title: Solution structure of the N-terminal zinc fingers of the Xenopus laevis double-stranded RNA-binding protein ZFa.
abstract: Several zinc finger proteins have been discovered recently that bind specifically to double-stranded RNA. These include the mammalian JAZ and wig proteins, and the seven-zinc finger protein ZFa from Xenopus laevis. We have determined the solution structure of a 127 residue fragment of ZFa, which consists of two zinc finger domains connected by a linker that remains unstructured in the free protein in solution. The first zinc finger consists of a three-stranded beta-sheet and three helices, while the second finger contains only a two-stranded sheet and two helices. The common structures of the core regions of the two fingers are superimposable. Each finger has a highly electropositive surface that maps to a helix-kink-helix motif. There is no evidence for interactions between the two fingers, consistent with the length (24 residues) and unstructured nature of the intervening linker. Comparison with a number of other proteins shows similarities in the topology and arrangement of secondary structure elements with canonical DNA-binding zinc fingers, with protein interaction motifs such as FOG zinc fingers, and with other DNA-binding and RNA-binding proteins that do not contain zinc. However, in none of these cases does the alignment of these structures with the ZFa zinc fingers produce a consistent picture of a plausible RNA-binding interface. We conclude that the ZFa zinc fingers represent a new motif for the binding of double-stranded RNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Heiko M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martinez-Yamout
authors.forename: H Jane
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Dyson
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012996:Solutions; D055672:Static Electricity; D035582:Transcription Factor TFIIIA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C080218:SWI5 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D012996:Solutions; D035582:Transcription Factor TFIIIA; D014157:Transcription Factors; D029867:Xenopus Proteins