MsRecR. Thus, different structural motifs or conformations of MsRecO are responsible for interaction with ssDNA during annealing and recombination. Neither annealing nor recombinase loading depends on MsRecO interaction with the conserved C-terminal tail of single-stranded (ss) DNA-binding protein (SSB), which is known to bind Escherichia coli RecO. However, similarly to E. coli proteins, MsRecO and MsRecOR do not dismiss SSB from ssDNA, suggesting that RMPs form a complex with SSB-ssDNA even in the absence of binding to the major protein interaction motif. We propose that alternative conformations of such complexes define the mechanism by which RMPs initiate the repair of stalled replication and support two different functions during recombinational repair of DNA breaks. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  12. Prenatal exposure of mice to diethylstilbestrol disrupts T-cell differentiation by regulating Fas/Fas ligand expression through estrogen receptor element and nuclear factor-κB motifs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Narendra P; Singh, Udai P; Nagarkatti, Prakash S; Nagarkatti, Mitzi

    2012-11-01

    Prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) is known to cause altered immune functions and increased susceptibility to autoimmune disease in humans. In the current study, we investigated the effect of prenatal exposure to DES on thymocyte differentiation involving apoptotic pathways. Prenatal DES exposure caused thymic atrophy, apoptosis, and up-regulation of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) expression in thymocytes. To examine the mechanism underlying DES-mediated regulation of Fas and FasL, we performed luciferase assays using T cells transfected with luciferase reporter constructs containing full-length Fas or FasL promoters. There was significant luciferase induction in the presence of Fas or FasL promoters after DES exposure. Further analysis demonstrated the presence of several cis-regulatory motifs on both Fas and FasL promoters. When DES-induced transcription factors were analyzed, estrogen receptor element (ERE), nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), nuclear factor of activated T cells (NF-AT), and activator protein-1 motifs on the Fas promoter, as well as ERE, NF-κB, and NF-AT motifs on the FasL promoter, showed binding affinity with the transcription factors. Electrophoretic mobility-shift assays were performed to verify the binding affinity of cis-regulatory motifs of Fas or FasL promoters with transcription factors. There was shift in mobility of probes (ERE or NF-κB2) of both Fas and FasL in the presence of nuclear proteins from DES-treated cells, and the shift was specific to DES because these probes failed to shift their mobility in the presence of nuclear proteins from vehicle-treated cells. Together, the current study demonstrates that prenatal exposure to DES triggers significant alterations in apoptotic molecules expressed on thymocytes, which may affect T-cell differentiation and cause long-term effects on the immune functions.

  13. RNA-binding properties and mapping of the RNA-binding domain from the movement protein of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herranz, M Carmen; Pallás, Vicente

    2004-03-01

    The movement protein (MP) of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) is involved in intercellular virus transport. In this study, putative RNA-binding properties of the PNRSV MP were studied. The PNRSV MP was produced in Escherichia coli using an expression vector. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) using DIG-labelled riboprobes demonstrated that PNRSV MP bound ssRNA cooperatively without sequence specificity. Two different ribonucleoprotein complexes were found to be formed depending on the molar MP : PNRSV RNA ratio. The different responses of the complexes to urea treatment strongly suggested that they have different structural properties. Deletion mutagenesis followed by Northwestern analysis allowed location of a nucleic acid binding domain to aa 56-88. This 33 aa RNA-binding motif is the smallest region delineated among members of the family Bromoviridae for which RNA-binding properties have been demonstrated. This domain is highly conserved within all phylogenetic subgroups previously described for PNRSV isolates. Interestingly, the RNA-binding domain described here and the one described for Alfamovirus are located at the N terminus of their corresponding MPs, whereas similar domains previously characterized in members of the genera Bromovirus and Cucumovirus are present at the C terminus, strongly reflecting their corresponding phylogenetic relationships. The evolutionary implications of this observation are discussed.

  14. Fragment-based modelling of single stranded RNA bound to RNA recognition motif containing proteins

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Beauchene, Isaure Chauvot; de Vries, Sjoerd J.; Zacharias, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Protein-RNA complexes are important for many biological processes. However, structural modeling of such complexes is hampered by the high flexibility of RNA. Particularly challenging is the docking of single-stranded RNA (ssRNA). We have developed a fragment-based approach to model the structure of ssRNA bound to a protein, based on only the protein structure, the RNA sequence and conserved contacts. The conformational diversity of each RNA fragment is sampled by an exhaustive library of trinucleotides extracted from all known experimental protein–RNA complexes. The method was applied to ssRNA with up to 12 nucleotides which bind to dimers of the RNA recognition motifs (RRMs), a highly abundant eukaryotic RNA-binding domain. The fragment based docking allows a precise de novo atomic modeling of protein-bound ssRNA chains. On a benchmark of seven experimental ssRNA–RRM complexes, near-native models (with a mean heavy-atom deviation of <3 Å from experiment) were generated for six out of seven bound RNA chains, and even more precise models (deviation < 2 Å) were obtained for five out of seven cases, a significant improvement compared to the state of the art. The method is not restricted to RRMs but was also successfully applied to Pumilio RNA binding proteins. PMID:27131381

  15. BlockLogo: Visualization of peptide and sequence motif conservation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Lars Rønn; Kudahl, Ulrich Johan; Simon, Christian

    2013-01-01

    BlockLogo is a web-server application for the visualization of protein and nucleotide fragments, continuous protein sequence motifs, and discontinuous sequence motifs using calculation of block entropy from multiple sequence alignments. The user input consists of a multiple sequence alignment, se...

