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PMID: 7938009 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

The LIM/double zinc-finger motif functions as a protein dimerization domain.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 91 ·No. 22 ·1994-10-25 ·Pages 10655-9

Feuerstein R, Wang X, Song D, Cooke NE, Liebhaber SA

Abstract

Protein-protein interactions resulting in dimerization and heterodimerization are of central importance in the control of gene expression and cell function. Proteins that share the 52-residue LIM/double zinc-finger domain are involved in a wide range of developmental and cellular controls. Some of these functions have been hypothesized to involve protein dimerization. In the present report we demonstrate, using both in vitro and cell-based studies, that a representative LIM protein, human cysteine-rich protein (hCRP), can efficiently homodimerize. The dimerization ability of hCRP is mapped to the LIM domains, can be transferred to an unrelated protein by fusion of a single minimal LIM/double zinc-finger segment, occurs in the absence as well as the presence of DNA, and appears to depend on coordination of two zinc atoms in the finger doublet. These observations support a specific role for protein dimerization in the function of proteins containing the LIM/double zinc-finger domain and expand the general spectrum of potential interactions mediated by zinc-finger motifs.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Antibodies Cloning, Molecular DNA-Binding Proteins/biosynthesis,chemistry,metabolism Glutathione Transferase/biosynthesis Humans Macromolecular Substances Molecular Sequence Data Mutagenesis, Site-Directed Nuclear Proteins Protein Conformation Protein Multimerization Proteins Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc/biosynthesis,chemistry,metabolism Recombinant Fusion Proteins/biosynthesis,chemistry,metabolism TATA Box Transcriptional Activation Zinc Fingers/physiology
Chemicals
Antibodies DNA-Binding Proteins Macromolecular Substances Nuclear Proteins Proteins Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc Recombinant Fusion Proteins cysteine-rich protein, mammalian Glutathione Transferase
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Feuerstein R
Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104-6145.
Wang X
Song D
Cooke N E
Liebhaber S A
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.91.22.10655
Published
1994-10-25
Pages
10655-9
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC45080
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.22.10655 PMC Full Text View journal details
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