title: The Shank family of scaffold proteins.
abstract: Shank proteins make up a new family of scaffold proteins recently identified through their interaction with a variety of membrane and cytoplasmic proteins. Shank polypeptides contain multiple sites for protein-protein interaction, including ankyrin repeats, an SH3 domain, a PDZ domain, a long proline-rich region, and a SAM domain. Binding partners for most of these domains have been identified: for instance, the PDZ domain of Shank proteins interacts with GKAP (a postsynaptic-density protein) as well as several G-protein-coupled receptors. The specific localization of Shank proteins at postsynaptic sites of brain excitatory synapses suggests a role for this family of proteins in the organization of cytoskeletal/ signaling complexes at specialized cell junctions.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston ,MA 02114, USA. sheng@helix.mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C492357:SHANK3 protein, human; C120531:Shank1 protein, rat; C485686:Shank2 protein, rat