  16. In silico analysis reveals sequential interactions and protein conformational changes during the binding of chemokine CXCL-8 to its receptor CXCR1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Je-Wen Liou

    Full Text Available Chemokine CXCL-8 plays a central role in human immune response by binding to and activate its cognate receptor CXCR1, a member of the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR family. The full-length structure of CXCR1 is modeled by combining the structures of previous NMR experiments with those from homology modeling. Molecular docking is performed to search favorable binding sites of monomeric and dimeric CXCL-8 with CXCR1 and a mutated form of it. The receptor-ligand complex is embedded into a lipid bilayer and used in multi ns molecular dynamics (MD simulations. A multi-steps binding mode is proposed: (i the N-loop of CXCL-8 initially binds to the N-terminal domain of receptor CXCR1 driven predominantly by electrostatic interactions; (ii hydrophobic interactions allow the N-terminal Glu-Leu-Arg (ELR motif of CXCL-8 to move closer to the extracellular loops of CXCR1; (iii electrostatic interactions finally dominate the interaction between the N-terminal ELR motif of CXCL-8 and the EC-loops of CXCR1. Mutation of CXCR1 abrogates this mode of binding. The detailed binding process may help to facilitate the discovery of agonists and antagonists for rational drug design.

  17. Regulatory motifs for CREB-binding protein and Nfe2l2 transcription factors in the upstream enhancer of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rim, Jong S; Kozak, Leslie P

    2002-09-13

    Thermogenesis against cold exposure in mammals occurs in brown adipose tissue (BAT) through mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP1). Expression of the Ucp1 gene is unique in brown adipocytes and is regulated tightly. The 5'-flanking region of the mouse Ucp1 gene contains cis-acting elements including PPRE, TRE, and four half-site cAMP-responsive elements (CRE) with BAT-specific enhancer elements. In the course of analyzing how these half-site CREs are involved in Ucp1 expression, we found that a DNA regulatory element for NF-E2 overlaps CRE2. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and competition assays with the CRE2 element indicates that nuclear proteins from BAT, inguinal fat, and retroperitoneal fat tissue interact with the CRE2 motif (CGTCA) in a specific manner. A supershift assay using an antibody against the CRE-binding protein (CREB) shows specific affinity to the complex from CRE2 and nuclear extract of BAT. Additionally, Western blot analysis for phospho-CREB/ATF1 shows an increase in phosphorylation of CREB/ATF1 in HIB-1B cells after norepinephrine treatment. Transient transfection assay using luciferase reporter constructs also indicates that the two half-site CREs are involved in transcriptional regulation of Ucp1 in response to norepinephrine and cAMP. We also show that a second DNA regulatory element for NF-E2 is located upstream of the CRE2 region. This element, which is found in a similar location in the 5'-flanking region of the human and rodent Ucp1 genes, shows specific binding to rat and human NF-E2 by electrophoretic mobility shift assay with nuclear extracts from brown fat. Co-transfections with an Nfe2l2 expression vector and a luciferase reporter construct of the Ucp1 enhancer region provide additional evidence that Nfe2l2 is involved in the regulation of Ucp1 by cAMP-mediated signaling.

  18. Crystal structure of CotA laccase complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) at a novel binding site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Zhongchuan; Xie, Tian; Zhong, Qiuping; Wang, Ganggang

    2016-01-01

    The crystal structure of CotA complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) in a hole motif has been solved; this novel binding site could be a potential structure-based target for protein engineering of CotA laccase. The CotA laccase from Bacillus subtilis is an abundant component of the spore outer coat and has been characterized as a typical laccase. The crystal structure of CotA complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) in a hole motif has been solved. The novel binding site was about 26 Å away from the T1 binding pocket. Comparison with known structures of other laccases revealed that the hole is a specific feature of CotA. The key residues Arg476 and Ser360 were directly bound to ABTS. Site-directed mutagenesis studies revealed that the residues Arg146, Arg429 and Arg476, which are located at the bottom of the novel binding site, are essential for the oxidation of ABTS and syringaldazine. Specially, a Thr480Phe variant was identified to be almost 3.5 times more specific for ABTS than for syringaldazine compared with the wild type. These results suggest this novel binding site for ABTS could be a potential target for protein engineering of CotA laccases

  19. Crystal structure of CotA laccase complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) at a novel binding site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Zhongchuan; Xie, Tian [Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China); Key Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China); Zhong, Qiuping [Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China); Key Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of (China); Wang, Ganggang, E-mail: wanggg@cib.ac.cn [Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China); Key Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of (China)

    2016-03-24

    The crystal structure of CotA complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) in a hole motif has been solved; this novel binding site could be a potential structure-based target for protein engineering of CotA laccase. The CotA laccase from Bacillus subtilis is an abundant component of the spore outer coat and has been characterized as a typical laccase. The crystal structure of CotA complexed with 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) in a hole motif has been solved. The novel binding site was about 26 Å away from the T1 binding pocket. Comparison with known structures of other laccases revealed that the hole is a specific feature of CotA. The key residues Arg476 and Ser360 were directly bound to ABTS. Site-directed mutagenesis studies revealed that the residues Arg146, Arg429 and Arg476, which are located at the bottom of the novel binding site, are essential for the oxidation of ABTS and syringaldazine. Specially, a Thr480Phe variant was identified to be almost 3.5 times more specific for ABTS than for syringaldazine compared with the wild type. These results suggest this novel binding site for ABTS could be a potential target for protein engineering of CotA laccases.

