title: Crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of splicing factor Prp8 carrying retinitis pigmentosa mutants.
abstract: Prp8 is a critical pre-mRNA splicing factor. Prp8 is proposed to help form and stabilize the spliceosome catalytic core and to be an important regulator of spliceosome activation. Mutations in human Prp8 (hPrp8) cause a severe form of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa, RP13. Understanding the molecular mechanism of Prp8's function in pre-mRNA splicing and RP13 has been hindered by its large size (over 2000 amino acids) and remarkably low-sequence similarity with other proteins. Here we present the crystal structure of the C-terminal domain (the last 273 residues) of Caenorhabditis elegans Prp8 (cPrp8). The core of the C-terminal domain is an alpha/beta structure that forms the MPN (Mpr1, Pad1 N-terminal) fold but without Zn(2+) coordination. We propose that the C-terminal domain is a protein interaction domain instead of a Zn(2+)-dependent metalloenzyme as proposed for some MPN proteins. Mapping of RP13 mutants on the Prp8 structure suggests that these residues constitute a binding surface between Prp8 and other partner(s), and the disruption of this interaction provides a plausible molecular mechanism for RP13.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Lingdi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Guarnieri
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heroux
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003460:Crystallization; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C115374:PRPF8 protein, human; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins