Structure of Ca(2+)-loaded human grancalcin.
Grancalcin is a cytosolic Ca(2+)-binding protein originally identified in human neutrophils. It belongs to a new class of EF-hand proteins, called PEF proteins, which contain five EF-hand motifs. At the N-terminus of grancalcin there is a approximately 50 residue-long segment rich in glycines and prolines. The fifth EF-hand, unpaired within the monomer, provides a means for dimerization through pairing with its counterpart in a second molecule. The structure of full-length grancalcin in the apo form and with one EF3 within the dimer occupied by a Ca(2+) ion have been determined. Although the N-terminal segment was present in the molecule, this part was disordered in the crystals. Here, the structure of a truncated form of grancalcin, which is lacking 52 N-terminal residues, in the presence and absence of Ca(2+) is presented. In the Ca(2+)-bound form the ions are found in the EF1 and EF3 hands. Binding of Ca(2+) to these two EF hands produces only minor conformational changes, mostly within the EF1 Ca(2+)-binding loop. This observation supports the hypothesis, formulated on the basis of the structure of a homologous protein ALG-2 which shows significant differences in the orientation of EF4 and EF5 compared with grancalcin, that calcium is a necessary factor but not sufficient alone for inducing a significant conformational change in PEF proteins.
Jia
J
J
Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H4P 2R2, Canada.
Borregaard
N
N
Lollike
K
K
Cygler
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D001665:Binding Sites; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002154:Calpain / Q000737:chemistry; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C503121:GCA protein, human; C097753:PDCD6 protein, human; D002154:Calpain; D002118:Calcium