  20. The methyltransferase NSD3 has chromatin-binding motifs, PHD5-C5HCH, that are distinct from other NSD (nuclear receptor SET domain) family members in their histone H3 recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Chao; Li, Fudong; Zhang, Jiahai; Wu, Jihui; Shi, Yunyu

    2013-02-15

    The NSD (nuclear receptor SET domain-containing) family members, consisting of NSD1, NSD2 (MMSET/WHSC1), and NSD3 (WHSC1L1), are SET domain-containing methyltransferases and aberrant expression of each member has been implicated in multiple diseases. They have specific mono- and dimethylase activities for H3K36, whereas play nonredundant roles during development. Aside from the well characterized catalytic SET domain, NSD proteins have multiple potential chromatin-binding motifs that are clinically relevant, including the fifth plant homeodomain (PHD5) and the adjacent Cys-His-rich domain (C5HCH) located at the C terminus. Herein, we report the crystal structures of the PHD5-C5HCH module of NSD3, in the free state and in complex with H3(1-7) (H3 residues 1-7), H3(1-15) (H3 residues 1-15), and H3(1-15)K9me3 (H3 residues 1-15 with trimethylation on K9) peptides. These structures reveal that the PHD5 and C5HCH domains fold into a novel integrated PHD-PHD-like structural module with H3 peptide bound only on the surface of PHD5 and provide the molecular basis for the recognition of unmodified H3K4 and trimethylated H3K9 by NSD3 PHD5. Structural studies and binding assays show that differences exist in histone binding specificity of the PHD5 domain between three members of the NSD family. For NSD2, the PHD5-C5HCH:H3 N terminus interaction is largely conserved, although with a stronger preference for unmethylated H3K9 (H3K9me0) than trimethylated H3K9 (H3K9me3), and NSD1 PHD5-C5HCH does not bind to H3 peptides. Our results shed light on how NSD proteins that mediate H3K36 methylation are localized to specific genomic sites and provide implications for the mechanism of functional diversity of NSD proteins.

  1. Genome Analysis of Conserved Dehydrin Motifs in Vascular Plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad A. Malik

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Dehydrins, a large family of abiotic stress proteins, are defined by the presence of a mostly conserved motif known as the K-segment, and may also contain two other conserved motifs known as the Y-segment and S-segment. Using the dehydrin literature, we developed a sequence motif definition of the K-segment, which we used to create a large dataset of dehydrin sequences by searching the Pfam00257 dehydrin dataset and the Phytozome 10 sequences of vascular plants. A comprehensive analysis of these sequences reveals that lysine residues are highly conserved in the K-segment, while the amino acid type is often conserved at other positions. Despite the Y-segment name, the central tyrosine is somewhat conserved, but can be substituted with two other small aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine or histidine. The S-segment contains a series of serine residues, but in some proteins is also preceded by a conserved LHR sequence. In many dehydrins containing all three of these motifs the S-segment is linked to the K-segment by a GXGGRRKK motif (where X can be any amino acid, suggesting a functional linkage between these two motifs. An analysis of the sequences shows that the dehydrin architecture and several biochemical properties (isoelectric point, molecular mass, and hydrophobicity score are dependent on each other, and that some dehydrin architectures are overexpressed during certain abiotic stress, suggesting that they may be optimized for a specific abiotic stress while others are involved in all forms of dehydration stress (drought, cold, and salinity.

  2. RegRNA: an integrated web server for identifying regulatory RNA motifs and elements

    OpenAIRE

    Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Chien, Chia-Hung; Jen, Kuan-Hua; Huang, Hsien-Da

    2006-01-01

    Numerous regulatory structural motifs have been identified as playing essential roles in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. RegRNA is an integrated web server for identifying the homologs of regulatory RNA motifs and elements against an input mRNA sequence. Both sequence homologs and structural homologs of regulatory RNA motifs can be recognized. The regulatory RNA motifs supported in RegRNA are categorized into several classes: (i) motifs in mRNA 5′-untra...

