title: Tudor domains bind symmetrical dimethylated arginines.
abstract: The Tudor domain is an approximately 60-amino acid structure motif in search of a function. Herein we show that the Tudor domains of the spinal muscular atrophy gene product SMN, the splicing factor 30 kDa (SPF30), and the Tudor domain-containing 3 (TDRD3) proteins interacted with arginine-glycine-rich motifs in a methylarginine-dependent manner. The Tudor domains also associated with methylarginine-containing cellular proteins, providing evidence that methylated arginines represent physiological ligands for this protein module. In addition, we report that spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles core Sm proteins accumulated in the cytoplasm when arginine methylation was inhibited with adenosine dialdehyde or in the presence of an excessive amount of unmethylated arginine-glycine-rich peptides. These data provide in vivo evidence in support of a role for arginine methylation in the proper assembly and localization of spliceosomal Sm proteins.
authors.affiliation: Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group and the Bloomfield Center for Research on Aging, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital and Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3T 1E2, Canada.
authors.forename: Jocelyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Côté
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Richard
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D005998:Glycine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008715:Methionine / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009134:Muscular Atrophy, Spinal / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C408222:TDRKH protein, human; C487735:dimethylarginine; D001120:Arginine; D008715:Methionine; D005998:Glycine