Subclassification of the RBCC/TRIM superfamily reveals a novel motif necessary for microtubule binding.
The biological significance of RBCC (N-terminal RING finger/B-box/coiled coil) proteins is increasingly being appreciated following demonstrated roles in disease pathogenesis, tumorigenesis, and retroviral protective activity. Found in all multicellular eukaryotes, RBCC proteins are involved in a vast array of intracellular functions; but as a general rule, they appear to function as part of large protein complexes and possess ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase activity. Those members characterized to date have diverse C-terminal domain compositions and equally diverse subcellular localizations and functions. Using a bioinformatics approach, we have identified some new RBCC proteins that help define a subfamily that shares an identical domain arrangement (MID1, MID2, TRIM9, TNL, TRIM36, and TRIFIC). Significantly, we show that all analyzed members of this subfamily associate with the microtubule cytoskeleton, suggesting that subcellular compartmentalization is determined by the unique domain architecture, which may in turn reflect basic functional similarities. We also report a new motif called the COS box, which is found within these proteins, the MURF family, and a distantly related non-RBCC microtubule-binding protein. Notably, we demonstrate that mutations in the COS box abolish microtubule binding ability, whereas its incorporation into a nonmicrotubule-binding RBCC protein redirects it to microtubule structures. Further bioinformatics investigation permitted subclassification of the entire human RBCC complement into nine subfamilies based on their varied C-terminal domain compositions. This classification schema may aid the understanding of the molecular function of members of each subgroup and their potential involvement in both basic cellular processes and human disease.
Short
Kieran M
KM
School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Cox
Timothy C
TC
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019556:COS Cells; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D019295:Computational Biology; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008390:Markov Chains; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques; D014966:Xanthenes; D016335:Zinc Fingers
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C114030:TRAT1 protein, human; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014966:Xanthenes; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C034657:Texas red