  3. Structures of the human Pals1 PDZ domain with and without ligand suggest gated access of Crb to the PDZ peptide-binding groove

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ivanova, Marina E.; Fletcher, Georgina C.; O’Reilly, Nicola; Purkiss, Andrew G.; Thompson, Barry J. [Cancer Research UK, 44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY (United Kingdom); McDonald, Neil Q., E-mail: neil.mcdonald@cancer.org.uk [Cancer Research UK, 44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY (United Kingdom); Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX (United Kingdom)

    2015-03-01

    This study characterizes the interaction between the carboxy-terminal (ERLI) motif of the essential polarity protein Crb and the Pals1/Stardust PDZ-domain protein. Structures of human Pals1 PDZ with and without a Crb peptide are described, explaining the highly conserved nature of the ERLI motif and revealing a sterically blocked peptide-binding groove in the absence of ligand. Many components of epithelial polarity protein complexes possess PDZ domains that are required for protein interaction and recruitment to the apical plasma membrane. Apical localization of the Crumbs (Crb) transmembrane protein requires a PDZ-mediated interaction with Pals1 (protein-associated with Lin7, Stardust, MPP5), a member of the p55 family of membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs). This study describes the molecular interaction between the Crb carboxy-terminal motif (ERLI), which is required for Drosophila cell polarity, and the Pals1 PDZ domain using crystallography and fluorescence polarization. Only the last four Crb residues contribute to Pals1 PDZ-domain binding affinity, with specificity contributed by conserved charged interactions. Comparison of the Crb-bound Pals1 PDZ structure with an apo Pals1 structure reveals a key Phe side chain that gates access to the PDZ peptide-binding groove. Removal of this side chain enhances the binding affinity by more than fivefold, suggesting that access of Crb to Pals1 may be regulated by intradomain contacts or by protein–protein interaction.

  4. A Pyranose-2-Phosphate Motif Is Responsible for Both Antibiotic Import and Quorum-Sensing Regulation in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbas El Sahili

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs in association with ABC transporters select and import a wide variety of ligands into bacterial cytoplasm. They can also take up toxic molecules, as observed in the case of the phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58. This organism contains a PBP called AccA that mediates the import of the antibiotic agrocin 84, as well as the opine agrocinopine A that acts as both a nutrient and a signalling molecule for the dissemination of virulence genes through quorum-sensing. Here, we characterized the binding mode of AccA using purified agrocin 84 and synthetic agrocinopine A by X-ray crystallography at very high resolution and performed affinity measurements. Structural and affinity analyses revealed that AccA recognizes an uncommon and specific motif, a pyranose-2-phosphate moiety which is present in both imported molecules via the L-arabinopyranose moiety in agrocinopine A and the D-glucopyranose moiety in agrocin 84. We hypothesized that AccA is a gateway allowing the import of any compound possessing a pyranose-2-phosphate motif at one end. This was structurally and functionally confirmed by experiments using four synthetic compounds: agrocinopine 3'-O-benzoate, L-arabinose-2-isopropylphosphate, L-arabinose-2-phosphate and D-glucose-2-phosphate. By combining affinity measurements and in vivo assays, we demonstrated that both L-arabinose-2-phosphate and D-glucose-2-phosphate, which are the AccF mediated degradation products of agrocinopine A and agrocin 84 respectively, interact with the master transcriptional regulator AccR and activate the quorum-sensing signal synthesis and Ti plasmid transfer in A. tumefaciens C58. Our findings shed light on the role of agrocinopine and antibiotic agrocin 84 on quorum-sensing regulation in A. tumefaciens and reveal how the PBP AccA acts as vehicle for the importation of both molecules by means of a key-recognition motif. It also opens future possibilities for the

  5. A Pyranose-2-Phosphate Motif Is Responsible for Both Antibiotic Import and Quorum-Sensing Regulation in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Sahili, Abbas; Li, Si-Zhe; Lang, Julien; Virus, Cornelia; Planamente, Sara; Ahmar, Mohammed; Guimaraes, Beatriz G; Aumont-Nicaise, Magali; Vigouroux, Armelle; Soulère, Laurent; Reader, John; Queneau, Yves; Faure, Denis; Moréra, Solange

    2015-08-01

    Periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs) in association with ABC transporters select and import a wide variety of ligands into bacterial cytoplasm. They can also take up toxic molecules, as observed in the case of the phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58. This organism contains a PBP called AccA that mediates the import of the antibiotic agrocin 84, as well as the opine agrocinopine A that acts as both a nutrient and a signalling molecule for the dissemination of virulence genes through quorum-sensing. Here, we characterized the binding mode of AccA using purified agrocin 84 and synthetic agrocinopine A by X-ray crystallography at very high resolution and performed affinity measurements. Structural and affinity analyses revealed that AccA recognizes an uncommon and specific motif, a pyranose-2-phosphate moiety which is present in both imported molecules via the L-arabinopyranose moiety in agrocinopine A and the D-glucopyranose moiety in agrocin 84. We hypothesized that AccA is a gateway allowing the import of any compound possessing a pyranose-2-phosphate motif at one end. This was structurally and functionally confirmed by experiments using four synthetic compounds: agrocinopine 3'-O-benzoate, L-arabinose-2-isopropylphosphate, L-arabinose-2-phosphate and D-glucose-2-phosphate. By combining affinity measurements and in vivo assays, we demonstrated that both L-arabinose-2-phosphate and D-glucose-2-phosphate, which are the AccF mediated degradation products of agrocinopine A and agrocin 84 respectively, interact with the master transcriptional regulator AccR and activate the quorum-sensing signal synthesis and Ti plasmid transfer in A. tumefaciens C58. Our findings shed light on the role of agrocinopine and antibiotic agrocin 84 on quorum-sensing regulation in A. tumefaciens and reveal how the PBP AccA acts as vehicle for the importation of both molecules by means of a key-recognition motif. It also opens future possibilities for the rational design of

