title: Bespoke RNA recognition by Pumilios.
abstract: Pumilio is an RNA-binding protein originally identified in Drosophila, with a Puf domain made up of eight Puf repeats, three helix bundles arranged in a rainbow architecture, where each repeat recognizes a single base of the RNA-binding sequence. The eight-base recognition sequence can therefore be modified simply via mutation of the repeat that recognizes the base to be changed and this is understood in detail via high-resolution crystal structures. The binding mechanism is also altered in a variety of homologues from different species, with bases flipped out from the binding site to regenerate a consensus sequence. Thus Pumilios can be designed with bespoke RNA recognition sequences and can be fused to nucleases, split GFP, etc. as tools in vitro and in cells.
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K.
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Edwards
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D006801:Humans; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009154:Mutation; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015202:Protein Engineering; D054730:Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C471242:PUM1 protein, human; C471243:PUM2 protein, human; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D012313:RNA
keywords: Puf domain; Pumilio; hunchback; ribonucleic acid (RNA) recognition; ribonucleic acid (RNA)-binding protein