Comprehensively surveying structure and function of RING domains from Drosophila melanogaster

PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e23863. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023863. Epub 2011 Sep 2.

Abstract

Using a complete set of RING domains from Drosophila melanogaster, all the solved RING domains and cocrystal structures of RING-containing ubiquitin-ligases (RING-E3) and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2) pairs, we analyzed RING domains structures from their primary to quarternary structures. The results showed that: i) putative orthologs of RING domains between Drosophila melanogaster and the human largely occur (118/139, 84.9%); ii) of the 118 orthologous pairs from Drosophila melanogaster and the human, 117 pairs (117/118, 99.2%) were found to retain entirely uniform domain architectures, only Iap2/Diap2 experienced evolutionary expansion of domain architecture; iii) 4 evolutionary structurally conserved regions (SCRs) are responsible for homologous folding of RING domains at the superfamily level; iv) besides the conserved Cys/His chelating zinc ions, 6 equivalent residues (4 hydrophobic and 2 polar residues) in the SCRs possess good-consensus and conservation- these 4 SCRs function in the structural positioning of 6 equivalent residues as determinants for RING-E3 catalysis; v) members of these RING proteins located nucleus, multiple subcellular compartments, membrane protein and mitochondrion are respectively 42 (42/139, 30.2%), 71 (71/139, 51.1%), 22 (22/139, 15.8%) and 4 (4/139, 2.9%); vi) CG15104 (Topors) and CG1134 (Mul1) in C3HC4, and CG3929 (Deltex) in C3H2C3 seem to display broader E2s binding profiles than other RING-E3s; vii) analyzing intermolecular interfaces of E2/RING-E3 complexes indicate that residues directly interacting with E2s are all from the SCRs in RING domains. Of the 6 residues, 2 hydrophobic ones contribute to constructing the conserved hydrophobic core, while the 2 hydrophobic and 2 polar residues directly participate in E2/RING-E3 interactions. Based on sequence and structural data, SCRs, conserved equivalent residues and features of intermolecular interfaces were extracted, highlighting the presence of a nucleus for RING domain fold and formation of catalytic core in which related residues and regions exhibit preferential evolutionary conservation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Computational Biology*
  • Consensus Sequence
  • Drosophila Proteins / chemistry*
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism*
  • Drosophila melanogaster* / cytology
  • Drosophila melanogaster* / genetics
  • Drosophila melanogaster* / metabolism
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Space / metabolism
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Protein Transport
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes / chemistry
  • Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes / metabolism
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / chemistry
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / metabolism

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
  • mitochondrial ubiquitin ligase 1, Drosophila