  6. Enrichment of Circular Code Motifs in the Genes of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian J. Michel

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available A set X of 20 trinucleotides has been found to have the highest average occurrence in the reading frame, compared to the two shifted frames, of genes of bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, plasmids and viruses. This set X has an interesting mathematical property, since X is a maximal C 3 self-complementary trinucleotide circular code. Furthermore, any motif obtained from this circular code X has the capacity to retrieve, maintain and synchronize the original (reading frame. Since 1996, the theory of circular codes in genes has mainly been developed by analysing the properties of the 20 trinucleotides of X , using combinatorics and statistical approaches. For the first time, we test this theory by analysing the X motifs, i.e., motifs from the circular code X , in the complete genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several properties of X motifs are identified by basic statistics (at the frequency level, and evaluated by comparison to R motifs, i.e., random motifs generated from 30 different random codes R . We first show that the frequency of X motifs is significantly greater than that of R motifs in the genome of S. cerevisiae. We then verify that no significant difference is observed between the frequencies of X and R motifs in the non-coding regions of S. cerevisiae, but that the occurrence number of X motifs is significantly higher than R motifs in the genes (protein-coding regions. This property is true for all cardinalities of X motifs (from 4 to 20 and for all 16 chromosomes. We further investigate the distribution of X motifs in the three frames of S. cerevisiae genes and show that they occur more frequently in the reading frame, regardless of their cardinality or their length. Finally, the ratio of X genes, i.e., genes with at least one X motif, to non- X genes, in the set of verified genes is significantly different to that observed in the set of putative or dubious genes with no experimental evidence. These results, taken together

  7. Enrichment of Circular Code Motifs in the Genes of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michel, Christian J; Ngoune, Viviane Nguefack; Poch, Olivier; Ripp, Raymond; Thompson, Julie D

    2017-12-03

    A set X of 20 trinucleotides has been found to have the highest average occurrence in the reading frame, compared to the two shifted frames, of genes of bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, plasmids and viruses. This set X has an interesting mathematical property, since X is a maximal C3 self-complementary trinucleotide circular code. Furthermore, any motif obtained from this circular code X has the capacity to retrieve, maintain and synchronize the original (reading) frame. Since 1996, the theory of circular codes in genes has mainly been developed by analysing the properties of the 20 trinucleotides of X, using combinatorics and statistical approaches. For the first time, we test this theory by analysing the X motifs, i.e., motifs from the circular code X, in the complete genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Several properties of X motifs are identified by basic statistics (at the frequency level), and evaluated by comparison to R motifs, i.e., random motifs generated from 30 different random codes R. We first show that the frequency of X motifs is significantly greater than that of R motifs in the genome of S. cerevisiae . We then verify that no significant difference is observed between the frequencies of X and R motifs in the non-coding regions of S. cerevisiae , but that the occurrence number of X motifs is significantly higher than R motifs in the genes (protein-coding regions). This property is true for all cardinalities of X motifs (from 4 to 20) and for all 16 chromosomes. We further investigate the distribution of X motifs in the three frames of S. cerevisiae genes and show that they occur more frequently in the reading frame, regardless of their cardinality or their length. Finally, the ratio of X genes, i.e., genes with at least one X motif, to non-X genes, in the set of verified genes is significantly different to that observed in the set of putative or dubious genes with no experimental evidence. These results, taken together, represent the first

  8. A 6-Nucleotide Regulatory Motif within the AbcR Small RNAs of Brucella abortus Mediates Host-Pathogen Interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheehan, Lauren M; Caswell, Clayton C

    2017-06-06

    In Brucella abortus , two small RNAs (sRNAs), AbcR1 and AbcR2, are responsible for regulating transcripts encoding ABC-type transport systems. AbcR1 and AbcR2 are required for Brucella virulence, as a double chromosomal deletion of both sRNAs results in attenuation in mice. Although these sRNAs are responsible for targeting transcripts for degradation, the mechanism utilized by the AbcR sRNAs to regulate mRNA in Brucella has not been described. Here, two motifs (M1 and M2) were identified in AbcR1 and AbcR2, and complementary motif sequences were defined in AbcR-regulated transcripts. Site-directed mutagenesis of M1 or M2 or of both M1 and M2 in the sRNAs revealed transcripts to be targeted by one or both motifs. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed direct, concentration-dependent binding of both AbcR sRNAs to a target mRNA sequence. These experiments genetically and biochemically characterized two indispensable motifs within the AbcR sRNAs that bind to and regulate transcripts. Additionally, cellular and animal models of infection demonstrated that only M2 in the AbcR sRNAs is required for Brucella virulence. Furthermore, one of the M2-regulated targets, BAB2_0612, was found to be critical for the virulence of B. abortus in a mouse model of infection. Although these sRNAs are highly conserved among Alphaproteobacteria , the present report displays how gene regulation mediated by the AbcR sRNAs has diverged to meet the intricate regulatory requirements of each particular organism and its unique biological niche. IMPORTANCE Small RNAs (sRNAs) are important components of bacterial regulation, allowing organisms to quickly adapt to changes in their environments. The AbcR sRNAs are highly conserved throughout the Alphaproteobacteria and negatively regulate myriad transcripts, many encoding ABC-type transport systems. In Brucella abortus , AbcR1 and AbcR2 are functionally redundant, as only a double abcR1 abcR2 ( abcR1 / 2 ) deletion results in attenuation in

