title: Arf GTPases and their effectors: assembling multivalent membrane-binding platforms.
abstract: Arf GTPases are major regulators of membrane traffic and organelle structure in eukaryotes where they recruit many different effectors, including components of vesicular coats, proteins that tether membranes, sort lipids or have diverse other functions in vesicular traffic, and bacterial proteins that divert Arf functions in host cells. A dozen of structures of unrelated effectors bound to Arf1, Arf6 or their close relative Arl1 are available, revealing that Arf GTPases do not recognize preferred structures in their effectors. In contrast, a trait common to many Arf/effector complexes is that they are juxtaposed to membranes by multiple protein/membrane contacts, yet of diverse sizes, shapes and physicochemistry. The common function of Arf GTPases thus appears to be their ability to assemble versatile, multivalent membrane-binding platforms, resulting in optimal orientation and allosteric regulation of their effectors leading to a plethora of membrane-localized functions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Enzymologie et Biochimie Structurales, Centre de Recherche de Gif, CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France. Electronic address: cherfils@lebs.cnrs-gif.fr.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cherfils
mesh_terms: D020823:ADP-Ribosylation Factor 1 / Q000737:chemistry*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D021381:Protein Transport
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D020823:ADP-Ribosylation Factor 1