title: Fuzzy regions in an intrinsically disordered protein impair protein-protein interactions.
abstract: Despite the partial disorder-to-order transition that intrinsically disordered proteins often undergo upon binding to their partners, a considerable amount of residual disorder may be retained in the bound form, resulting in a fuzzy complex. Fuzzy regions flanking molecular recognition elements may enable partner fishing through non-specific, transient contacts, thereby facilitating binding, but may also disfavor binding through various mechanisms. So far, few computational or experimental studies have addressed the effect of fuzzy appendages on partner recognition by intrinsically disordered proteins. In order to shed light onto this issue, we used the interaction between the intrinsically disordered C-terminal domain of the measles virus (MeV) nucleoprotein (NTAIL ) and the X domain (XD) of the viral phosphoprotein as model system. After binding to XD, the N-terminal region of NTAIL remains conspicuously disordered, with α-helical folding taking place only within a short molecular recognition element. To study the effect of the N-terminal fuzzy region on NTAIL /XD binding, we generated N-terminal truncation variants of NTAIL , and assessed their binding abilities towards XD. The results revealed that binding increases with shortening of the N-terminal fuzzy region, with this also being observed with hsp70 (another MeV NTAIL binding partner), and for the homologous NTAIL /XD pairs from the Nipah and Hendra viruses. Finally, similar results were obtained when the MeV NTAIL fuzzy region was replaced with a highly dissimilar artificial disordered sequence, supporting a sequence-independent inhibitory effect of the fuzzy region.
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.|Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gruet
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.|Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dosnon
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.|Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blocquel
authors.affiliation: Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, INSERM U1111, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5308, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brunel
authors.affiliation: Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, INSERM U1111, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5308, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerlier
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biological Systems Engineering, Washington University in St Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Rahul K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Istituto Pasteur - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche 'A. Rossi Fanelli' and Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bonetti
authors.affiliation: Istituto Pasteur - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche 'A. Rossi Fanelli' and Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.|Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gianni
authors.affiliation: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Momentum Laboratory of Protein Dynamics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Debrecen, Hungary.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fuxreiter
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.|Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Longhi
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.|Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, UMR 7257, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bignon
mesh_terms: D064267:Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008459:Measles virus / Q000737:chemistry*; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D064267:Intrinsically Disordered Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins
keywords: deletion variants; excluded volume; intrinsically disordered proteins; partner binding; split-GFP