  9. Assessing Local Structure Motifs Using Order Parameters for Motif Recognition, Interstitial Identification, and Diffusion Path Characterization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils E. R. Zimmermann

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Structure–property relationships form the basis of many design rules in materials science, including synthesizability and long-term stability of catalysts, control of electrical and optoelectronic behavior in semiconductors, as well as the capacity of and transport properties in cathode materials for rechargeable batteries. The immediate atomic environments (i.e., the first coordination shells of a few atomic sites are often a key factor in achieving a desired property. Some of the most frequently encountered coordination patterns are tetrahedra, octahedra, body and face-centered cubic as well as hexagonal close packed-like environments. Here, we showcase the usefulness of local order parameters to identify these basic structural motifs in inorganic solid materials by developing classification criteria. We introduce a systematic testing framework, the Einstein crystal test rig, that probes the response of order parameters to distortions in perfect motifs to validate our approach. Subsequently, we highlight three important application cases. First, we map basic crystal structure information of a large materials database in an intuitive manner by screening the Materials Project (MP database (61,422 compounds for element-specific motif distributions. Second, we use the structure-motif recognition capabilities to automatically find interstitials in metals, semiconductor, and insulator materials. Our Interstitialcy Finding Tool (InFiT facilitates high-throughput screenings of defect properties. Third, the order parameters are reliable and compact quantitative structure descriptors for characterizing diffusion hops of intercalants as our example of magnesium in MnO2-spinel indicates. Finally, the tools developed in our work are readily and freely available as software implementations in the pymatgen library, and we expect them to be further applied to machine-learning approaches for emerging applications in materials science.

  10. Identification of Ubiquinol Binding Motifs at the Qo-Site of the Cytochrome bc1 Complex

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barragan, Angela M.; Crofts, Antony R.; Schulten, Klaus

    2015-01-01

    for the function of the bc1 complex is the initial redox process that involves a bifurcated electron transfer in which the two electrons from a quinol substrate are passed to different electron acceptors in the bc1 complex. The electron transfer is coupled to proton transfer. The overall mechanism of quinol...... all atom molecular dynamics and quantum chemical calculations to reveal the binding modes of quinol at the Qo-site of the bc1 complex from Rhodobacter capsulatus. The calculations suggest a novel configuration of amino acid residues responsible for quinol binding and support a mechanism for proton...

  11. Hoxa2 Selectively Enhances Meis Binding to Change a Branchial Arch Ground State

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amin, Shilu; Donaldson, Ian J.; Zannino, Denise A.; Hensman, James; Rattray, Magnus; Losa, Marta; Spitz, François; Ladam, Franck; Sagerström, Charles; Bobola, Nicoletta

    2015-01-01

    Summary Hox transcription factors (TFs) are essential for vertebrate development, but how these evolutionary conserved proteins function in vivo remains unclear. Because Hox proteins have notoriously low binding specificity, they are believed to bind with cofactors, mainly homeodomain TFs Pbx and Meis, to select their specific targets. We mapped binding of Meis, Pbx, and Hoxa2 in the branchial arches, a series of segments in the developing vertebrate head. Meis occupancy is largely similar in Hox-positive and -negative arches. Hoxa2, which specifies second arch (IIBA) identity, recognizes a subset of Meis prebound sites that contain Hox motifs. Importantly, at these sites Meis binding is strongly increased. This enhanced Meis binding coincides with active enhancers, which are linked to genes highly expressed in the IIBA and regulated by Hoxa2. These findings show that Hoxa2 operates as a tissue-specific cofactor, enhancing Meis binding to specific sites that provide the IIBA with its anatomical identity. PMID:25640223

  12. Dystroglycan versatility in cell adhesion: a tale of multiple motifs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Winder Steve J

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Dystroglycan is a ubiquitously expressed heterodimeric adhesion receptor. The extracellular α-subunit makes connections with a number of laminin G domain ligands including laminins, agrin and perlecan in the extracellular matrix and the transmembrane β-subunit makes connections to the actin filament network via cytoskeletal linkers including dystrophin, utrophin, ezrin and plectin, depending on context. Originally discovered as part of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex of skeletal muscle, dystroglycan is an important adhesion molecule and signalling scaffold in a multitude of cell types and tissues and is involved in several diseases. Dystroglycan has emerged as a multifunctional adhesion platform with many interacting partners associating with its short unstructured cytoplasmic domain. Two particular hotspots are the cytoplasmic juxtamembrane region and at the very carboxy terminus of dystroglycan. Regions which between them have several overlapping functions: in the juxtamembrane region; a nuclear localisation signal, ezrin/radixin/moesin protein, rapsyn and ERK MAP Kinase binding function, and at the C terminus a regulatory tyrosine governing WW, SH2 and SH3 domain interactions. We will discuss the binding partners for these motifs and how their interactions and regulation can modulate the involvement of dystroglycan in a range of different adhesion structures and functions depending on context. Thus dystroglycan presents as a multifunctional scaffold involved in adhesion and adhesion-mediated signalling with its functions under exquisite spatio-temporal regulation.

  13. Promzea: a pipeline for discovery of co-regulatory motifs in maize and other plant species and its application to the anthocyanin and phlobaphene biosynthetic pathways and the Maize Development Atlas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liseron-Monfils, Christophe; Lewis, Tim; Ashlock, Daniel; McNicholas, Paul D; Fauteux, François; Strömvik, Martina; Raizada, Manish N

    2013-03-15

    The discovery of genetic networks and cis-acting DNA motifs underlying their regulation is a major objective of transcriptome studies. The recent release of the maize genome (Zea mays L.) has facilitated in silico searches for regulatory motifs. Several algorithms exist to predict cis-acting elements, but none have been adapted for maize. A benchmark data set was used to evaluate the accuracy of three motif discovery programs: BioProspector, Weeder and MEME. Analysis showed that each motif discovery tool had limited accuracy and appeared to retrieve a distinct set of motifs. Therefore, using the benchmark, statistical filters were optimized to reduce the false discovery ratio, and then remaining motifs from all programs were combined to improve motif prediction. These principles were integrated into a user-friendly pipeline for motif discovery in maize called Promzea, available at http://www.promzea.org and on the Discovery Environment of the iPlant Collaborative website. Promzea was subsequently expanded to include rice and Arabidopsis. Within Promzea, a user enters cDNA sequences or gene IDs; corresponding upstream sequences are retrieved from the maize genome. Predicted motifs are filtered, combined and ranked. Promzea searches the chosen plant genome for genes containing each candidate motif, providing the user with the gene list and corresponding gene annotations. Promzea was validated in silico using a benchmark data set: the Promzea pipeline showed a 22% increase in nucleotide sensitivity compared to the best standalone program tool, Weeder, with equivalent nucleotide specificity. Promzea was also validated by its ability to retrieve the experimentally defined binding sites of transcription factors that regulate the maize anthocyanin and phlobaphene biosynthetic pathways. Promzea predicted additional promoter motifs, and genome-wide motif searches by Promzea identified 127 non-anthocyanin/phlobaphene genes that each contained all five predicted promoter

  14. RNA recognition motif (RRM)-containing proteins in Bombyx mori

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2009-03-20

    Mar 20, 2009 ... Recognition Motif (RRM), sometimes referred to as. RNP1, is one of the first identified domains for RNA interaction. RRM is very common ..... Apart from the RRM motif, eIF3-S9 has a Trp-Asp. (WD) repeat domain, Poly (A) ...

  15. Expression, purification and DNA-binding activities of two putative ModE proteins of Herbaspirillum seropedicae (Burkholderiales, Oxalobacteraceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André L.F. Souza

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In prokaryotes molybdenum is taken up by a high-affinity ABC-type transporter system encoded by the modABC genes. The endophyte β-Proteobacterium Herbaspirillum seropedicae has two modABC gene clusters and two genes encoding putative Mo-dependent regulator proteins (ModE1 and ModE2. Analysis of the amino acid sequence of the ModE1 protein of H. seropedicae revealed the presence of an N-terminal domain containing a DNA-binding helix-turn-helix motif (HTH and a C-terminal domain with a molybdate-binding motif. The second putative regulator protein, ModE2, contains only the helix-turn-helix motif, similar to that observed in some sequenced genomes. We cloned the modE1 (810 bp and modE2 (372 bp genes and expressed them in Escherichia coli as His-tagged fusion proteins, which we subsequently purified. The over-expressed recombinant His-ModE1 was insoluble and was purified after solubilization with urea and then on-column refolded during affinity chromatography. The His-ModE2 was expressed as a soluble protein and purified by affinity chromatography. These purified proteins were analyzed by DNA band-shift assays using the modA2 promoter region as probe. Our results indicate that His-ModE1 and His-ModE2 are able to bind to the modA2 promoter region, suggesting that both proteins may play a role in the regulation of molybdenum uptake and metabolism in H. seropedicae.

  16. AMP-acetyl CoA synthetase from Leishmania donovani: identification and functional analysis of 'PX4GK' motif.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soumya, Neelagiri; Kumar, I Sravan; Shivaprasad, S; Gorakh, Landage Nitin; Dinesh, Neeradi; Swamy, Kayala Kambagiri; Singh, Sushma

    2015-04-01

    An adenosine monophosphate forming acetyl CoA synthetase (AceCS) which is the key enzyme involved in the conversion of acetate to acetyl CoA has been identified from Leishmania donovani for the first time. Sequence analysis of L. donovani AceCS (LdAceCS) revealed the presence of a 'PX4GK' motif which is highly conserved throughout organisms with higher sequence identity (96%) to lower sequence identity (38%). A ∼ 77 kDa heterologous protein with C-terminal 6X His-tag was expressed in Escherichia coli. Expression of LdAceCS in promastigotes was confirmed by western blot and RT-PCR analysis. Immunolocalization studies revealed that it is a cytosolic protein. We also report the kinetic characterization of recombinant LdAceCS with acetate, adenosine 5'-triphosphate, coenzyme A and propionate as substrates. Site directed mutagenesis of residues in conserved PX4GK motif of LdAceCS was performed to gain insight into its potential role in substrate binding, catalysis and its role in maintaining structural integrity of the protein. P646A, G651A and K652R exhibited more than 90% loss in activity signifying its indispensible role in the enzyme activity. Substitution of other residues in this motif resulted in altered substrate specificity and catalysis. However, none of them had any role in modulation of the secondary structure of the protein except G651A mutant. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. The structure of Plasmodium vivax phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein suggests a functional motif containing a left-handed helix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arakaki, Tracy; Neely, Helen; Boni, Erica; Mueller, Natasha; Buckner, Frederick S.; Van Voorhis, Wesley C.; Lauricella, Angela; DeTitta, George; Luft, Joseph; Hol, Wim G. J.; Merritt, Ethan A.

    2007-01-01

    The crystal structure of a phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein from P. vivax, a homolog of Raf-kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP), has been solved to a resolution of 1.3 Å. The inferred interaction surface near the anion-binding site is found to include a distinctive left-handed α-helix. The structure of a putative Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) homolog from the eukaryotic parasite Plasmodium vivax has been studied to a resolution of 1.3 Å using multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction at the Se K edge. This protozoan protein is topologically similar to previously studied members of the phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) sequence family, but exhibits a distinctive left-handed α-helical region at one side of the canonical phospholipid-binding site. Re-examination of previously determined PEBP structures suggests that the P. vivax protein and yeast carboxypeptidase Y inhibitor may represent a structurally distinct subfamily of the diverse PEBP-sequence family

  18. Elucidating Key Motifs Required for Arp2/3-Dependent and Independent Actin Nucleation by Las17/WASP

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbanek, Agnieszka N.; Smaczynska-de Rooij, Iwona I.

    2016-01-01

    Actin nucleation is the key rate limiting step in the process of actin polymerization, and tight regulation of this process is critical to ensure actin filaments form only at specific times and at defined regions of the cell. Arp2/3 is a well-characterised protein complex that can promote nucleation of new filaments, though its activity requires additional nucleation promotion factors (NPFs). The best recognized of these factors are the WASP family of proteins that contain binding motifs for both monomeric actin and for Arp2/3. Previously we demonstrated that the yeast WASP homologue, Las17, in addition to activating Arp2/3 can also nucleate actin filaments de novo, independently of Arp2/3. This activity is dependent on its polyproline rich region. Through biochemical and in vivo analysis we have now identified key motifs within the polyproline region that are required for nucleation and elongation of actin filaments, and have addressed the role of the WH2 domain in the context of actin nucleation without Arp2/3. We have also demonstrated that full length Las17 is able to bind liposomes giving rise to the possibility of direct linkage of nascent actin filaments to specific membrane sites to which Las17 has been recruited. Overall, we propose that Las17 functions as the key initiator of de novo actin filament formation at endocytic sites by nucleating, elongating and tethering nascent filaments which then serve as a platform for Arp2/3 recruitment and function. PMID:27637067

  19. Distinct configurations of protein complexes and biochemical pathways revealed by epistatic interaction network motifs

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Casey, Fergal

    2011-08-22

    Abstract Background Gene and protein interactions are commonly represented as networks, with the genes or proteins comprising the nodes and the relationship between them as edges. Motifs, or small local configurations of edges and nodes that arise repeatedly, can be used to simplify the interpretation of networks. Results We examined triplet motifs in a network of quantitative epistatic genetic relationships, and found a non-random distribution of particular motif classes. Individual motif classes were found to be associated with different functional properties, suggestive of an underlying biological significance. These associations were apparent not only for motif classes, but for individual positions within the motifs. As expected, NNN (all negative) motifs were strongly associated with previously reported genetic (i.e. synthetic lethal) interactions, while PPP (all positive) motifs were associated with protein complexes. The two other motif classes (NNP: a positive interaction spanned by two negative interactions, and NPP: a negative spanned by two positives) showed very distinct functional associations, with physical interactions dominating for the former but alternative enrichments, typical of biochemical pathways, dominating for the latter. Conclusion We present a model showing how NNP motifs can be used to recognize supportive relationships between protein complexes, while NPP motifs often identify opposing or regulatory behaviour between a gene and an associated pathway. The ability to use motifs to point toward underlying biological organizational themes is likely to be increasingly important as more extensive epistasis mapping projects in higher organisms begin.

  20. Fingerprint motifs of phytases | Fan | African Journal of Biotechnology

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Among the total of potential 173 phytases gained in 11 plant genomes through MAST, PAPhys are the major phytases, and HAPhys are the minor, and other phytase groups are not found in planta. Keywords: Phytase, fingerprint motif, multiple EM for motif elicitation (MEME), MAST African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.